Designer
Edit forms, playbooks, inventories and workflows in the browser
For form authors: the designer’s sections, and what each of their tabs shows.
The designer needs the showDesigner role option. It edits one item at a time, a form, a playbook or a workflow file, with its sections in the left menu. Changing the playbooks also needs allowPlaybookDesign (on by default): without it, the Playbooks section is read-only and the server refuses to save, create, remove or push a playbook. Forms and workflows can still pick a playbook, and the other sections are not affected. Only one person edits at a time: see The designer lock.
Its sections
Each section edits one kind of file, kept locally or in a repository:
| Section | What it edits |
|---|---|
| Forms | The form files |
| Categories | The categories of config.yaml |
| Constants | The constants of config.yaml |
| Vars files | The vars files that forms load |
| Playbooks | The playbooks that forms and workflows run |
| Inventories | The inventories: inventory.yaml, group_vars and host_vars |
| Workflows | The workflow files |
The sections with files list them in a file explorer and open the first one; a section with no files yet says so. The Inventories and Workflows sections have a + button in the toolbar for a new inventory or workflow.
Its tabs
Every section has the same three tabs, all on the same YAML: an edit in one shows in the others, and Save saves it.
- YAML is the file as it is written.
- Visual edits it with fields. Only the keys an edit touches change, so comments and the rest stay as written.
- Preview shows what it does, and edits nothing.
What the Visual and Preview tabs show, section by section:
| Section | Visual | Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Forms | The form’s settings and its fields, with lists of the designer’s playbooks, inventories and workflows | The form as it is now, unsaved edits included; its submit runs nothing |
| Categories | The categories as a table, edited | The Forms page’s menu, built from them |
| Constants | The constants as an outline, edited (a key moves with the arrow keys) | Each constant with its reference, $(NAME), to copy, and the forms that use it |
| Vars files | The variables, edited | Each variable with its reference in a playbook, ``, to copy, and the forms that load the file |
| Playbooks | The plays: each play’s name, hosts, Become, Gather facts and roles, and its tasks, each with its module and arguments | The playbook’s outline: its plays, with their hosts, roles and tasks, and the playbooks it imports |
| Inventories | The groups, their child groups, their hosts, and the variables each sets | The inventory as a tree, with its group_vars and host_vars |
| Workflows | The workflow’s graph, to edit it | A dry run: click a node to make it fail |
When the YAML cannot be read, the Visual and Preview tabs say why, with Show in YAML to open the YAML on the line.