# Ansible Automation Web UI Comparison PRD

**Status:** Draft | **Author:** F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Hermes Agent) | **Date:** 2026-06-02

---

## 1. Purpose & Scope

This PRD evaluates web-based UIs for running and managing Ansible playbooks in the Iron Legion fleet. The focus is on self-hosted, Docker-friendly solutions that integrate with our existing Gitea SCM and are deployable on Swarm or standalone nodes.

**Tools Evaluated:**
1. Semaphore UI (Ansible-native) — RECOMMENDED
2. Kestra (Generic orchestration, Ansible-compatible)
3. AWX (Official Red Hat Ansible platform)
4. Rundeck (Ops automation with Ansible plugin)
5. Jenkins + Ansible Plugin (CI/CD generalist)

---

## 2. Requirements

**Must-Have:**
- [x] Docker Compose or Swarm deployable
- [x] Ansible playbook execution (not just shell scripts calling ansible)
- [x] Web UI for triggering runs, viewing logs, managing inventories
- [x] Self-hosted (no cloud dependency)
- [x] Works on Iron Legion architecture (x86_64, moderate RAM)

**Nice-to-Have:**
- [ ] Gitea webhook integration (auto-trigger on push)
- [ ] RBAC / multi-user access
- [ ] API for automation
- [ ] Scheduled runs (cron-like)
- [ ] Low resource footprint (fit on G9 nodes)

---

## 3. Comparison Matrix

| Criterion | Semaphore UI | Kestra | AWX | Rundeck | Jenkins + Ansible |
|-----------|-------------|--------|-----|---------|-------------------|
| **Primary Purpose** | Ansible-native runner | Generic workflow engine | Enterprise Ansible platform | Ops automation | CI/CD generalist |
| **Docker Compose** | ✅ Simple | ✅ Simple | ⚠️ Complex (K8s preferred) | ✅ Simple | ✅ Simple |
| **RAM Needed** | ~256 MB | ~512 MB | ~4 GB (6+ GB recommended) | ~512 MB | ~1 GB |
| **Ansible Integration** | Native | Via shell/HTTP tasks | Native | Plugin-based | Plugin-based |
| **Inventory Management** | Built-in (static + dynamic) | Via external files | Advanced (sources, scripts) | Basic | Via files/plugins |
| **Gitea Webhooks** | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ⚠️ Requires AWX project sync | ✅ Via plugin | ✅ Via SCM polling |
| **RBAC / Multi-user** | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ Enterprise-grade | ✅ | ✅ Plugin-based |
| **Scheduled Runs** | ✅ Cron UI | ✅ Triggers | ✅ Schedules | ✅ Jobs scheduler | ✅ Cron trigger plugin |
| **Log Viewer** | ✅ Real-time | ✅ Real-time | ✅ Real-time + facts | ✅ | ✅ Plugin-dependent |
| **Vault Integration** | ✅ Key store built-in | Via secrets | ✅ Native | Via plugins | Via plugins |
| **Complexity** | Low | Medium | High | Medium | High |

---

## 4. Tool Deep-Dives

### 4.1 Semaphore UI (RECOMMENDED)

**Why it wins:** Purpose-built for Ansible, minimal footprint, fast UI, and fits Iron Legion constraints.

**Docker Compose:**

```yaml
services:
  mysql:
    image: mysql:8.0
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: semaphore-db-password
      MYSQL_DATABASE: semaphore
      MYSQL_USER: semaphore
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: semaphore-db-password
    volumes:
      - semaphore-mysql:/var/lib/mysql
    restart: unless-stopped

  semaphore:
    image: semaphoreui/semaphore:latest
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      SEMAPHORE_DB_DIALECT: mysql
      SEMAPHORE_DB_HOST: mysql
      SEMAPHORE_DB_NAME: semaphore
      SEMAPHORE_DB_USER: semaphore
      SEMAPHORE_DB_PASS: semaphore-db-password
      SEMAPHORE_ADMIN_PASSWORD: admin-password
      SEMAPHORE_ADMIN_NAME: admin
      SEMAPHORE_ADMIN_EMAIL: admin@localhost
      SEMAPHORE_ADMIN: admin
      # Optional: Telegram / Slack / Gitea integration
      SEMAPHORE_WEBHOOK: "1"
    volumes:
      - semaphore-config:/etc/semaphore
      - /path/to/ansible/playbooks:/playbooks:ro
      - /path/to/inventories:/inventories:ro
      - /path/to/ssh/keys:/ssh:ro
    depends_on:
      - mysql
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  semaphore-mysql:
    driver: local
  semaphore-config:
    driver: local
```

