--- name: "ansible-pull" 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-pull" --- # ansible-pull(1) pulls playbooks from a VCS repo and executes them on target host ## Name ansible-pull - pulls playbooks from a VCS repo and executes them on target host ## SYNOPSIS - **usage: ansible-pull \[-h\] \[--version\] \[-v\] \[--private-key PRIVATE\_KEY\_FILE\]** \[-u REMOTE\_USER\] \[-c CONNECTION\] \[-T TIMEOUT\] \[--ssh-common-args SSH\_COMMON\_ARGS\] \[--sftp-extra-args SFTP\_EXTRA\_ARGS\] \[--scp-extra-args SCP\_EXTRA\_ARGS\] \[--ssh-extra-args SSH\_EXTRA\_ARGS\] \[-k \| --connection-password-file CONNECTION\_PASSWORD\_FILE\] \[--vault-id VAULT\_IDS\] \[-J \| --vault-password-file VAULT\_PASSWORD\_FILES\] \[-e EXTRA\_VARS\] \[-t TAGS\] \[--skip-tags SKIP\_TAGS\] \[-i INVENTORY\] \[--list-hosts\] \[-l SUBSET\] \[--flush-cache\] \[-M MODULE\_PATH\] \[-K \| --become-password-file BECOME\_PASSWORD\_FILE\] \[--purge\] \[-o\] \[-s SLEEP\] \[-f\] \[-d DEST\] \[-U URL\] \[--full\] \[-C CHECKOUT\] \[--accept-host-key\] \[-m MODULE\_NAME\] \[--verify-commit\] \[--clean\] \[--track-subs\] \[--check\] \[--diff\] \[playbook.yml ...\] ## DESCRIPTION Used to pull a remote copy of ansible on each managed node, each set to run via cron and update playbook source via a source repository. This inverts the default *push* architecture of ansible into a *pull* architecture, which has near-limitless scaling potential. None of the CLI tools are designed to run concurrently with themselves, you should use an external scheduler and/or locking to ensure there are no clashing operations. The setup playbook can be tuned to change the cron frequency, logging locations, and parameters to ansible-pull. This is useful both for extreme scale-out and periodic remediation. Usage of the 'fetch' module to retrieve logs from ansible-pull runs would be an excellent way to gather and analyze remote logs from ansible-pull. ## COMMON OPTIONS Playbook(s) - **--accept-host-key** adds the hostkey for the repo url if not already added - **--become-password-file** 'BECOME\_PASSWORD\_FILE', **--become-pass-file** 'BECOME\_PASSWORD\_FILE' Become password file - **--check** don't make any changes; instead, try to predict some of the changes that may occur - **--clean** modified files in the working repository will be discarded - **--connection-password-file** 'CONNECTION\_PASSWORD\_FILE', **--conn-pass-file** 'CONNECTION\_PASSWORD\_FILE' Connection password file - **--diff** when changing (small) files and templates, show the differences in those files; works great with --check - **--flush-cache** clear the fact cache for every host in inventory - **--full** Do a full clone, instead of a shallow one. - **--list-hosts** outputs a list of matching hosts; does not execute anything else - **--private-key** 'PRIVATE\_KEY\_FILE', **--key-file** 'PRIVATE\_KEY\_FILE' use this file to authenticate the connection - **--purge** purge checkout after playbook run - **--scp-extra-args** 'SCP\_EXTRA\_ARGS' specify extra arguments to pass to scp only (e.g. -l) - **--sftp-extra-args** 'SFTP\_EXTRA\_ARGS' specify extra arguments to pass to sftp only (e.g. -f, -l) - **--skip-tags** only run plays and tasks whose tags do not match these values. This argument may be specified multiple times. - **--ssh-common-args** 'SSH\_COMMON\_ARGS' specify common arguments to pass to sftp/scp/ssh (e.g. ProxyCommand) - **--ssh-extra-args** 'SSH\_EXTRA\_ARGS' specify extra arguments to pass to ssh only (e.g. -R) - **--track-subs** submodules will track the latest changes. This is equivalent to specifying the --remote flag to git submodule update - **--vault-id** the vault identity to use. This argument may be specified multiple times. - **--vault-password-file**, **--vault-pass-file** vault password file - **--verify-commit** verify GPG signature of checked out commit, if it fails abort running the playbook. This needs the corresponding VCS module to support such an operation - **--version** show program's version number, config file location, configured module search path, module location, executable location and exit - **-C** 'CHECKOUT', **--checkout** 'CHECKOUT' branch/tag/commit to checkout. Defaults to behavior of repository module. - **-J**, **--ask-vault-password**, **--ask-vault-pass** ask for vault password - **-K**, **--ask-become-pass** ask for privilege escalation password - **-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. - **-T** 'TIMEOUT', **--timeout** 'TIMEOUT' override the connection timeout in seconds (default depends on connection) - **-U** 'URL', **--url** 'URL' URL of the playbook repository - **-c** 'CONNECTION', **--connection** 'CONNECTION' connection type to use (default=ssh) - **-d** 'DEST', **--directory** 'DEST' path to the directory to which Ansible will checkout the repository. - **-e**, **--extra-vars** set additional variables as key=value or YAML/JSON, if filename prepend with @. This argument may be specified multiple times. - **-f**, **--force** run the playbook even if the repository could not be updated - **-h**, **--help** show this help message and exit - **-i**, **--inventory**, **--inventory-file** specify inventory host path or comma separated host list. This argument may be specified multiple times. - **-k**, **--ask-pass** ask for connection password - **-l** 'SUBSET', **--limit** 'SUBSET' further limit selected hosts to an additional pattern - **-m** 'MODULE\_NAME', **--module-name** 'MODULE\_NAME' Repository module name, which ansible will use to check out the repo. Choices are ('git', 'subversion', 'hg', 'bzr'). Default is git. - **-o**, **--only-if-changed** only run the playbook if the repository has been updated - **-s** 'SLEEP', **--sleep** 'SLEEP' sleep for random interval (between 0 and n number of seconds) before starting. This is a useful way to disperse git requests - **-t**, **--tags** only run plays and tasks tagged with these values. This argument may be specified multiple times. - **-u** 'REMOTE\_USER', **--user** 'REMOTE\_USER' connect as this user (default=None) - **-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. ## ARGUMENTS playbook.yml The name of one the YAML format files to run as an Ansible playbook. This can be a relative path within the checkout. By default, Ansible will look for a playbook based on the host's fully-qualified domain name, on the host hostname and finally a playbook named *local.yml*. ## INVENTORY Ansible stores the hosts it can potentially operate on in an inventory. This can be an YAML file, ini-like file, a script, directory, list, etc. For additional options, see the documentation on \. ## ENVIRONMENT The following environment variables may be specified. ANSIBLE\_INVENTORY -- Override the default ansible inventory sources 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 \. or use the *ansible-config* command. ## FILES /etc/ansible/hosts -- Default inventory file /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-doc** (1), **ansible-galaxy** (1), **ansible-inventory** (1), **ansible-playbook** (1), **ansible-vault** (1) Extensive documentation is available in the documentation site: \<\\>. IRC and mailing list info can be found in file CONTRIBUTING.md, available in: \<\\>