ansible/docsite/rst/developing_modules.rst

Developing Modules
==================

.. contents:: Topics

Ansible modules are reusable, standalone scripts that can be used by the Ansible API,
or by the :command:`ansible` or :command:`ansible-playbook` programs.  They
return information to ansible by printing a JSON string to stdout before
exiting.  They take arguments in in one of several ways which we'll go into
as we work through this tutorial.

See :doc:`modules` for a list of various ones developed in core.

Modules can be written in any language and are found in the path specified
by :envvar:`ANSIBLE_LIBRARY` or the ``--module-path`` command line option.

By default, everything that ships with Ansible is pulled from its source tree, but
additional paths can be added.

The directory :file:`./library`, alongside your top level :term:`playbooks`, is also automatically
added as a search directory.

Should you develop an interesting Ansible module, consider sending a pull request to the
`modules-extras project <https://github.com/ansible/ansible-modules-extras>`_.  There's also a core
repo for more established and widely used modules.  "Extras" modules may be promoted to core periodically,
but there's no fundamental difference in the end - both ship with Ansible, all in one package, regardless
of how you acquire Ansible.

.. _module_dev_tutorial:

Tutorial
````````

Let's build a very-basic module to get and set the system time.  For starters, let's build
a module that just outputs the current time.

We are going to use Python here but any language is possible.  Only File I/O and outputting to standard
out are required.  So, bash, C++, clojure, Python, Ruby, whatever you want
is fine.

Now Python Ansible modules contain some extremely powerful shortcuts (that all the core modules use)
but first we are going to build a module the very hard way.  The reason we do this is because modules
written in any language OTHER than Python are going to have to do exactly this.  We'll show the easy
way later.

So, here's an example.  You would never really need to build a module to set the system time,
the 'command' module could already be used to do this.

Reading the modules that come with Ansible (linked above) is a great way to learn how to write
modules.   Keep in mind, though, that some modules in Ansible's source tree are internalisms,
so look at :ref:`service` or :ref:`yum`, and don't stare too close into things like ``async_wrapper`` or
you'll turn to stone.  Nobody ever executes ``async_wrapper`` directly.

Ok, let's get going with an example.  We'll use Python.  For starters, save this as a file named :file:`timetest.py`::

    #!/usr/bin/python

    import datetime
    import json

    date = str(datetime.datetime.now())
    print json.dumps({
        "time" : date
    })

.. _module_testing:

Testing Modules
````````````````

There's a useful test script in the source checkout for Ansible::

    git clone git://github.com/ansible/ansible.git --recursive
    source ansible/hacking/env-setup

For instructions on setting up Ansible from source, please see
:doc:`intro_installation`.

Let's run the script you just wrote with that::

    ansible/hacking/test-module -m ./timetest.py

You should see output that looks something like this::

    {'time': '2012-03-14 22:13:48.539183'}

If you did not, you might have a typo in your module, so recheck it and try again.

.. _reading_input:

