Demo Writting Playbook With Claude Code Cli

In this lesson you will use the Claude Code For Beginners CLI to generate and refine an Ansible playbook that installs and configures the Apache (httpd) web server on RHEL-based hosts. The walkthrough covers setting up a control-node workspace, generating a baseline playbook with Claude Code, refactoring to best practices (FQCNs, templates, lineinfile, handlers), validating, and running the playbook.

A presentation slide titled "Writing Playbook With Claude Code CLI" showing an illustration of a person at a computer. The slide notes testing Claude Code CLI’s ability to generate an Ansible playbook for Apache (httpd) setup.

Overview — workflow

Create a working directory and inventory
Configure ansible.cfg
Use Claude Code to generate site.yml (the playbook)
Validate and refactor the playbook (use FQCNs, add template, lineinfile, handlers)
Run ansible-lint / validate
Execute the playbook and verify the result

For quick reference, here’s the workflow in a compact table:

Step	Action	Why
1	Create workspace + inventory	Tell Ansible which hosts to manage
2	Configure ansible.cfg	Ensure consistent behaviour and privilege escalation
3	Generate site.yml via Claude Code	Quickly scaffold a working playbook
4	Refactor (FQCNs, template, lineinfile)	Improve clarity, maintainability, and idempotence
5	Lint/validate	Catch issues early with ansible-lint
6	Run playbook and verify	Confirm the web server is configured correctly

A dark-themed slide titled "Demo" listing six numbered steps. It outlines setting up a working directory, configuring the Claude Code CLI, generating and validating a playbook (site.yml), asking Claude to refactor it, and validating/executing the refactored playbook.

Preparation — create the control-node workspace Run these commands in your Claude Code workspace to create a working directory and files:

student@control:~/claude$ pwd
/home/student/claude
student@control:~/claude$ vim inventory
student@control:~/claude$ vim ansible.cfg
student@control:~/claude$ claude

Example inventory (inventory)

[webservers]
servera

Example ansible.cfg

[defaults]
inventory = inventory

[privilege_escalation]
become = true
become_user = root
become_method = sudo
become_ask_pass = false

Generate an initial playbook with Claude Code Start an interactive Claude Code session and ask it to create a playbook named site.yml that installs httpd on hosts in the webservers group (RHEL-based systems). Example CLI snippet:

student@control:~/claude$ claude

Claude Code v2.0.37

Welcome back andrei!
/home/student/claude

> Create an ansible playbook file called site.yml which installs httpd on the group of hosts called webservers which are RHEL-based systems.

Claude Code will typically generate a simple playbook like this. Open site.yml in your editor to inspect it. Initial generated site.yml

---
- name: Install and configure httpd on webservers
  hosts: webservers
  become: yes

  tasks:
    - name: Install httpd package
      yum:
        name: httpd
        state: present

    - name: Start and enable httpd service
      service:
        name: httpd
        state: started
        enabled: yes

Refactor to use Fully Qualified Collection Names (FQCNs) Best practice: use FQCNs such as ansible.builtin.yum and ansible.builtin.service to avoid ambiguity and ensure the intended module is executed. Ask Claude Code to refactor the playbook to FQCNs or update it yourself. site.yml with FQCNs

---
- name: Install and configure httpd on webservers
  hosts: webservers
  become: yes

  tasks:
    - name: Install httpd package
      ansible.builtin.yum:
        name: httpd
        state: present

    - name: Start and enable httpd service
      ansible.builtin.service:
        name: httpd
        state: started
        enabled: yes

Add a Jinja2 template to serve host facts Create a template that renders host-specific facts (hostname and fqdn) to /var/www/html/index.html. Example template (index.html.j2): index.html.j2

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Welcome</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Welcome to {{ ansible_hostname }}</h1>
    <p>This page is served from host: {{ ansible_fqdn }}</p>
</body>
</html>

Deploy the template and use lineinfile for attribution Rather than embedding the attribution directly into the template, demonstrate combining modules: deploy the template using ansible.builtin.template, then add an attribution line using ansible.builtin.lineinfile. Notify a handler to reload httpd when the file changes. Tasks to add

- name: Deploy index.html from template
  ansible.builtin.template:
    src: index.html.j2
    dest: /var/www/html/index.html
    owner: root
    group: root
    mode: '0644'
  notify: Reload httpd

- name: Add attribution line to index.html
  ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
    path: /var/www/html/index.html
    line: "This was created by ansible and claude"
    insertbefore: '</body>'
  notify: Reload httpd

Add the handler

handlers:
  - name: Reload httpd
    ansible.builtin.service:
      name: httpd
      state: reloaded

Consolidated site.yml Below is the full playbook that combines installation, service management, template deployment, line insertion, and the handler.

---
- name: Install and configure httpd on webservers
  hosts: webservers
  become: yes

  tasks:
    - name: Install httpd package
      ansible.builtin.yum:
        name: httpd
        state: present

    - name: Start and enable httpd service
      ansible.builtin.service:
        name: httpd
        state: started
        enabled: yes

    - name: Deploy index.html from template
      ansible.builtin.template:
        src: index.html.j2
        dest: /var/www/html/index.html
        owner: root
        group: root
        mode: '0644'
      notify: Reload httpd

    - name: Add attribution line to index.html
      ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
        path: /var/www/html/index.html
        line: "This was created by ansible and claude"
        insertbefore: '</body>'
      notify: Reload httpd

  handlers:
    - name: Reload httpd
      ansible.builtin.service:
        name: httpd
        state: reloaded

Linting and validation Before running the playbook in production, consider running ansible-lint to catch common issues:

ansible-lint site.yml

Execute the playbook Run the playbook from your control node:

student@control:~/claude$ ansible-playbook /home/student/claude/site.yml

Example playbook execution (trimmed)

PLAY [Install and configure httpd on webservers] ********************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *********************************************************
ok: [servera]

TASK [Install httpd package] ***************************************************
changed: [servera]

TASK [Start and enable httpd service] ******************************************
changed: [servera]

TASK [Deploy index.html from template] *****************************************
changed: [servera]

TASK [Add attribution line to index.html] **************************************
changed: [servera]

RUNNING HANDLER [Reload httpd] *************************************************
changed: [servera]

Verify on the managed host Confirm the web page is served and contains the expected facts and attribution.

student@servera:~$ curl localhost:80
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Welcome</title>

</head>
<body>
    <h1>Welcome to servera</h1>
    <p>This page is served from host: servera</p>
This was created by ansible and claude
</body>
</html>
student@servera:~$

Wrapping up You have used Claude Code For Beginners to scaffold an Ansible playbook, refactored it to follow best practices (FQCNs, templates, handlers), and executed it against a managed RHEL-based host. This pattern—generate, inspect, refactor, and validate—helps you move quickly while keeping playbooks maintainable and predictable. Links and references

Claude Code For Beginners course: https://learn.kodekloud.com/user/courses/claude-code-for-beginners
Jinja2 Basics (Mini Course): https://learn.kodekloud.com/user/courses/jinja2-basics-mini-course
Ansible documentation: https://docs.ansible.com/
ansible-lint: https://ansible-lint.readthedocs.io/

Use FQCNs (ansible.builtin.*) in playbooks to avoid ambiguity and ensure the intended module is executed.

Prerequisites

Ansible Refresher

Working With VS Code Extension

Using ChatGPT With Ansible

GitHub Copilot

Claude Code - CLI With Ansible

Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed

Demo Writting Playbook With Claude Code Cli

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