# Creating my first Action plugin and have a few questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Developer\ **Tags:** galaxy-ng\ **Created:** [July 28, 2023, 8:46pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/creating-my-first-action-plugin-and-have-a-few-questions/38275 "2023-07-28T20:46:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kent\_Larsson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/fbc32d/32.png) [@Kent\_Larsson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Kent_Larsson)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 8:46pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/creating-my-first-action-plugin-and-have-a-few-questions/38275/1 "2023-07-28T20:46:23Z")
Hello folks! I’m creating an Action plugin to query a file for contents. I aim to publish it at Ansible Galaxy for myself to use, and perhaps it will be useful for someone else as well. It’s my first Ansible plugin, and it’s been a couple of years since I last touched Python as well, so I am in need of some guidance. I have this file tree: ansible\_collections/ └── myns └── query\_file ├── galaxy.yml ├── LICENSE ├── meta │ └── runtime.yml ├── plugins │ ├── action │ │ ├── args.json │ │ ├── query │ │ │ ├── config.py │ │ │ ├── parse.py │ │ │ ├── parse\_target\_container.py │ │ │ ├── select\_columns.py │ │ │ ├── target\_from.py │ │ │ ├── target.py │ │ │ ├── test\_parse\_dict.py │ │ │ ├── test\_parse\_list.py │ │ │ ├── test\_parse.py │ │ │ ├── test\_parse\_target\_container.py │ │ │ ├── test\_select\_columns.py │ │ │ ├── test\_shared.py │ │ │ ├── test\_target\_from\_string.py │ │ │ ├── test\_target\_init.py │ │ │ └── test\_target\_match\_in.py │ │ └── query\_file.py │ └── README.md ├── README.md ├── requirements.txt └── tests ├── integration │ ├── inventory │ └── targets │ └── action\_query\_file │ └── tasks │ └── test\_x.yml └── unit └── plugins └── action └── test\_y.py 1. query\_file.py contains my class which extends ActionBase. I use some more modern stuff like types, @singledispatch, and @dataclass. I think it will be hard to support Python 2.7 so I thought I’d stick with Python 3 only. Does that decision make sense? I thought so since it’s been a while now since Python 2.7 become unsupported. 2. If I go for Python 3 only, is there something I should do for ansible-test sanity to pass? It complains about some missing Python versions. 3. Next to as a sibling to query\_file.py I have a directory named query. It contains the generic logic which is pure Python and does not require Ansible. I’d like to keep that code split up as it is. Is there a better, more “standard”, place for it? 4. The query directory contains tests as well. I like my tests next to the files being tested, but it seems Ansible prefers a tests directory. Should I move my tests there for them to be executed well in a pipeline? Thank you very much for taking the time to read this far! I hope there are some knowledgable people here who can provide some answers. / Kent ---
**Author:** ![felixfontein](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/felixfontein/32/7530_2.png) [@felixfontein](https://forum.ansible.com/u/felixfontein)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2023, 4:41am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/creating-my-first-action-plugin-and-have-a-few-questions/38275/2 "2023-07-29T04:41:07Z")
Hi, >    1. query\_file.py contains my class which extends ActionBase. I use > some more modern stuff like types, @singledispatch, and @dataclass. I > think it will be hard to support Python 2.7 so I thought I'd stick > with Python 3 only. Does that decision make sense? I thought so since > it's been a while now since Python 2.7 become unsupported. If you want to support older ansible-core versions, you also should support Python 2.7, but if you stick to ansible-core 2.12+ there's no need for that. You can find a support matrix here: [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/reference\_appendices/release\_and\_maintenance.html#ansible-core-support-matrix](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/reference_appendices/release_and_maintenance.html#ansible-core-support-matrix) If your collection supports (as declared in meta/runtime.yml) ansible-core 2.12+ or even requires a later version, you can stick to Python 3.8+ on the controller side (action plugins always run on the controller side). >    2. If I go for Python 3 only, is there something I should do for >    ansible-test sanity to pass? It complains about some missing > Python versions. Which ansible-core version are you using? >    3. Next to as a sibling to query\_file.py I have a directory named > query. It contains the generic logic which is pure Python and does > not require Ansible. I'd like to keep that code split up as it is. Is > there a better, more "standard", place for it? The standard place would be somewhere in plugins/plugin\_utils/. Every file in plugins/action/ (and subdirectories) is supposed to be an action plugin. The JSON file in plugins/action/ might also cause problems. Do document your plugin, you also need a module stub in plugins/modules/ with DOCUMENTATION, RETURN, and EXAMPLES. >    4. The query directory contains tests as well. I like my tests > next to the files being tested, but it seems Ansible prefers a tests > directory. Should I move my tests there for them to be executed well > in a pipeline? ansible-test prefers tests for \/\.py to be in tests/unit/\/test\_\.py. Regarding tests/integration: >             │ └── targets >             │ └── action\_query\_file >             │ └── tasks >             │ └── test\_x.yml you should have a main.yml in targets/action\_query\_file/tasks/. Integration tests are an Ansible role, and `ansible-test integration` uses the default entrypoint. Cheers, Felix