Reading Input
`````````````


Let's modify the module to allow setting the current time.  We'll do this by seeing
if a key value pair in the form `time=<string>` is passed in to the module.

Ansible internally saves arguments to an arguments file.  So we must read the file
and parse it.  The arguments file is just a string, so any form of arguments are legal.
Here we'll do some basic parsing to treat the input as key=value.

The example usage we are trying to achieve to set the time is::

   time time="March 14 22:10"

If no time parameter is set, we'll just leave the time as is and return the current time.

.. note::
   This is obviously an unrealistic idea for a module.  You'd most likely just
   use the command module.  However, it makes for a decent tutorial.

Let's look at the code.  Read the comments as we'll explain as we go.  Note that this
is highly verbose because it's intended as an educational example.  You can write modules
a lot shorter than this::

    #!/usr/bin/python

    # import some python modules that we'll use.  These are all
    # available in Python's core

    import datetime
    import sys
    import json
    import os
    import shlex

    # read the argument string from the arguments file
    args_file = sys.argv[1]
    args_data = file(args_file).read()

    # For this module, we're going to do key=value style arguments.
    # Modules can choose to receive json instead by adding the string:
    #   WANT_JSON
    # Somewhere in the file.
    # Modules can also take free-form arguments instead of key-value or json
    # but this is not recommended.

    arguments = shlex.split(args_data)
    for arg in arguments:

        # ignore any arguments without an equals in it
        if "=" in arg:

            (key, value) = arg.split("=")

            # if setting the time, the key 'time'
            # will contain the value we want to set the time to

            if key == "time":

                # now we'll affect the change.  Many modules
                # will strive to be idempotent, generally
                # by not performing any actions if the current
                # state is the same as the desired state.
                # See 'service' or 'yum' in the main git tree
                # for an illustrative example.

                rc = os.system("date -s \"%s\"" % value)

                # always handle all possible errors
                #
                # when returning a failure, include 'failed'
                # in the return data, and explain the failure
                # in 'msg'.  Both of these conventions are
                # required however additional keys and values
                # can be added.

                if rc != 0:
                    print json.dumps({
                        "failed" : True,
                        "msg"    : "failed setting the time"
                    })
                    sys.exit(1)

                # when things do not fail, we do not
                # have any restrictions on what kinds of
                # data are returned, but it's always a
                # good idea to include whether or not
                # a change was made, as that will allow
                # notifiers to be used in playbooks.

                date = str(datetime.datetime.now())
                print json.dumps({
                    "time" : date,
                    "changed" : True
                })
                sys.exit(0)

    # if no parameters are sent, the module may or
    # may not error out, this one will just
    # return the time

    date = str(datetime.datetime.now())
    print json.dumps({
        "time" : date
    })

Let's test that module::

    ansible/hacking/test-module -m ./timetest.py -a "time=\"March 14 12:23\""

This should return something like::

    {"changed": true, "time": "2012-03-14 12:23:00.000307"}

.. _binary_module_reading_input:

Binary Modules Input
++++++++++++++++++++

Support for binary modules was added in Ansible 2.2.  When Ansible detects a binary module, it will proceed to
supply the argument input as a file on ``argv[1]`` that is formatted as JSON.  The JSON contents of that file
would resemble something similar to the following payload for a module accepting the same arguments as the
``ping`` module::

    {
        "data": "pong",
        "_ansible_verbosity": 4,
        "_ansible_diff": false,
        "_ansible_debug": false,
        "_ansible_check_mode": false,
        "_ansible_no_log": false
    }

.. _module_provided_facts:

Module Provided 'Facts'
````````````````````````

The :ref:`setup` module that ships with Ansible provides many variables about a system that can be used in playbooks
and templates.  However, it's possible to also add your own facts without modifying the system module.  To do
this, just have the module return a `ansible_facts` key, like so, along with other return data::

    {
        "changed" : True,
        "rc" : 5,
        "ansible_facts" : {
            "leptons" : 5000,
            "colors" : {
                "red"   : "FF0000",
                "white" : "FFFFFF"
            }
        }
    }

These 'facts' will be available to all statements called after that module (but not before) in the playbook.
A good idea might be to make a module called 'site_facts' and always call it at the top of each playbook, though
we're always open to improving the selection of core facts in Ansible as well.

.. _common_module_boilerplate:

Common Module Boilerplate
`````````````````````````

As mentioned, if you are writing a module in Python, there are some very powerful shortcuts you can use.
Modules are still transferred as one file, but an arguments file is no longer needed, so these are not
only shorter in terms of code, they are actually FASTER in terms of execution time.

Rather than mention these here, the best way to learn is to read some of the `source of the modules <https://github.com/ansible/ansible-modules-core>`_ that come with Ansible.

The 'group' and 'user' modules are reasonably non-trivial and showcase what this looks like.

Key parts include always importing the boilerplate code from
:mod:`ansible.module_utils.basic` like this::

    from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule
    if __name__ == '__main__':
        main()

.. note::
    Prior to Ansible-2.1.0, importing only what you used from
    :mod:`ansible.module_utils.basic` did not work.  You needed to use
    a wildcard import like this::

        from ansible.module_utils.basic import *

And instantiating the module class like::

    def main():
        module = AnsibleModule(
            argument_spec = dict(
                state     = dict(default='present', choices=['present', 'absent']),
                name      = dict(required=True),
                enabled   = dict(required=True, type='bool'),
                something = dict(aliases=['whatever'])
            )
        )

The :class:`AnsibleModule` provides lots of common code for handling returns, parses your arguments
for you, and allows you to check inputs.

Successful returns are made like this::

    module.exit_json(changed=True, something_else=12345)

And failures are just as simple (where `msg` is a required parameter to explain the error)::

    module.fail_json(msg="Something fatal happened")

There are also other useful functions in the module class, such as :func:`module.sha1(path)`.  See
:file:`lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py` in the source checkout for implementation details.

Again, modules developed this way are best tested with the :file:`hacking/test-module` script in the git
source checkout.  Because of the magic involved, this is really the only way the scripts
can function outside of Ansible.

If submitting a module to Ansible's core code, which we encourage, use of
:class:`AnsibleModule` is required.

.. _developing_for_check_mode:

Check Mode
``````````
.. versionadded:: 1.1

