ansible.builtin.get_url module – Downloads files from HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP to node
ansible.builtin.get_url module – Downloads files from HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP to node
https://docs.ansible.com/projects/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/get_url_module.html
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Important: The ansible-core 2.19/Ansible 12 release has made significant templating changes that might require you to update playbooks and roles. The templating changes enable reporting of numerous problematic behaviours that went undetected in previous releases, with wide-ranging positive effects on security, performance, and user experience. You should validate your content to ensure compatibility with these templating changes before upgrading to ansible-core 2.19 or Ansible 12. See the porting guide to understand where you may need to update your playbooks and roles.
ansible.builtin.get_url module – Downloads files from HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP to node Note
This module is part of ansible-core and included in all Ansible installations. In most cases, you can use the short module name get_url even without specifying the collections keyword. However, we recommend you use the Fully Qualified Collection Name (FQCN) ansible.builtin.get_url for easy linking to the module documentation and to avoid conflicting with other collections that may have the same module name.
Synopsis
Parameters
Attributes
Notes
See Also
Examples
Return Values
Synopsis Downloads files from HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP to the remote server. The remote server must have direct access to the remote resource.
By default, if an environment variable
HTTP redirects can redirect from HTTP to HTTPS so you should be sure that your proxy environment for both protocols is correct.
From Ansible 2.4 when run with –check, it will do a HEAD request to validate the URL but will not download the entire file or verify it against hashes and will report incorrect changed status.
For Windows targets, use the ansible.windows.win_get_url module instead.
Parameters Parameter
Comments
attributes aliases: attr
string
The attributes the resulting filesystem object should have.
To get supported flags look at the man page for chattr on the target system.
This string should contain the attributes in the same order as the one displayed by lsattr.
The = operator is assumed as default, otherwise + or - operators need to be included in the string.
backup boolean
Create a backup file including the timestamp information so you can get the original file back if you somehow clobbered it incorrectly.
Choices:
false ← (default)
true
checksum string
If a checksum is passed to this parameter, the digest of the destination file will be calculated after it is downloaded to ensure its integrity and verify that the transfer completed successfully. Format:
If you worry about portability, only the sha1 algorithm is available on all platforms and python versions.
The Python hashlib module is responsible for providing the available algorithms. The choices vary based on Python version and OpenSSL version.
On systems running in FIPS compliant mode, the md5 algorithm may be unavailable.
Additionally, if a checksum is passed to this parameter, and the file exist under the dest location, the destination_checksum would be calculated, and if checksum equals destination_checksum, the file download would be skipped (unless force=true). If the checksum does not equal destination_checksum, the destination file is deleted.
If the checksum URL requires username and password, url_username and url_password are used to download the checksum file.
Default: “”
ciphers list / elements=string
added in ansible-core 2.14
SSL/TLS Ciphers to use for the request.
When a list is provided, all ciphers are joined in order with :.
See the OpenSSL Cipher List Format for more details.
The available ciphers is dependent on the Python and OpenSSL/LibreSSL versions.
client_cert path
PEM formatted certificate chain file to be used for SSL client authentication.
This file can also include the key as well, and if the key is included, client_key is not required.
client_key path
PEM formatted file that contains your private key to be used for SSL client authentication.
If client_cert contains both the certificate and key, this option is not required.
decompress boolean
added in ansible-core 2.14
Whether to attempt to decompress gzip content-encoded responses.
Choices:
false
true ← (default)
dest path / required
Absolute path of where to download the file to.
If dest is a directory, either the server provided filename or, if none provided, the base name of the URL on the remote server will be used. If a directory, force has no effect.
If dest is a directory, the file will always be downloaded (regardless of the force and checksum option), but replaced only if the contents changed.
force boolean
If true and dest is not a directory, will download the file every time and replace the file if the contents change. If false, the file will only be downloaded if the destination does not exist. Generally should be true only for small local files.
Prior to 0.6, this module behaved as if true was the default.
Choices:
false ← (default)
true
force_basic_auth boolean
Force the sending of the Basic authentication header upon initial request.
httplib2, the library used by the uri module only sends authentication information when a webservice responds to an initial request with a 401 status. Since some basic auth services do not properly send a 401, logins will fail.
Choices:
false ← (default)
true
group string
Name of the group that should own the filesystem object, as would be fed to chown.
