sigridjineth/hello-ansible-skills/ansible-debug

Name: ansible-debug
Author: sigridjineth

Claude Code and agent skill by sigridjineth/hello-ansible-skills

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Use when playbooks fail with UNREACHABLE, permission denied, MODULE FAILURE, or undefined variable errors. Use when SSH connections fail or sudo password is missing.

Install

npx vskill@latest install sigridjineth/hello-ansible-skills/ansible-debug

SKILL.md

Ansible Debugging

Overview

Ansible errors fall into four categories: connection, authentication, module, and syntax. Systematic diagnosis starts with identifying the category, then isolating the specific cause.

When to Use

UNREACHABLE errors (SSH/network issues)
Permission denied or sudo password errors
MODULE FAILURE messages
Undefined variable errors
Template rendering failures
Slow playbook execution

Error Categories

Category	Symptoms	First Check
Connection	UNREACHABLE	`ssh -v user@host`
Authentication	Permission denied, Missing sudo password	SSH keys, sudoers config
Module	MODULE FAILURE	Module parameters, target state
Syntax	YAML parse error	Line number in error, indentation

Quick Diagnosis

Connection Errors

bash

# Test SSH directly
ssh -v -i /path/to/key user@hostname
 
# Test port connectivity
nc -zv hostname 22
 
# Verify inventory parsing
ansible-inventory --host hostname

Common causes:

Wrong IP/hostname in inventory
Firewall blocking port 22
SSH key permissions (must be 600)

Authentication Errors

bash

# Test with explicit options
ansible hostname -m ping -u user --private-key /path/to/key
 
# For sudo password issues, either:
ansible-playbook playbook.yml --ask-become-pass
# Or configure NOPASSWD in /etc/sudoers

Module Errors

bash

# Check module documentation
ansible-doc ansible.builtin.copy
 
# Verify module parameters match your Ansible version
ansible --version

Variable Errors

yaml

# Use default filter for optional variables
{{ my_var | default('fallback') }}
 
# Debug variable values
- ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: problematic_variable

Verbosity Levels

Flag	Shows
`-v`	Task results
`-vv`	Task input parameters
`-vvv`	SSH connection details
`-vvvv`	Full plugin internals

Start with -v, increase only if needed.

Debugging Commands

bash

# Syntax check only
ansible-playbook --syntax-check playbook.yml
 
# Dry run
ansible-playbook --check playbook.yml
 
# Step through tasks
ansible-playbook --step playbook.yml
 
# Start at specific task
ansible-playbook --start-at-task "Task Name" playbook.yml
 
# Limit to specific host
ansible-playbook --limit hostname playbook.yml

Common Error Patterns

Error	Cause	Fix
`Permission denied (publickey)`	SSH key not accepted	Check key permissions, verify authorized_keys
`Missing sudo password`	become=true without password	Use `--ask-become-pass` or configure NOPASSWD
`No such file or directory`	Path doesn't exist	Create parent directories first
`Unable to lock` (apt/yum)	Package manager locked	Wait for other process, remove stale lock
`undefined variable`	Variable not defined	Check spelling, use `default()` filter

Performance Debugging

ini

# ansible.cfg
[defaults]
callback_whitelist = profile_tasks  # Show task timing
 
[ssh_connection]
pipelining = True                   # Faster SSH

yaml

# Skip fact gathering if not needed
- hosts: all
  gather_facts: no

Security

Security scanPassed, 95 of 100Pattern checks on the skill's files.
Model reviewPassed

See the full security report

Quality evaluation

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Source

SKILL.md in the repositoryCheckingskills/ansible-debug/SKILL.md

Popularity

Repository stars: 33
Repository forks: 4
7-day trend score: 18

Stars and forks are for the whole GitHub repository, not this skill alone. Refreshed 26 Mar 2026, 7 months ago.

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