Modules may optionally support check mode. If the user runs Ansible in check
mode, the module should try to predict whether changes will occur.

For your module to support check mode, you must pass ``supports_check_mode=True``
when instantiating the AnsibleModule object. The AnsibleModule.check_mode attribute
will evaluate to True when check mode is enabled. For example::

    module = AnsibleModule(
        argument_spec = dict(...),
        supports_check_mode=True
    )

    if module.check_mode:
        # Check if any changes would be made but don't actually make those changes
        module.exit_json(changed=check_if_system_state_would_be_changed())

Remember that, as module developer, you are responsible for ensuring that no
system state is altered when the user enables check mode.

If your module does not support check mode, when the user runs Ansible in check
mode, your module will simply be skipped.

.. _module_dev_pitfalls:

Common Pitfalls
```````````````

You should also never do this in a module::

    print "some status message"

Because the output is supposed to be valid JSON.

Modules must not output anything on standard error, because the system will merge
standard out with standard error and prevent the JSON from parsing. Capturing standard
error and returning it as a variable in the JSON on standard out is fine, and is, in fact,
how the command module is implemented.

If a module returns stderr or otherwise fails to produce valid JSON, the actual output
will still be shown in Ansible, but the command will not succeed.

Don't write to files directly; use a temporary file and then use the `atomic_move` function from `ansibile.module_utils.basic` to move the updated temporary file into place. This prevents data corruption and ensures that the correct context for the file is kept.

Avoid creating a module that does the work of other modules; this leads to code duplication and divergence, and makes things less uniform, unpredictable and harder to maintain. Modules should be the building blocks. Instead of creating a module that does the work of other modules, use Plays and Roles instead.  

Avoid creating 'caches'. Ansible is designed without a central server or authority, so you cannot guarantee it will not run with different permissions, options or locations. If you need a central authority, have it on top of Ansible (for example, using bastion/cm/ci server or tower); do not try to build it into modules.

Always use the hacking/test-module script when developing modules and it will warn
you about these kind of things.

.. _module_dev_conventions:

Conventions/Recommendations
```````````````````````````

As a reminder from the example code above, here are some basic conventions
and guidelines:

* If the module is addressing an object, the parameter for that object should be called 'name' whenever possible, or accept 'name' as an alias.

* If you have a company module that returns facts specific to your installations, a good name for this module is `site_facts`.

* Modules accepting boolean status should generally accept 'yes', 'no', 'true', 'false', or anything else a user may likely throw at them.  The AnsibleModule common code supports this with "type='bool'".

* Include a minimum of dependencies if possible.  If there are dependencies, document them at the top of the module file, and have the module raise JSON error messages when the import fails.

* Modules must be self-contained in one file to be auto-transferred by ansible.

* If packaging modules in an RPM, they only need to be installed on the control machine and should be dropped into /usr/share/ansible.  This is entirely optional and up to you.

* Modules must output valid JSON only. The toplevel return type must be a hash (dictionary) although they can be nested.  Lists or simple scalar values are not supported, though they can be trivially contained inside a dictionary.

* In the event of failure, a key of 'failed' should be included, along with a string explanation in 'msg'.  Modules that raise tracebacks (stacktraces) are generally considered 'poor' modules, though Ansible can deal with these returns and will automatically convert anything unparseable into a failed result.  If you are using the AnsibleModule common Python code, the 'failed' element will be included for you automatically when you call 'fail_json'.

