# Questions regarding inventory plugins **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Developer\ **Created:** [August 27, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/questions-regarding-inventory-plugins/28432 "2018-08-27T21:34:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Luke\_Murphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ee59a6/32.png) [@Luke\_Murphy](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Luke_Murphy)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/questions-regarding-inventory-plugins/28432/1 "2018-08-27T21:34:49Z")
Hi folks, Following #44721[1], I've been investigating how to write a Linode inventory plugin. Along with the questions in that ticket (happy if anyone can help answer!) I have some more general questions: \* What is the return value of inventory plugins? They all seem to be different.   Is there some standard format? For example, a JSON response format. \* Is there are best practice for writing these plugins? Looking at the   plugin list[1], they all seem to take different approaches with   filters, groups and querying parameters. My assumption is that I should try to mimic what the cloud provider exposes. So, in the case of Linode, as the existing Linode inventory script does, we expose linode IDs, datacenter IDs and group names, etc. This some how feels quite ad-hoc and perhaps confusing to users who will use inventory plugins ('what do I actually get from this plugin to target!?'). Here's all the documentation I can find right now: > [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/plugins/inventory.html](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/plugins/inventory.html) I'd like to improve this, if possible, with the following discussion. Thanks, Luke [1]: [https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/44721](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/44721) [2]: [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/plugins/inventory.html#plugin-list](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/plugins/inventory.html#plugin-list) ---
**Author:** ![sivel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/sivel/32/1198_2.png) [@sivel](https://forum.ansible.com/u/sivel)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 9:43pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/questions-regarding-inventory-plugins/28432/2 "2018-08-27T21:43:54Z")
There is an open PR to provide a little more documentation for users converting an inventory script to an inventory plugin: [https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/44727](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/44727) That might be of use (Note: I haven’t yet read through the changes) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/1X/1882d9a01da5d8996a862359b0913cc568a39b84.svg) [@system](https://forum.ansible.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 11:41pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/questions-regarding-inventory-plugins/28432/3 "2018-08-27T23:41:43Z")
To clarify, unlike inventory scripts, inventory plugins don't 'return' a format, they update the inventory itself. ---
**Author:** ![Luke\_Murphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ee59a6/32.png) [@Luke\_Murphy](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Luke_Murphy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 9:18am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/questions-regarding-inventory-plugins/28432/4 "2018-08-29T09:18:52Z")
Thanks to you both! That documentation PR is certainly helpful, I think I have enough to push forward writing that inventory plugin now 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Luke\_Murphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ee59a6/32.png) [@Luke\_Murphy](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Luke_Murphy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2018, 12:02pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/questions-regarding-inventory-plugins/28432/5 "2018-10-09T12:02:26Z")
To update, this inventory plugin arrived! Please consider using it vs. the old Linode inventory script. [https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/45902](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/45902) Will be released in 2.8, now in `devel`. Best, Luke