When left unspecified, it uses the current group of the current user unless you are root, in which case it can preserve the previous ownership.
headers dictionary
Add custom HTTP headers to a request in hash/dict format.
The hash/dict format was added in Ansible 2.6.
Previous versions used a “key:value,key:value” string format.
The “key:value,key:value” string format is deprecated and has been removed in version 2.10.
http_agent string
Header to identify as, generally appears in web server logs.
Default: “ansible-httpget”
mode any
The permissions the resulting filesystem object should have.
For those used to /usr/bin/chmod remember that modes are actually octal numbers. You must give Ansible enough information to parse them correctly. For consistent results, quote octal numbers (for example, ‘644’ or ‘1777’) so Ansible receives a string and can do its own conversion from string into number. Adding a leading zero (for example, 0755) works sometimes, but can fail in loops and some other circumstances.
Giving Ansible a number without following either of these rules will end up with a decimal number which will have unexpected results.
As of Ansible 1.8, the mode may be specified as a symbolic mode (for example, u+rwx or u=rw,g=r,o=r).
If mode is not specified and the destination filesystem object does not exist, the default umask on the system will be used when setting the mode for the newly created filesystem object.
If mode is not specified and the destination filesystem object does exist, the mode of the existing filesystem object will be used.
Specifying mode is the best way to ensure filesystem objects are created with the correct permissions. See CVE-2020-1736 for further details.
owner string
Name of the user that should own the filesystem object, as would be fed to chown.
When left unspecified, it uses the current user unless you are root, in which case it can preserve the previous ownership.
Specifying a numeric username will be assumed to be a user ID and not a username. Avoid numeric usernames to avoid this confusion.
selevel string
The level part of the SELinux filesystem object context.
This is the MLS/MCS attribute, sometimes known as the range.
When set to _default, it will use the level portion of the policy if available.
serole string
The role part of the SELinux filesystem object context.
When set to _default, it will use the role portion of the policy if available.
setype string
The type part of the SELinux filesystem object context.
When set to _default, it will use the type portion of the policy if available.
seuser string
The user part of the SELinux filesystem object context.
By default it uses the system policy, where applicable.
When set to _default, it will use the user portion of the policy if available.
timeout integer
Timeout in seconds for URL request.
Default: 10
tmp_dest path
Absolute path of where temporary file is downloaded to.
When run on Ansible 2.5 or greater, path defaults to ansible’s remote_tmp setting.
When run on Ansible prior to 2.5, it defaults to TMPDIR, TEMP or TMP env variables or a platform specific value.
https://docs.python.org/3/library/tempfile.html#tempfile.tempdir.
unredirected_headers list / elements=string
added in ansible-core 2.12
A list of header names that will not be sent on subsequent redirected requests. This list is case insensitive. By default all headers will be redirected. In some cases it may be beneficial to list headers such as Authorisation here to avoid potential credential exposure.
Default: []
unsafe_writes boolean
Influence when to use atomic operation to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target filesystem object.
By default this module uses atomic operations to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target filesystem objects, but sometimes systems are configured or just broken in ways that prevent this. One example is docker mounted filesystem objects, which cannot be updated atomically from inside the container and can only be written in an unsafe manner.
This option allows Ansible to fall back to unsafe methods of updating filesystem objects when atomic operations fail (however, it doesn’t force Ansible to perform unsafe writes).
IMPORTANT! Unsafe writes are subject to race conditions and can lead to data corruption.
Choices:
false ← (default)
true
url string / required
| HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP URL in the form (http | https | ftp://[user[:pass]]@host.domain[:port]/path). |
url_password aliases: password
string
The password for use in HTTP basic authentication.
If the url_username parameter is not specified, the url_password parameter will not be used.
Since version 2.8 you can also use the password alias for this option.
url_username aliases: username
string
The username for use in HTTP basic authentication.
This parameter can be used without url_password for sites that allow empty passwords.
Since version 2.8 you can also use the username alias for this option.
use_gssapi boolean
added in ansible-core 2.11
Use GSSAPI to perform the authentication, typically this is for Kerberos or Kerberos through Negotiate authentication.
Requires the Python library gssapi to be installed.
Credentials for GSSAPI can be specified with url_username/url_password or with the GSSAPI env var KRB5CCNAME that specified a custom Kerberos credential cache.
NTLM authentication is not supported even if the GSSAPI mech for NTLM has been installed.
