The ansible-galaxy init command is used to create the files and directories used for roles. If you are not familiar with roles, check out our Getting Started with Ansible Roles article. In this example, a directory named "apache" will be created, the files and directories for the foo role is created.

~]$ ansible-galaxy init foo
- Role foo was created successfully

Target directory (--init-path)

In this example, the foo role would be created in the present working directory, as can be seen here.

~]$ ansible-galaxy init --help
. . .
  --init-path INIT_PATH
                        The path in which the skeleton role will be created.
                        The default is the current working directory.

Notice that the --init-path option can be used to specify the directory where the role should reside, like this.

~]$ ansible-galaxy init foo --init-path /etc/ansible/roles
- Role foo was created successfully

Overwrite existing (--force)

If there is already a role named foo at /etc/ansible/roles, the --force option would overwrite the current foo role. This is typically something you wouldn't want to do.

~]$ ansible-galaxy init apache --init-path /etc/ansible/roles --force
- Role apache was created successfully

Here is what the contents of the foo directory will contain.

~]$ ls -l /etc/ansible/roles/apache
drwxrwxr-x. 2 root root   21 May 11 11:53 defaults
drwxrwxr-x. 2 root root    6 May 11 11:53 files
drwxrwxr-x. 2 root root   21 May 11 11:53 handlers
drwxrwxr-x. 2 root root   21 May 11 11:53 meta
-rw-rw-r--. 1 root root 1328 May 11 11:53 README.md
drwxrwxr-x. 2 root root   21 May 11 11:53 tasks
drwxrwxr-x. 2 root root    6 May 11 11:53 templates
drwxrwxr-x. 2 root root   37 May 11 11:53 tests
drwxrwxr-x. 2 root root   21 May 11 11:53 vars

Template / Skeleton

Let's say you will only plan to ever use the 'tasks' and 'vars' roles directories. In this scenario, it may make sense to create a roles template, like this.

~]$ ls -l /etc/ansible/roles/template
drwxrwxr-x. 2 root root   21 May 11 11:53 tasks
drwxrwxr-x. 2 root root   21 May 11 11:53 vars

When creating a role, the --role-skeleton option can be used to create the role from the template.

~]$ ansible-galaxy init foo --init-path /etc/ansible/roles --role-skeleton /etc/ansible/roles/template
- Role apache was created successfully