# Action plugins. **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [March 27, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-plugins/12594 "2013-03-27T17:41:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![C\_Morgan\_Hamill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@C\_Morgan\_Hamill](https://forum.ansible.com/u/C_Morgan_Hamill)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-plugins/12594/1 "2013-03-27T17:41:33Z")
A quick question: Is it possible for a user-made action plugin to be called with the shorthand task syntax (module: arg=argval ...)? The built-in action plugins (like fail, debug, etc.) are able to be called this way, but I think figuring out how that's managed will take longer than asking the list. I can call my action plugin with the regular 'action: module args...' syntax if necessary, but consistency is a fun thing. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-plugins/12594/2 "2013-03-27T17:46:22Z")
> A quick question: > > Is it possible for a user-made action plugin to be called with the > shorthand task syntax (module: arg=argval ...)? Yes. > The built-in action plugins (like fail, debug, etc.) are able to be > called this way, but I think figuring out how that's managed will take > longer than asking the list. > > I can call my action plugin with the regular 'action: module args...' > syntax if necessary, but consistency is a fun thing. Is there a reason it didn't seem to work for you? ---
**Author:** ![C\_Morgan\_Hamill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@C\_Morgan\_Hamill](https://forum.ansible.com/u/C_Morgan_Hamill)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-plugins/12594/3 "2013-03-27T17:58:31Z")
Excerpts from Michael DeHaan's message of 2013-03-27 13:46:22 -0400: > Is there a reason it didn't seem to work for you? ansible.cfg includes:     action\_plugins = ansible\_plugins/action\_plugins I've got a mock action plugin in:     $PWD/ansible\_plugins/action\_plugins/testaction.py It's a tiny mock module:     from ansible.runner.return\_data import ReturnData     class ActionModule(object):         def \_\_init\_\_(self, runner):             self.runner = runner         def run(self, conn, tmp, module\_name, module\_args, inject,                 complex\_args=None, \*\*kwargs):             return ReturnData(conn=conn, result={'failed': False,                                                  'msg': 'foo'}) A playbook, test.yml:     - hosts: testhost       tasks:         - testaction: hi=foo Then I run:     $ ansible-playbook -i test\_hosts test.yml -u root -v     ERROR: testaction is not a legal parameter in an Ansible task or handler I'm running devel from git as of 15 minutes ago or so. Perhaps I'm missing something? Thanks for the help! ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-plugins/12594/4 "2013-03-27T18:28:39Z")
IIRC, you need documentation stub in the ansible library directory. ---
**Author:** ![C\_Morgan\_Hamill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@C\_Morgan\_Hamill](https://forum.ansible.com/u/C_Morgan_Hamill)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 6:47pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/action-plugins/12594/5 "2013-03-27T18:47:47Z")
Excerpts from Michael DeHaan's message of 2013-03-27 14:28:39 -0400: > IIRC, you need documentation stub in the ansible library directory. Ahh, there we go. Thank you very much.