Choices:
false ← (default)
true
use_netrc boolean
added in ansible-core 2.14
Determining whether to use credentials from ~/.netrc file.
By default .netrc is used with Basic authentication headers.
When false, .netrc credentials are ignored.
Choices:
false
true ← (default)
use_proxy boolean
if false, it will not use a proxy, even if one is defined in an environment variable on the target hosts.
Choices:
false
true ← (default)
validate_certs boolean
If false, SSL certificates will not be validated.
This should only be used on personally controlled sites using self-signed certificates.
Choices:
false
true ← (default)
Attributes Attribute
Support
Description
check_mode partial
the changed status will reflect comparison to an empty source file
Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target, if not supported the action will be skipped.
diff_mode none
Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode
platform Platform: posix
Target OS/families that can be operated against
Notes Note
For Windows targets, use the ansible.windows.win_get_url module instead.
See Also See also
ansible.builtin.uri Interacts with webservices.
ansible.windows.win_get_url Downloads file from HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP to node.
Examples
-
name: Download foo.conf ansible.builtin.get_url: url: http://example.com/path/file.conf dest: /etc/foo.conf mode: ‘0440’
-
name: Download file and force basic auth ansible.builtin.get_url: url: http://example.com/path/file.conf dest: /etc/foo.conf force_basic_auth: yes
-
name: Download file with custom HTTP headers ansible.builtin.get_url: url: http://example.com/path/file.conf dest: /etc/foo.conf headers: key1: one key2: two
-
name: Download file with check (sha256) ansible.builtin.get_url: url: http://example.com/path/file.conf dest: /etc/foo.conf checksum: sha256:b5bb9d8014a0f9b1d61e21e796d78dccdf1352f23cd32812f4850b878ae4944c
-
name: Download file with check (md5) ansible.builtin.get_url: url: http://example.com/path/file.conf dest: /etc/foo.conf checksum: md5:66dffb5228a211e61d6d7ef4a86f5758
-
name: Download file with checksum url (sha256) ansible.builtin.get_url: url: http://example.com/path/file.conf dest: /etc/foo.conf checksum: sha256:http://example.com/path/sha256sum.txt
-
name: Download file from a file path ansible.builtin.get_url: url: file:///tmp/a_file.txt dest: /tmp/afilecopy.txt
-
name: < Fetch file that requires authentication. username/password only available since 2.8, in older versions you need to use url_username/url_password ansible.builtin.get_url: url: http://example.com/path/file.conf dest: /etc/foo.conf username: bar password: ‘{{ mysecret }}’ Return Values Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:
Key
Description
backup_file string
name of backup file created after download
Returned: changed and if backup=yes
Sample: “/path/to/file.txt.2015-02-12@22:09~”
checksum_dest string
sha1 checksum of the file after copy
Returned: success
Sample: “6e642bb8dd5c2e027bf21dd923337cbb4214f827”
checksum_src string
sha1 checksum of the file
Returned: success
Sample: “6e642bb8dd5c2e027bf21dd923337cbb4214f827”
dest string
destination file/path
Returned: success
Sample: “/path/to/file.txt”
elapsed integer
The number of seconds that elapsed while performing the download
Returned: always
Sample: 23
gid integer
group id of the file
Returned: success
Sample: 100
group string
group of the file
Returned: success
Sample: “httpd”
md5sum string
md5 checksum of the file after download
Returned: when supported
Sample: “2a5aeecc61dc98c4d780b14b330e3282”
mode string
permissions of the target
Returned: success
Sample: “0644”
msg string
the HTTP message from the request
Returned: always
Sample: “OK (unknown bytes)”
owner string
owner of the file
Returned: success
Sample: “httpd”
secontext string
the SELinux security context of the file
Returned: success
Sample: “unconfined_u:object_r:user_tmp_t:s0”
size integer
size of the target
Returned: success
Sample: 1220
src string
source file used after download
Returned: always
Sample: “/tmp/tmpAdFLdV”
state string
state of the target
Returned: success
Sample: “file”
status_code integer
the HTTP status code from the request
Returned: always
Sample: 200
uid integer
owner id of the file, after execution
Returned: success
Sample: 100
url string
the actual URL used for the request
Returned: always
Sample: “https://www.ansible.com/”
Authors Jan-Piet Mens (@jpmens)
Collection links Issue Tracker Repository (Sources) Communication © Copyright Ansible project contributors. Last updated on Dec 29, 2025.