* Return codes from modules are actually not significant, but continue on with 0=success and non-zero=failure for reasons of future proofing.

* As results from many hosts will be aggregated at once, modules should return only relevant output.  Returning the entire contents of a log file is generally bad form.

.. _module_documenting:

Documenting Your Module
```````````````````````

All modules included in the CORE distribution must have a
``DOCUMENTATION`` string. This string MUST be a valid YAML document
which conforms to the schema defined below. You may find it easier to
start writing your ``DOCUMENTATION`` string in an editor with YAML
syntax highlighting before you include it in your Python file.

.. _module_doc_example:

Example
+++++++

See an example documentation string in the checkout under `examples/DOCUMENTATION.yml <https://github.com/ansible/ansible/blob/devel/examples/DOCUMENTATION.yml>`_.

Include it in your module file like this::

    #!/usr/bin/python
    # Copyright header....

    DOCUMENTATION = '''
    ---
    module: modulename
    short_description: This is a sentence describing the module
    # ... snip ...
    '''

If an argument takes both C(True)/C(False) and C(Yes)/C(No), the documentation should use C(True) and C(False). 

The ``description``, and ``notes`` fields
support formatting with some special macros.

These formatting functions are ``U()``, ``M()``, ``I()``, and ``C()``
for URL, module, italic, and constant-width respectively. It is suggested
to use ``C()`` for file and option names, and ``I()`` when referencing
parameters; module names should be specified as ``M(module)``.

Examples should be written in YAML format in plain text in an
``EXAMPLES`` string within the module like this::

    EXAMPLES = '''
    - modulename:
        opt1: arg1
        opt2: arg2
    '''

The EXAMPLES section, just like the documentation section, is required in
all module pull requests for new modules.

The RETURN section documents what the module returns. For each value returned,
provide a ``description``, in what circumstances the value is ``returned``,
the ``type`` of the value and a ``sample``.  For example, from
the ``copy`` module::

    RETURN = '''
    dest:
        description: destination file/path
        returned: success
        type: string
        sample: "/path/to/file.txt"
    src:
        description: source file used for the copy on the target machine
        returned: changed
        type: string
        sample: "/home/httpd/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1423796390.97-147729857856000/source"
    md5sum:
        description: md5 checksum of the file after running copy
        returned: when supported
        type: string
        sample: "2a5aeecc61dc98c4d780b14b330e3282"
    ...
    '''

.. _module_dev_testing:

Building & Testing
++++++++++++++++++

Put your completed module file into the 'library' directory and then
run the command: ``make webdocs``. The new 'modules.html' file will be
built and appear in the 'docsite/' directory.

.. tip::

   If you're having a problem with the syntax of your YAML you can
   validate it on the `YAML Lint <http://www.yamllint.com/>`_ website.

.. tip::

    You can set the environment variable ANSIBLE_KEEP_REMOTE_FILES=1 on the controlling host to prevent ansible from
    deleting the remote files so you can debug your module.

.. _debugging_ansiblemodule_based_modules:

Debugging AnsibleModule-based modules
`````````````````````````````````````

.. tip::

    If you're using the :file:`hacking/test-module` script then most of this
    is taken care of for you.  If you need to do some debugging of the module
    on the remote machine that the module will actually run on or when the
    module is used in a playbook then you may need to use this information
    instead of relying on test-module.

Starting with Ansible-2.1.0, AnsibleModule-based modules are put together as
a zip file consisting of the module file and the various python module
boilerplate inside of a wrapper script instead of as a single file with all of
the code concatenated together.  Without some help, this can be harder to
debug as the file needs to be extracted from the wrapper in order to see
what's actually going on in the module.  Luckily the wrapper script provides
some helper methods to do just that.

