Ansible Automation Portal Content Discovery: Unified Catalog for Collections, Repos, and Playbooks

Ansible content is typically spread across private automation hub, Git repositories, and individual team repos. Content Discovery in the Automation Portal (AAP 2.7) continuously syncs all of these sources into a single, searchable catalog.

What Gets Synced

Private Automation Hub

Certified and validated collections across configured repositories are automatically indexed: • Certified collections from Red Hat and partners • Validated collections vetted by Red Hat • Custom collections uploaded to your private hub

Example collections synced: • ansible.controller (Certified) • ansible.eda (Certified) • ansible.network (Certified)

Customer Collections

Auto-discover customer collections from your organization's GitHub or GitLab: • Scans configured organizations automatically • Detects galaxy.yml files in repositories • Indexes collection metadata (version, dependencies, modules)

Git Repositories

Customer Git repositories are added to the catalog view: • Playbooks — ready-to-use automation • CI activity — build status and recent changes • Source links — direct links to repository files

See also: Ansible Automation Platform Self-Service Portal: Automation as a Service (Complete Guide)

Administrative Controls

Predefined Scope

Admins select which repositories should be discoverable and apply filtering: • Include/exclude specific repos • Filter by topic, language, or team • Control visibility per organization

User-Controlled Sync

• Configurable schedule — hourly, daily, weekly sync • On-demand — manual sync trigger • Sync progress — visible in the portal (initialized, completed, in progress)

Governance by Design

AAP Admins control what automation teams can discover: • Teams only see content relevant to their role • Prevents discovery of sensitive or internal-only content • Audit trail for content access

The Automation Lifecycle

Content Discovery is part of a continuous feedback loop:

    ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
    │                                                  │
    ▼                                                  │
┌─────────┐    ┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐    │
│ Discover │───►│ Create and   │───►│ Deploy and   │───►│
│          │    │ edit         │    │ manage       │    │
│ Content  │    │              │    │              │    │
│ discovery│    │ Golden Paths │    │ Self-service │    │
│          │    │ + AI         │    │ automation   │    │
└─────────┘    │              │    └──────────────┘    │
               │ EE Builder   │                        │
               └──────────────┘    ┌──────────────┐    │
                                   │ Monitor and  │────┘
                                   │ optimize     │
                                   │              │
                                   │ Playbook     │
                                   │ modernization│
                                   │ engine       │
                                   └──────────────┘
A continuous feedback and accountability loop for
scaling governance, standards, and best practices

See also: Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 Architecture and Components: Complete Guide

Catalog View

The unified catalog displays collections with:

| Field | Description | |---|---| | Collection name | e.g., ansible.controller | | Version | Current version (e.g., v4.5.0) | | Source | Private Automation Hub, GitHub, GitLab | | Source type | Certified, Validated, Community, Custom | | Sync status | Initialized, Completed, In Progress | | Last synced | Timestamp of last sync |

Filtering Options

• Source type: Certified, Validated, Community • Source: Private hub, GitHub org, GitLab group • Tags: Network, cloud, security, etc. • Repository: Specific repo filter

FAQ

How often does content sync?

Configurable per source — from continuous to daily. On-demand sync is always available for immediate updates.

Can I include content from Ansible Galaxy?

The portal focuses on your organization's content ecosystem (private hub + Git). Galaxy content should be mirrored to your private hub for inclusion in the catalog.

Does Content Discovery replace Automation Hub?

No. It complements Hub by providing a unified search across Hub AND Git repositories. Hub remains the authoritative source for certified content.

Can teams publish their own collections to the catalog?

Yes, if their Git repos are in scope. Any repo with a valid galaxy.yml is auto-discovered and indexed.

Is Content Discovery available in AAP 2.6?

Content Discovery is part of the Automation Portal, which is GA with AAP 2.7 (June 3, 2026).

See also: AAP 2.6 Execution Environments: Build, Manage, and Deploy Custom EEs

Related Articles

• Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7: What's New • Ansible Automation Platform Self-Service Portal • Ansible Visual EE Builder Guide • Ansible Galaxy Complete Guide