**Key Features:**
- **Project-centric:** Organize playbooks into projects with separate inventories, env vars, and access
- **Task Templates:** Define reusable job definitions with variables and surveys
- **Key Store:** Built-in encrypted vault for SSH keys, passwords, Ansible vault passwords
- **Cron Schedules:** UI-driven scheduling without crontab
- **Real-time Logs:** WebSocket-based live log streaming
- **Gitea Integration:** Add a Gitea repository as a project, clone on each run, webhooks for auto-trigger

**Resource Footprint:**
- MySQL: ~200 MB RAM
- Semaphore: ~50–100 MB RAM
- Total: **~300 MB** — deployable on any G9 worker node

**Cons:**
- Smaller community than AWX/Jenkins
- Less granular RBAC than AWX
- No built-in credential plugins (e.g., HashiCorp Vault) — must use env vars or files

---

### 4.2 Kestra

**What it is:** Language-agnostic workflow orchestration platform with a visual DAG editor. Not Ansible-specific, but can invoke Ansible via `io.kestra.plugin.scripts.shell.Commands` or `io.kestra.plugin.core.http.Request`.

**Docker Compose:**

```yaml
volumes:
  postgres-data:
    driver: local
  kestra-data:
    driver: local

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:18
    volumes:
      - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: kestra
      POSTGRES_USER: kestra
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: k3str4

  kestra:
    image: kestra/kestra:latest
    user: "root"
    command: server standalone
    volumes:
      - kestra-data:/app/storage
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - /tmp/kestra-wd:/tmp/kestra-wd
      - /path/to/ansible:/ansible:ro
    environment:
      KESTRA_CONFIGURATION: |
        datasources:
          postgres:
            url: jdbc:postgresql://postgres:5432/kestra
            password: k3str4
        repository:
          type: postgres
        storage:
          type: local
          local:
            base-path: "/app/storage"
        queue:
          type: postgres
        url: http://localhost:8080/
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    depends_on:
      - postgres
```

**Key Features:**
- **Visual DAG Editor:** Drag-and-drop workflow construction
- **Rich Triggers:** Schedule, webhook, event-driven (Kafka, S3, HTTP)
- **Plugin Ecosystem:** 400+ plugins (not Ansible-native — invoke via shell)
- **Scalability:** Built for large-scale data pipelines; may be overkill for fleet Ansible

**Resource Footprint:**
- PostgreSQL: ~300 MB RAM
- Kestra: ~512 MB–1 GB RAM
- Total: **~1 GB** — heavier than Semaphore

**Verdict for Iron Legion:** Powerful but misaligned. We need Ansible-native execution, not generic workflow orchestration. Use Kestra for data/ETL pipelines, not playbook management.

---

### 4.3 AWX

**What it is:** The upstream open-source project behind Ansible Automation Platform (formerly Ansible Tower). Full-featured enterprise Ansible management.

**Key Features:**
- **Projects:** Link to Git repos (Gitea supported), auto-sync on push
- **Inventories:** Static, dynamic (custom scripts, cloud providers), smart inventories
- **Job Templates:** Parameterized with surveys, credentials, and RBAC
- **Workflows:** Chain multiple job templates into visual pipelines
- **RBAC:** Teams, organizations, user roles — most granular of all options
- **Notifications:** Email, Slack, webhook on job success/failure

**Deployment:**
- Docker Compose exists but is officially a **development** target; production requires Kubernetes
- Requires Redis, PostgreSQL, memcached, and multiple AWX services
- Total RAM: **4–6 GB minimum**

**Verdict for Iron Legion:** Overkill. Our fleet nodes (G9: ~11 GB RAM) could run AWX, but it would consume half a node's capacity. G9 nodes are better used as PVE workers with LXCs. AWX belongs on a dedicated management VM or MK7 if hardware permits.

