From 698b8d64fc3a847758aa2aa96ea9bf0af55ffcce Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jordan Borean <jborean93@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 31 May 2025 00:12:45 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Exclude ansible._protomatter from ansible-doc output by
 default (#85115)

* Exclude ansible._protomatter from ansible-doc output by default

* Added changelog

(cherry picked from commit b4741fc49524ade72ab84276e3744c5016382a37)
---
 changelogs/fragments/ansible-doc-protomatter.yml |  2 ++
 lib/ansible/cli/doc.py                           |  8 +++++++-
 test/integration/targets/ansible-doc/test.yml    | 16 ++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 create mode 100644 changelogs/fragments/ansible-doc-protomatter.yml

diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/ansible-doc-protomatter.yml b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-doc-protomatter.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..47e8afdac4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-doc-protomatter.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+  - ansible-doc - Skip listing the internal ``ansible._protomatter`` plugins unless explicitly requested
diff --git a/lib/ansible/cli/doc.py b/lib/ansible/cli/doc.py
index 458d6db4d6d..c5c23120607 100755
--- a/lib/ansible/cli/doc.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/cli/doc.py
@@ -794,7 +794,13 @@ class DocCLI(CLI, RoleMixin):
         loader = DocCLI._prep_loader(plugin_type)
 
         coll_filter = self._get_collection_filter()
-        self.plugins.update(list_plugins(plugin_type, coll_filter))
+        plugin_list = list_plugins(plugin_type, coll_filter)
+
+        # Remove the internal ansible._protomatter plugins if getting all plugins
+        if not coll_filter:
+            plugin_list = {k: v for k, v in plugin_list.items() if not k.startswith('ansible._protomatter.')}
+
+        self.plugins.update(plugin_list)
 
         # get appropriate content depending on option
         if content == 'dir':
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/ansible-doc/test.yml b/test/integration/targets/ansible-doc/test.yml
index 7139b915609..685a09b0df9 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/ansible-doc/test.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/ansible-doc/test.yml
@@ -191,3 +191,19 @@
     - assert:
         that:
           - "'plugin broken_docs has malformed documentation' in r.msg"
+
+    - name: check ansible._protomatter excluded from output by default
+      command: ansible-doc -t filter --list
+      register: result
+
+    - assert:
+        that:
+          - result.stdout_lines | select("match", "^ansible\\._protomatter\\.") | length == 0
+
+    - name: check ansible._protomatter is shown when requested
+      command: ansible-doc ansible._protomatter -t filter --list
+      register: result
+
+    - assert:
+        that:
+          - result.stdout_lines | select("match", "^ansible\\._protomatter\\.") | length == result.stdout_lines | length