If you are using Ansible with the :envvar:`ANSIBLE_KEEP_REMOTE_FILES`
environment variables to keep the remote module file, here's a sample of how
your debugging session will start::

    $ ANSIBLE_KEEP_REMOTE_FILES=1 ansible localhost -m ping -a 'data=debugging_session' -vvv
    <127.0.0.1> ESTABLISH LOCAL CONNECTION FOR USER: badger
    <127.0.0.1> EXEC /bin/sh -c '( umask 77 && mkdir -p "` echo $HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1461434734.35-235318071810595 `" && echo "` echo $HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1461434734.35-235318071810595 `" )'
    <127.0.0.1> PUT /var/tmp/tmpjdbJ1w TO /home/badger/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1461434734.35-235318071810595/ping
    <127.0.0.1> EXEC /bin/sh -c 'LANG=en_US.UTF-8 LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8 /usr/bin/python /home/badger/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1461434734.35-235318071810595/ping'
    localhost | SUCCESS => {
        "changed": false, 
        "invocation": {
            "module_args": {
                "data": "debugging_session"
            }, 
            "module_name": "ping"
        }, 
        "ping": "debugging_session"
    }

Setting :envvar:`ANSIBLE_KEEP_REMOTE_FILES` to ``1`` tells Ansible to keep the
remote module files instead of deleting them after the module finishes
executing.  Giving Ansible the ``-vvv`` optin makes Ansible more verbose.
That way it prints the file name of the temporary module file for you to see.

If you want to examine the wrapper file you can.  It will show a small python
script with a large, base64 encoded string.  The string contains the module
that is going to be executed.  Run the wrapper's explode command to turn the
string into some python files that you can work with::

    $ python /home/badger/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1461434734.35-235318071810595/ping explode
    Module expanded into:
    /home/badger/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1461434734.35-235318071810595/debug_dir

When you look into the debug_dir you'll see a directory structure like this::

    ├── ansible_module_ping.py
    ├── args
    └── ansible
        ├── __init__.py
        └── module_utils
            ├── basic.py
            └── __init__.py

* :file:`ansible_module_ping.py` is the code for the module itself.  The name
  is based on the name of the module with a prefix so that we don't clash with
  any other python module names.  You can modify this code to see what effect
  it would have on your module.

* The :file:`args` file contains a JSON string.  The string is a dictionary
  containing the module arguments and other variables that Ansible passes into
  the module to change it's behaviour.  If you want to modify the parameters
  that are passed to the module, this is the file to do it in.

* The :file:`ansible` directory contains code from
  :mod:`ansible.module_utils` that is used by the module.  Ansible includes
  files for any :`module:`ansible.module_utils` imports in the module but not
  no files from any other module.  So if your module uses
  :mod:`ansible.module_utils.url` Ansible will include it for you, but if
  your module includes :mod:`requests` then you'll have to make sure that
  the python requests library is installed on the system before running the
  module.  You can modify files in this directory if you suspect that the
  module is having a problem in some of this boilerplate code rather than in
  the module code you have written.

Once you edit the code or arguments in the exploded tree you need some way to
run it.  There's a separate wrapper subcommand for this::

    $ python /home/badger/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1461434734.35-235318071810595/ping execute
    {"invocation": {"module_args": {"data": "debugging_session"}}, "changed": false, "ping": "debugging_session"}

This subcommand takes care of setting the PYTHONPATH to use the exploded
:file:`debug_dir/ansible/module_utils` directory and invoking the script using
the arguments in the :file:`args` file.  You can continue to run it like this
until you understand the problem.  Then you can copy it back into your real
module file and test that the real module works via :command:`ansible` or
:command:`ansible-playbook`.

.. note::

    The wrapper provides one more subcommand, ``excommunicate``.  This
    subcommand is very similar to ``execute`` in that it invokes the exploded
    module on the arguments in the :file:`args`.  The way it does this is
    different, however.  ``excommunicate`` imports the :func:`main`
    function from the module and then calls that.  This makes excommunicate
    execute the module in the wrapper's process.  This may be useful for
    running the module under some graphical debuggers but it is very different
    from the way the module is executed by Ansible itself.  Some modules may
    not work with ``excommunicate`` or may behave differently than when used
    with Ansible normally.  Those are not bugs in the module; they're
    limitations of ``excommunicate``.  Use at your own risk.

