Cache plugins

Cache plugins allow Ansible to store gathered facts or inventory source data without the performance hit of retrieving them from the source.

The default cache plugin is the memory plugin, which only caches the data for the current execution of Ansible. Other plugins with persistent storage are available to allow caching of the data across runs. Some of these cache plugins write to files, and others write to databases.

You can use different cache plugins for inventory and facts. If you enable inventory caching without setting an inventory-specific cache plugin, Ansible uses the fact cache plugin for both facts and inventory. If necessary, you can create custom cache plugins.

A cache plugin implementation is an internal implementation detail, and should not be relied upon by external uses. The format of the data or how it is stored is a concern for the plugin, and this data may change or even be absent. As such, the cache of ansible.builtin.jsonfile, community.general.redis, or any other cache plugin should not be interrogated external to the cache plugin itself.

The cache maintained by a cache plugin is only to be used indirectly within a playbook, without any concept that the data even came from a cache.

Enabling fact cache plugins 

Fact caching is always enabled. However, only one fact cache plugin can be active at a time. You can select the cache plugin to use for fact caching in the Ansible configuration, either with an environment variable:

export ANSIBLE_CACHE_PLUGIN=jsonfile

or in the ansible.cfg file:

[defaults]
fact_caching=redis

If the cache plugin is in a collection use the fully qualified name:

[defaults]
fact_caching = namespace.collection_name.cache_plugin_name

To enable a custom cache plugin, save it in one of the directory sources configured in ansible.cfg or in a collection and then reference it by FQCN.

You also need to configure other settings specific to each plugin. Consult the individual plugin documentation or the Ansible configuration for more details.

Note

The existence of the cache, or an individual item in the cache should not be a hard requirement. Playbooks should not be written in a way as to potentially failing if the cache or a specific value is missing. A cache hit or miss should not affect a playbook operation.

Enabling inventory cache plugins 

Inventory caching is disabled by default. To cache inventory data, you must enable inventory caching and then select the specific cache plugin you want to use. Not all inventory plugins support caching, so check the documentation for the inventory plugin(s) you want to use. You can enable inventory caching with an environment variable:

export ANSIBLE_INVENTORY_CACHE=True

or in the ansible.cfg file:

[inventory]
cache=True

or if the inventory plugin accepts a YAML configuration source, in the configuration file:

# dev.aws_ec2.yaml
plugin: aws_ec2
cache: True

Only one inventory cache plugin can be active at a time. You can set it with an environment variable:

export ANSIBLE_INVENTORY_CACHE_PLUGIN=jsonfile

or in the ansible.cfg file:

[inventory]
cache_plugin=jsonfile

or if the inventory plugin accepts a YAML configuration source, in the configuration file:

# dev.aws_ec2.yaml
plugin: aws_ec2
cache_plugin: jsonfile

To cache inventory with a custom plugin in your plugin path, follow the developer guide on cache plugins.

To cache inventory with a cache plugin in a collection, use the FQCN:

[inventory]
cache_plugin=collection_namespace.collection_name.cache_plugin

If you enable caching for inventory plugins without selecting an inventory-specific cache plugin, Ansible falls back to caching inventory with the fact cache plugin you configured. Consult the individual inventory plugin documentation or the Ansible configuration for more details.

Using cache plugins 

Cache plugins are used automatically once they are enabled.

Plugin list 

You can use ansible-doc -t cache -l to see the list of available plugins. Use ansible-doc -t cache <plugin name> to see plugin-specific documentation and examples.

Cache plugins

Enabling fact cache plugins

Enabling inventory cache plugins

Using cache plugins

Plugin list

Enabling fact cache plugins 

Enabling inventory cache plugins 

Using cache plugins 

Plugin list 