---
title: Test-Driven Ansible Role Development with Molecule
date: 2019-06-02
excerpt: Some resources that I found for testing Ansible roles with a tool called Molecule.
tags:
    - ansible
    - molecule
    - testing
    - video
---

I used to maintain a number of [Ansible roles][roles], and I recently wrote one
for automatically generating `settings.php` files for Drupal projects that I use
for some client projects as part of the [Ansible and Ansistrano deployment
process][talk], as it can populate these files with credentials stored in
Ansible Vault.

I uploaded an initial version of the role [onto GitHub][github], but haven’t yet
released it onto Ansible Galaxy.

I’d seen in other people’s roles and read elsewhere about writing automated
tests for Ansible roles using a tool called [Molecule][molecule], and wanted to
write some tests for this role before publishing it onto Galaxy.

I looked around for resources about Molecule, and found a [blog post by Jeff
Geerling][jeff-post], but also this YouTube video that I found very helpful.

I’ve since been re-writing the role from scratch based on Molecule, and plan to
release an official version of it soon.

{% include 'youtube-video' with { id: DAnMyBZ8-Qs } %}

[github]: https://github.com/opdavies/ansible-role-drupal-settings
[jeff-post]:
  https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2018/testing-your-ansible-roles-molecule
[molecule]: https://molecule.readthedocs.io
[roles]:
  https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_reuse_roles.html
[talk]: /talks/deploying-php-ansible-ansistrano