.. _module_paths:

Module Paths
````````````

If you are having trouble getting your module "found" by ansible, be
sure it is in the :envvar:`ANSIBLE_LIBRARY` environment variable.

If you have a fork of one of the ansible module projects, do something like this::

    ANSIBLE_LIBRARY=~/ansible-modules-core:~/ansible-modules-extras

And this will make the items in your fork be loaded ahead of what ships with Ansible.  Just be sure
to make sure you're not reporting bugs on versions from your fork!

To be safe, if you're working on a variant on something in Ansible's normal distribution, it's not
a bad idea to give it a new name while you are working on it, to be sure you know you're pulling
your version.

.. _module_contribution:

Getting Your Module Into Ansible
````````````````````````````````

High-quality modules with minimal dependencies
can be included in Ansible, but modules (just due to the programming
preferences of the developers) will need to be implemented in Python and use
the AnsibleModule common code, and should generally use consistent arguments with the rest of
the program.   Stop by the mailing list to inquire about requirements if you like, and submit
a github pull request to the `extras <https://github.com/ansible/ansible-modules-extras>`_ project.
Included modules will ship with ansible, and also have a chance to be promoted to 'core' status, which
gives them slightly higher development priority (though they'll work in exactly the same way).

Module checklist
````````````````

The following  checklist items are important guidelines for people who want to contribute to the development of modules to Ansible on GitHub. Please read the guidelines before you submit your PR/proposal.

* The shebang should always be ``#!/usr/bin/python``, this allows ansible_python_interpreter to work
* Modules must be written to support Python 2.4. If this is not possible, required minimum python version and rationale should be explained in the requirements section in DOCUMENTATION.
* Modules must be written to use proper Python-3 syntax.  At some point in the future we'll come up with rules for running on Python-3 but we're not there yet.  See :doc:`developing_modules_python3` for help on how to do this.
* Documentation: Make sure it exists
    * Module documentation should briefly and accurately define what each module and option does, and how it works with others in the underlying system. Documentation should be written for broad audience--readable both by experts and non-experts. This documentation is not meant to teach a total novice, but it also should not be reserved for the Illuminati (hard balance).
    * If an argument takes both C(True)/C(False) and C(Yes)/C(No), the documentation should use C(True) and C(False). 
    * Descriptions should always start with a capital letter and end with a full stop. Consistency always helps.
    * The `required` setting is only required when true, otherwise it is assumed to be false.
    * If `required` is false/missing, `default` may be specified (assumed 'null' if missing). Ensure that the default parameter in docs matches default parameter in code.
    * Documenting `default` is not needed for `required: true`.
    * Remove unnecessary doc like `aliases: []` or `choices: []`.
    * Do not use Boolean values in a choice list . For example, in the list `choices: ['no', 'verify', 'always]`, 'no' will be interpreted as a Boolean value (you can check basic.py for BOOLEANS_* constants to see the full list of Boolean keywords). If your option actually is a boolean, just use `type=bool`; there is no need to populate 'choices'.
    * For new modules or options in a module add version_added. The version should match the value of the current development version and is a string (not a float), so be sure to enclose it in quotes.
    * Verify that arguments in doc and module spec dict are identical.
    * For password / secret arguments no_log=True should be set.
    * Requirements should be documented, using the `requirements=[]` field.
    * Author should be set, with their name and their github id, at the least.
    * Ensure that you make use of U() for urls, C() for files and options, I() for params, M() for modules.
    * If an optional parameter is sometimes required this need to be reflected in the documentation, e.g. "Required when C(state=present)."
    * Verify that a GPL 3 License header is included.
    * Does module use check_mode? Could it be modified to use it? Document it. Documentation is everyone's friend.
    * Examples--include them whenever possible and make sure they are reproducible.
    * Document the return structure of the module. Refer to :ref:`common_return_values` and :ref:`module_documenting` for additional information.
* Predictable user interface: This is a particularly important section as it is also an area where we need significant improvements.
    * Name consistency across modules (we’ve gotten better at this, but we still have many deviations).
    * Declarative operation (not CRUD)--this makes it easy for a user not to care what the existing state is, just about the final state. ``started/stopped``, ``present/absent``--don't overload options too much. It is preferable to add a new, simple option than to add choices/states that don't fit with existing ones.
    * Keep options small, having them take large data structures might save us a few tasks, but adds a complex requirement that we cannot easily validate before passing on to the module.
    * Allow an "expert mode". This may sound like the absolute opposite of the previous one, but it is always best to let expert users deal with complex data. This requires different modules in some cases, so that you end up having one (1) expert module and several 'piecemeal' ones (ec2_vpc_net?). The reason for this is not, as many users express, because it allows a single task and keeps plays small (which just moves the data complexity into vars files, leaving you with a slightly different structure in another YAML file). It does, however, allow for a more 'atomic' operation against the underlying APIs and services.
