How to use Ansible Playbook Syntax Checker

What it does

Audit Ansible YAML tasks to identify syntax and spacing issues offline. It runs entirely in your browser — your input never leaves your device.

Options

Every setting this tool exposes, straight from the code that validates it.

Worked example

Run these settings on the tool page:

• playbook: example
• strictness: Strict
• autoCorrect: true

You get:

{
  "valid": false,
  "issues": [
    "Error: An Ansible playbook must start as a list/array (YAML sequence). Make sure tasks or plays start with a dash '-' prefix."
  ],
  "formatted": "example"
}

Getting the result you want

Most of the control here is in the options above. If the output is not what you expected, the setting to check first is strictness and autoCorrect — those change the shape of the output rather than the input it accepts.

Troubleshooting

• Nothing happens / the output stays empty. playbook is required — the tool waits until you provide it.
• It is slow on very large input. Everything runs in your browser, so speed depends on your device. Very large inputs are best split up, or run through the API where the work happens on our servers.

Automating it

The same logic is available as a REST endpoint, so you can run it from a script, a CI job or your own app.

Bash
curl "https://api.toolsxpo.com/v1/ansible-syntax-checker" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOOLSXPO_KEY"

It costs 1 credit per successful call. See the full endpoint reference, or try it in the playground.

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