Using the Ansible Python API, how can I get access to task level outputs in my code?

Question

I use a playbook runner like so:

stats = callbacks.AggregateStats()                                           
playbook_cb = callbacks.PlaybookCallbacks(verbose=1)           
runner_cb = callbacks.PlaybookRunnerCallbacks(stats, verbose=1)                                 

pb = ansible.playbook.PlayBook(
... # basic info
)                                                                          
results = pb.run()

The results variable contains output like the following:

{"status": 1, "result": {"127.0.0.1": {"unreachable": 0, "skipped": 0, "ok": 3, "changed": 2, "failures": 0}}}

Which is fine. But I also need the task level output like the dict shown below:

changed: [127.0.0.1] => {"changed": true, "name": "apache2", "state": "started"}

I tried changing the verbosity, but that was not what I wanted.

After digging around I managed to get the output to a log file like so:

from ansible import constants as C
C.DEFAULT_LOG_PATH = 'project.log'
reload(callbacks)

But I need access to it in my code.

Answer 1

You probably can't get exactly the json format you wanted, but you can get the same information by extending the callback classes and write your own handlers to events that you are interested.

Also make sure that you give the classes to the Playbook instance like this:

pb = ansible.playbook.PlayBook(
    ... # basic info
    callbacks= playbook_cb,
    runner_callbacks=runner_cb
)        

Links:

• Methods for Runner Callbaks
• Methods for Playbook Callbaks

Edit: In this case the solution was to extend the AggregateStat class instead. Code examples below provided by @Tom_Sawyyer

from ansible.callbacks import AggregateStats                                 

class CustomAggregateStats(AggregateStats):                                         
"""                                                                             
Holds stats about per-host activity during playbook runs.                       
"""                                                                             
def __init__(self):                                                             
    super(CustomAggregateStats, self).__init__()                                
    self.results = {}                                                           

def compute(self, runner_results, setup=False, poll=False,                      
            ignore_errors=False):                                               
    """                                                                         
    Walk through all results and increment stats.                               
    """                                                                         
    super(CustomAggregateStats, self).compute(runner_results, setup, poll,   
                                              ignore_errors)                    

    for (host, value) in runner_results.get('contacted', {}).iteritems():       
        if 'invocation' in value:                                               
            if value['invocation']['module_name'] == 'service':            
                self.results['service_name'] = value['name']                        

def summarize(self, host):                                                      
    """                                                                         
    Return information about a particular host                                  
    """                                                                         
    summarized_info = super(CustomAggregateStats, self).summarize(host)         

    # Adding the info I need                                                    
    summarized_info['result'] = self.results                                    

    return summarized_info

And finally:

my_stats = CustomAggregateStats()
pb = ansible.playbook.PlayBook(
    ... # basic info
    stats=my_stats,
)     

Giving output:

{"127.0.0.1": {"skipped": 0, "ok": 3, "changed": 2, "result": {"service_name": "apache2"}, "failures": 0, "unreachable": 0}}