* Informative responses: Please note, that for  >= 2.0, it is required that return data to be documented.
    * Always return useful data, even when there is no change.
    * Be consistent about returns (some modules are too random), unless it is detrimental to the state/action.
    * Make returns reusable--most of the time you don't want to read it, but you do want to process it and re-purpose it.
    * Return diff if in diff mode. This is not required for all modules, as it won't make sense for certain ones, but please attempt to include this when applicable).
* Code: This applies to all code in general, but often seems to be missing from modules, so please keep the following in mind as you work.
    * Validate upfront--fail fast and return useful and clear error messages.
    * Defensive programming--modules should be designed simply enough that this should be easy. Modules should always handle errors gracefully and avoid direct stacktraces. Ansible deals with this better in 2.0 and returns them in the results.
    * Fail predictably--if we must fail, do it in a way that is the most expected. Either mimic the underlying tool or the general way the system works.
    * Modules should not do the job of other modules, that is what roles are for. Less magic is more.
    * Don't reinvent the wheel. Part of the problem is that code sharing is not that easy nor documented, we also need to expand our base functions to provide common patterns (retry, throttling, etc).
    * Support check mode. This is not required for all modules, as it won't make sense for certain ones, but please attempt to include this when applicable). For more information, refer to :ref:`check_mode_drift` and :ref:`check_mode_dry`.        
* Exceptions: The module must handle them. (exceptions are bugs)
    * Give out useful messages on what you were doing and you can add the exception message to that.
    * Avoid catchall exceptions, they are not very useful unless the underlying API gives very good error messages pertaining the attempted action.
* Module-dependent guidelines: Additional module guidelines may exist for certain families of modules.
    * Be sure to check out the modules themselves for additional information.
        * Amazon: https://github.com/ansible/ansible-modules-extras/blob/devel/cloud/amazon/GUIDELINES.md
    * Modules should make use of the "extends_documentation_fragment" to ensure documentation available. For example, the AWS module should include::

        extends_documentation_fragment:
            - aws
            - ec2

* The module must not use sys.exit() --> use fail_json() from the module object.
* Import custom packages in try/except and handled with fail_json() in main() e.g.::

    try:
        import foo
        HAS_LIB=True
    except:
        HAS_LIB=False

* The return structure should be consistent, even if NA/None are used for keys normally returned under other options.
* Are module actions idempotent? If not document in the descriptions or the notes.
* Import module snippets `from ansible.module_utils.basic import *` at the bottom, conserves line numbers for debugging.
* The module must have a `main` function that wraps the normal execution.
* Call your :func:`main` from a conditional so that it would be possible to
  import them into unittests in the future example::

    if __name__ == '__main__':
        main()

* Try to normalize parameters with other modules, you can have aliases for when user is more familiar with underlying API name for the option
* Being pep8 compliant is nice, but not a requirement. Specifically, the 80 column limit now hinders readability more that it improves it
* Avoid '`action`/`command`', they are imperative and not declarative, there are other ways to express the same thing
* Do not add `list` or `info` state options to an existing module - create a new `_facts` module.
* If you are asking 'how can I have a module execute other modules' ... you want to write a role
* Return values must be able to be serialized as json via the python stdlib
  json library.  basic python types (strings, int, dicts, lists, etc) are
  serializable.  A common pitfall is to try returning an object via
  exit_json().  Instead, convert the fields you need from the object into the
  fields of a dictionary and return the dictionary.
* When fetching URLs, please use either fetch_url or open_url from ansible.module_utils.urls 
  rather than urllib2; urllib2 does not natively verify TLS certificates and so is insecure for https. 
* facts modules must return facts in the ansible_facts field of the result
  dictionary. :ref:`module_provided_facts`
* modules that are purely about fact gathering need to implement check_mode.
  they should not cause any changes anyway so it should be as simple as adding
  check_mode=True when instantiating AnsibleModule.  (The reason is that
  playbooks which conditionalize based on fact information will only
  conditionalize correctly in check_mode if the facts are returned in
  check_mode).
* Basic auth: module_utils.api has some helpers for doing basic auth with
  module_utils.urls.fetch_url().  If you use those you may find you also want
  to fallback on environment variables for default values.  If you do that,
  be sure to use non-generic environment variables (like
  :envvar:`API_<MODULENAME>_USERNAME`).  Using generic environment variables
  like :envvar:`API_USERNAME` would conflict between modules.

Windows modules checklist
`````````````````````````
* Favour native powershell and .net ways of doing things over calls to COM libraries or calls to native executables which may or may not be present in all versions of windows
* modules are in powershell (.ps1 files) but the docs reside in same name python file (.py)
* look at ansible/lib/ansible/module_utils/powershell.ps1 for common code, avoid duplication
* Ansible uses strictmode version 2.0 so be sure to test with that enabled
* start with::

