New role

new-role

Scaffold a complete Ansible role following the standard directory structure and production conventions.

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Required Inputs

Collect these parameters (one at a time, using discovery context for defaults):

1. role_name — The role name (e.g., nginx, postgres, ntp)
2. location — One of:
   • role_path: Directory to create the role in (e.g., ./roles/, default from discovery roles_path)
   • FQCN: namespace.collection.role (e.g., myorg.infra.nginx) → creates role inside the collection
3. multi_os — MANDATORY question: "Does this role need multi-OS support? (RHEL / Solaris / Windows/WinRM) [yes/no]"
4. description — Brief role description for meta/main.yml

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FQCN Resolution

When the user provides a FQCN (namespace.collection.role):

1. Look in ./collections/ansible_collections/<namespace>/<collection>/roles/
2. Also check collections_path entries from ansible.cfg
3. If the collection exists: create the role inside it
4. If the collection does not exist: warn and ask if the user wants to use /ansible-designer:new-collection first, or create the role standalone

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Multi-OS Question (MANDATORY)

Always ask this question — never skip it:

Does this role need multi-OS support?
  1. No — single platform (Linux/RHEL only)
  2. Yes — RHEL + Solaris + Windows/WinRM

Enter 1 or 2:

If single-platform (option 1): Generate standard role structure without OS var files.

If multi-OS (option 2): Generate:

• vars/RedHat.yml
• vars/Solaris.yml
• vars/Windows.yml
• tasks/RedHat.yml
• tasks/Solaris.yml
• tasks/Windows.yml
• OS detection block in tasks/main.yml using ansible.builtin.include_vars with with_first_found

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Files to Generate

Single-platform role

roles/<role_name>/
├── defaults/main.yml
├── files/               (empty directory — create .gitkeep)
├── handlers/main.yml
├── meta/main.yml
├── tasks/main.yml
├── templates/           (empty directory — create .gitkeep)
├── tests/inventory
├── tests/test.yml
└── vars/main.yml

Multi-OS role (additional files)

roles/<role_name>/
└── tasks/
    ├── main.yml          (with OS detection + include_vars)
    ├── RedHat.yml
    ├── Solaris.yml
    └── Windows.yml
└── vars/
    ├── main.yml
    ├── RedHat.yml
    ├── Solaris.yml
    └── Windows.yml

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Content Requirements

Use references/role.md as the base for all generated content.

tasks/main.yml must include

• At least 3 realistic tasks for the named role (not generic "Install package" — use the actual component)
• FQCN for all modules
• Tags on every task (role_name + action category)
• no_log: true on any task that handles secrets or passwords per references/security_vault.md
• For multi-OS: OS detection block at the top using ansible.builtin.include_vars + with_first_found
• Include a smoke-test path aligned with references/testing.md

defaults/main.yml must include

• Port number
• Package version pin
• Log directory
• Enable/disable feature flag
• At least 5 role-specific defaults (derive from role name)

handlers/main.yml must include

• Reload handler
• Restart handler
• Both with FQCN module

meta/main.yml must include

• Complete galaxy_info block
• Platforms: EL 8/9 (always); Solaris 11.4 and Windows 2019/2022 (if multi-OS)
• min_ansible_version: "2.15"

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Step 3 — Pre-Write Confirmation

Show summary:

Will create: ./roles/nginx/ (12 files)

  defaults/main.yml     — nginx port, worker count, log dir, SSL toggle
  handlers/main.yml     — Reload nginx, Restart nginx
  meta/main.yml         — galaxy_info: platforms EL 8/9, Solaris 11.4, Windows 2019/2022
  tasks/main.yml        — OS detection + 3 common tasks
  tasks/RedHat.yml      — RHEL: dnf install, firewalld, SELinux boolean
  tasks/Solaris.yml     — Solaris: pkgadd, svcadm enable
  tasks/Windows.yml     — Windows: win_package install, win_service
  vars/main.yml         — internal constants
  vars/RedHat.yml       — RHEL: package=nginx, service=nginx, config=/etc/nginx
  vars/Solaris.yml      — Solaris: package=SUNWnginx, smf_fmri=svc:/network/nginx
  vars/Windows.yml      — Windows: service_name="nginx", install_dir="C:\nginx"
  tests/test.yml        — smoke test playbook

Proceed? (yes/no)

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Step 5 — Final Output

Show file tree:

find roles/<role_name> -type f | sort

Suggest next step:

Next step: Run `ansible-lint roles/<role_name>/` to validate
           or use /ansible-designer:review-role for a structured review.
           To use in a playbook, run /ansible-designer:new-playbook.