---

### 4.4 Rundeck

**What it is:** Open-source operations automation platform with an Ansible plugin.

**Docker Compose:** Simple single-container deployment with external database.

**Key Features:**
- **Job Definitions:** YAML or XML, supports Ansible ad-hoc and playbook execution
- **Node Inventory:** Static or dynamic via Ansible inventory scripts
- **ACL Policies:** File-based RBAC
- **Scheduled Executions:** Built-in scheduler
- **Plugin Architecture:** Ansible, Slack, HTTP webhooks

**Resource Footprint:**
- Rundeck: ~512 MB RAM
- MySQL/PostgreSQL: ~200–300 MB
- Total: **~700–800 MB**

**Verdict for Iron Legion:** Viable middle-ground. Better than Jenkins for Ansible, but Semaphore is purpose-built and lighter. Rundeck's strength is multi-tool orchestration (Ansible + scripts + HTTP APIs), which we don't need yet.

---

### 4.5 Jenkins + Ansible Plugin

**What it is:** General-purpose CI/CD platform with Ansible integration via plugins.

**Docker Compose:**

```yaml
services:
  jenkins:
    image: jenkins/jenkins:lts
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
      - "50000:50000"
    volumes:
      - jenkins-data:/var/jenkins_home
      - /path/to/ansible/playbooks:/playbooks:ro
      - /path/to/inventories:/inventories:ro
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  jenkins-data:
    driver: local
```

**Key Features:**
- **Pipelines:** Groovy-based Jenkinsfile pipelines for Ansible execution
- **Blue Ocean:** Modern UI for pipeline visualization
- **Plugin Ecosystem:** Massive library (Ansible, Slack, Git, Gitea)
- **Distributed Builds:** Agent nodes for parallel playbook runs

**Resource Footprint:**
- Jenkins: ~1 GB RAM (grows with plugin load)
- Optional agents: variable
- Total: **~1–2 GB**

**Verdict for Iron Legion:** Wrong tool for the job. Jenkins excels at CI/CD pipelines (build → test → deploy), not at day-to-day Ansible playbook management. The UI is pipeline-centric, not inventory- or template-centric. Use Jenkins for software CI/CD, not fleet automation.

---

## 5. Recommendation

| Use Case | Recommended Tool |
|----------|---------------|
| **Primary Ansible playbook runner** | **Semaphore UI** |
| Complex enterprise RBAC + workflows | AWX (on dedicated VM) |
| Generic workflow orchestration (not Ansible-specific) | Kestra |
| Multi-tool ops automation (Ansible + scripts + APIs) | Rundeck |
| Software CI/CD pipelines | Jenkins |

**Iron Legion Path Forward:**
1. **Deploy Semaphore UI** on MK7 Swarm or a lightweight LXC on MK33
2. Create a Project pointing to `Iron-Legion/ansible-playbooks` on Gitea
3. Configure inventories, task templates, and schedules
4. Add Gitea webhook to auto-trigger Semaphore tasks on push to `main`
5. **Optional:** Evaluate AWX later if RBAC/complexity demands grow — deploy on a dedicated management LXC with 4 GB RAM reservation

---

## 6. Open Questions

1. **Should Semaphore run as a standalone Docker Compose stack or as a Swarm service?**
   - Standalone: simpler, survives Swarm reconfiguration
   - Swarm: automatic placement, Traefik ingress, less manual maintenance

2. **Where does the Ansible inventory live?**
   - Option A: In the Gitea repo alongside playbooks (version-controlled)
   - Option B: Static files on the Semaphore host (faster Semaphore startup)
   - Option C: Dynamic inventory script pulling from Technitium DNS/PVE API

3. **Gitea webhook reachability:**
   - Gitea on Neo (`192.168.192.24`) → Semaphore on MK7 or G9 node
   - Must ensure Semaphore endpoint is reachable from Neo (LAN routing)
   - Can use Tailscale as fallback

---

*End of PRD — Iron Legion Labs*