---
name: "ansible-doc"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "ansible-core"
version: "2.21.5-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ansible-doc"
---

# ansible-doc(1)

plugin documentation tool

## Name

ansible-doc - plugin documentation tool

## SYNOPSIS

- **usage: ansible-doc \[-h\] \[--version\] \[-v\] \[-M MODULE\_PATH\]**

  \[--playbook-dir BASEDIR\] \[-t {become,cache,callback,cliconf,connection,httpapi,inventory,lookup,netconf,shell,vars,module,strategy,test,filter,role,keyword}\] \[-j\] \[-r ROLES\_PATH\] \[-e ENTRY\_POINT \| -s \| -F \| -l \| --metadata-dump\] \[--no-fail-on-errors\] \[plugin ...\]

## DESCRIPTION

displays information on modules installed in Ansible libraries. It displays a terse listing of plugins and their short descriptions, provides a printout of their DOCUMENTATION strings, and it can create a short "snippet" which can be pasted into a playbook.

## COMMON OPTIONS

Plugin

- **--metadata-dump**

  **For internal use only** Dump json metadata for all entries, ignores other options.

- **--no-fail-on-errors**

  **For internal use only** Only used for --metadata-dump. Do not fail on errors. Report the error message in the JSON instead.

- **--playbook-dir** 'BASEDIR'

  Since this tool does not use playbooks, use this as a substitute playbook directory. This sets the relative path for many features including roles/ group\_vars/ etc.

- **--version**

  show program's version number, config file location, configured module search path, module location, executable location and exit

- **-F**, **--list\_files**

  Show plugin names and their source files without summaries (implies --list). A supplied argument will be used for filtering, can be a namespace or full collection name.

- **-M**, **--module-path**

  prepend colon-separated path(s) to module library (default={{ ANSIBLE\_HOME ~ "/plugins/modules:/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules" }}). This argument may be specified multiple times.

- **-e** 'ENTRY\_POINT', **--entry-point** 'ENTRY\_POINT'

  Select the entry point for role(s).

- **-h**, **--help**

  show this help message and exit

- **-j**, **--json**

  Change output into json format.

- **-l**, **--list**

  List available plugins. A supplied argument will be used for filtering, can be a namespace or full collection name.

- **-r**, **--roles-path**

  The path to the directory containing your roles. This argument may be specified multiple times.

- **-s**, **--snippet**

  Show playbook snippet for these plugin types: inventory, lookup, module

- **-t** 'TYPE', **--type** 'TYPE'

  Choose which plugin type (defaults to "module"). Available plugin types are : ('become', 'cache', 'callback', 'cliconf', 'connection', 'httpapi', 'inventory', 'lookup', 'netconf', 'shell', 'vars', 'module', 'strategy', 'test', 'filter', 'role', 'keyword')

- **-v**, **--verbose**

  Causes Ansible to print more debug messages. Adding multiple -v will increase the verbosity, the builtin plugins currently evaluate up to -vvvvvv. A reasonable level to start is -vvv, connection debugging might require -vvvv. This argument may be specified multiple times.

## ENVIRONMENT

The following environment variables may be specified.

ANSIBLE\_LIBRARY -- Override the default ansible module library path

ANSIBLE\_CONFIG -- Specify override location for the ansible config file

Many more are available for most options in ansible.cfg

For a full list check \<https://docs.ansible.com/\>. or use the *ansible-config* command.

## FILES

/etc/ansible/ansible.cfg -- Config file, used if present

\~/.ansible.cfg -- User config file, overrides the default config if present

./ansible.cfg -- Local config file (in current working directory) assumed to be 'project specific' and overrides the rest if present.

As mentioned above, the ANSIBLE\_CONFIG environment variable will override all others.

## AUTHOR

Ansible was originally written by Michael DeHaan.

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2018 Red Hat, Inc \| Ansible. Ansible is released under the terms of the GPLv3 license.

## SEE ALSO

**ansible** (1), **ansible-config** (1), **ansible-console** (1), **ansible-galaxy** (1), **ansible-inventory** (1), **ansible-playbook** (1), **ansible-pull** (1), **ansible-vault** (1)

Extensive documentation is available in the documentation site: \<\<https://docs.ansible.com\>\>. IRC and mailing list info can be found in file CONTRIBUTING.md, available in: \<\<https://github.com/ansible/ansible\>\>