Ansible unarchive Module: Extract tar, zip & gz Archives (ansible.builtin.unarchive) — Video Tutorial

The `ansible.builtin.unarchive` module extracts compressed archives (tar, tar.gz, tar.bz2, tar.xz, zip) on remote hosts. It copies from the Ansible controller or downloads from a URL, extracts to a target directory, and handles permissions and ownership — all in a single task. How to Extract an Archive in Ansible? I'm going to show you a live Playbook and some simple Ansible code. I'm Luca Berton and welcome to today's episode of Ansible Pilot. The full name is `ansible.builtin.unarchive`, part of the builtin collection shipped with Ansible. It's stable, works across Linux distributions, and handles `.zip` files using `unzip` as well as `.tar`, `.tar.gz`, `.tar.bz2`, `.tar.xz`, and `.tar.zst` files using `gtar`. For Windows targets, use the `community.windows.win_unzip` module instead. Basic Usage Extract Local Archive to Remote Host By default, `src` is a path on the Ansible controller. The archive is copied to the remote host, then extracted: ```yaml - name: Extract application archive ansible.builtin.unarchive: src: files/myapp-2.1.0.tar.gz dest: /opt/myapp/ owner: appuser group: appuser mode: '0755' become: true ``` Extract Archive Already on Remote Host When the archive is already on the remote host, set `remote_src: true`: ```yaml - name: Extract remote archive ansible.builtin.unarchive: src: /tmp/myapp-2.1.0.tar.gz dest: /opt/myapp/ remote_src: true become: true ``` Download and Extract from URL Set `remote_src: true` with an HTTP/HTTPS URL as `src` to download and extract in one step: ```yaml - name: Download and extract from URL ansible.builtin.unarchive: src: https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releases/download/v2.52.0/prometheus-2.52.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz dest: /opt/ remote_src: true become: true ``` Parameters Reference | Parameter | Type | Description | Default | |-----------|------|-------------|---------| | `src` | string | Archive path (local, remote, or URL) | **Required** | | `dest` | string | Target extraction directory | **Required** | | `remote_src` | boolean | Source is on remote host or URL | `false` | | `owner` | string | Set owner of extracted files | — | | `group` | string | Set group of extracted files | — | | `mode` | string | Set permissions of extracted files | — | | `creates` | string | Skip if this path exists (idempotency) | — | | `exclude` | list | Files/dirs to exclude from extraction | — | | `include` | list | Files/dirs to include in extraction | — | | `keep_newer` | boolean | Don't overwrite newer files on remote | `false` | | `extra_opts` | list | Extra command-line options for tar/unzip | — | | `list_files` | boolean | Return list of extracted files in result | `false` | | `validate_certs` | boolean | Validate SSL certs for HTTPS URLs | `true` | Idempotent Extraction Using creates Parameter The `creates` parameter is the recommended way to make extraction idempotent: ```yaml - name: Extract application (idempotent) ansible.b