    #!powershell

  then::

    <GPL header>

  then::

    # WANT_JSON
    # POWERSHELL_COMMON
    
  then, to parse all arguments into a variable modules generally use::

    $params = Parse-Args $args

* Arguments:
    * Try and use state present and state absent like other modules
    * You need to check that all your mandatory args are present. You can do this using the builtin Get-AnsibleParam function. 
    * Required arguments::

        $package =  Get-AnsibleParam -obj $params -name name -failifempty $true

    * Required arguments with name validation::

        $state = Get-AnsibleParam -obj $params -name "State" -ValidateSet "Present","Absent" -resultobj $resultobj -failifempty $true

    * Optional arguments with name validation::

        $state = Get-AnsibleParam -obj $params -name "State" -default "Present" -ValidateSet "Present","Absent"

    * the If "FailIfEmpty" is true, the resultobj parameter is used to specify the object returned to fail-json. You can also override the default message 
      using $emptyattributefailmessage (for missing required attributes) and $ValidateSetErrorMessage (for attribute validation errors)
    * Look at existing modules for more examples of argument checking.

* Results
    * The result object should allways contain an attribute called changed set to either $true or $false
    * Create your result object like this::

        $result = New-Object psobject @{
        changed = $false
        other_result_attribute = $some_value
        };

        If all is well, exit with a
        Exit-Json $result

    * Ensure anything you return, including errors can be converted to json.
    * Be aware that because exception messages could contain almost anything.
    * ConvertTo-Json will fail if it encounters a trailing \ in a string.
    * If all is not well use Fail-Json to exit.

* Have you tested for powershell 3.0 and 4.0 compliance?

Deprecating and making module aliases
``````````````````````````````````````

Starting in 1.8, you can deprecate modules by renaming them with a preceding _, i.e. old_cloud.py to
_old_cloud.py. This keeps the module available, but hides it from the primary docs and listing.

You can also rename modules and keep an alias to the old name by using a symlink that starts with _.
This example allows the stat module to be called with fileinfo, making the following examples equivalent::

    EXAMPLES = '''
    ln -s stat.py _fileinfo.py
    ansible -m stat -a "path=/tmp" localhost
    ansible -m fileinfo -a "path=/tmp" localhost
    '''


.. seealso::

   :doc:`modules`
       Learn about available modules
   :doc:`developing_plugins`
       Learn about developing plugins
   :doc:`developing_api`
       Learn about the Python API for playbook and task execution
   `GitHub Core modules directory <https://github.com/ansible/ansible-modules-core/tree/devel>`_
       Browse source of core modules
   `Github Extras modules directory <https://github.com/ansible/ansible-modules-extras/tree/devel>`_
       Browse source of extras modules.
   `Mailing List <http://groups.google.com/group/ansible-devel>`_
       Development mailing list
   `irc.freenode.net <http://irc.freenode.net>`_
       #ansible IRC chat channel