cmdbsyncer-inventory Plugin

cmdbsyncer-inventory is a standalone Ansible dynamic inventory plugin that pulls hosts and host vars from the Syncer. As of 0.2.0 it speaks two transports:

Mode	Backend	When to use
`local` (default)	Shells out to the local `cmdbsyncer` CLI (`cmdbsyncer ansible inventory <provider> --list`)	Ansible runs on the same host as the Syncer (the bundled UI runner uses this). Fastest and credential-free.
`http`	GETs `/api/v1/inventory/ansible/<provider>`	Ansible control node is a different host than the Syncer.

Both transports return identical data because they are backed by the same Syncer-side render function — see Inventory Providers for the full picture.

Source: kuhn-ruess/cmdbsyncer-inventory · PyPI: cmdbsyncer-inventory.

Installation

pip install cmdbsyncer-inventory
python -m cmdbsyncer_inventory

The second command registers the plugin with your active Ansible installation so ansible-inventory and ansible-playbook can load it by name. Run it once per Python environment you use for Ansible.

Local mode (default)

# inventory.yml
plugin: cmdbsyncer_inventory
mode: local                      # default — can be omitted
provider: ansible                # default — names a registered provider
# cmdbsyncer_bin: /opt/cmdbsyncer/cmdbsyncer    # optional override

ansible-inventory -i inventory.yml --list
ansible-playbook  -i inventory.yml site.yml

The Syncer's UI Runner sets CMDBSYNCER_INVENTORY_PROVIDER per-playbook based on the manifest, so a single inventory.yml works for every dispatched playbook — no per-playbook YAML duplication.

HTTP mode

Use this from a remote AWX, Semaphore, or any other Ansible control node that cannot run the Syncer CLI directly.

# inventory.yml
plugin: cmdbsyncer_inventory
mode: http
provider: ansible
api_url: https://your-cmdbsyncer.example.com
verify_ssl: true        # set to false only for self-signed test instances

Credentials come from env vars (recommended, so they do not end up in git):

export CMDBSYNCER_APIUSER="apiuser"
export CMDBSYNCER_APIPASSWORD="apisecret"

…or from the YAML (username: / password:). Env vars take precedence.

The plugin must reach https://<syncer>/api/v1/inventory/ansible/<provider>. Before going live verify with:

curl -H "x-login-user: USER:SECRET" https://your-syncer/api/v1/inventory/ansible/ansible | head

Selecting the provider

provider names a Syncer-side inventory provider. Bundled providers are ansible (host inventory) and cmk_sites (Checkmk site inventory used by cmk_server_mngmt.yml). Modules can register more — see Inventory Providers.

Two ways to set it:

YAML option provider: — stable per-inventory selection.
Env var CMDBSYNCER_INVENTORY_PROVIDER — wins over the YAML; how the Syncer's UI runner switches providers per playbook.

Configuration reference

Option	Mode	Default	Description
`plugin`	both	—	Must be `cmdbsyncer_inventory`.
`mode`	both	`local`	`local` or `http`. Env var: `CMDBSYNCER_INVENTORY_MODE`.
`provider`	both	`ansible`	Registered provider name. Env var: `CMDBSYNCER_INVENTORY_PROVIDER`.
`cmdbsyncer_bin`	local	`cmdbsyncer`	Path / name of the cmdbsyncer CLI.
`api_url`	http	—	Syncer base URL.
`username`	http	—	API user. Env var: `CMDBSYNCER_APIUSER`.
`password`	http	—	API password. Env var: `CMDBSYNCER_APIPASSWORD`.
`verify_ssl`	http	`true`	TLS cert verification.

Troubleshooting

cmdbsyncer binary not found (local mode) — the cmdbsyncer CLI is not on PATH for the Ansible execution context. Either put it on PATH, set cmdbsyncer_bin: to the absolute path, or switch to mode: http.

cmdbsyncer CLI exited 1: Unknown provider: … — the provider is not registered in this Syncer build. List registered providers with cmdbsyncer ansible list-inventory-providers.

REST API returned 401 (http mode) — Syncer rejected the credentials. Double-check CMDBSYNCER_APIUSER / CMDBSYNCER_APIPASSWORD and that the user has the ansible API role.

Empty host list — the provider returned no hosts. For the ansible provider this usually means no filter rules match. Validate on the Syncer with cmdbsyncer ansible debug_filter -l.

plugin: cmdbsyncer_inventory not recognised — the plugin was not registered in the active Python environment. Re-run python -m cmdbsyncer_inventory inside the venv that Ansible uses.