Start and Step ====================== .. versionadded:: 1.8 .. contents:: Topics This shows a few special ways to run playbooks, very useful for testing and debugging. Start-at-task ````````````` .. versionadded:: 1.2 If you want to start executing your playbook at a particular task, you can do so with the ``--start-at`` option:: ansible-playbook playbook.yml --start-at="install packages" The above will start executing your playbook at a task named "install packages". Step ```` .. versionadded:: 1.1 Playbooks can also be executed interactively with ``--step``:: ansible-playbook playbook.yml --step This will cause ansible to stop on each task, and ask if it should execute that task. Say you had a task called "configure ssh", the playbook run will stop and ask:: Perform task: configure ssh (y/n/c): Answering "y" will execute the task, answering "n" will skip the task, and answering "c" will continue executing all the remaining tasks without asking.