molecule
Molecule aids in the development and testing of Ansible roles
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. Molecule is production-stable, actively maintained, permissively licensed, and has low install friction. It is the standard testing framework for Ansible content development. Install it if you develop or maintain Ansible roles, playbooks, or collections and want to automate testing across diverse infrastructure targets.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.10 or later and Ansible installed (via ansible-core dependency).
- Molecule supports only the latest two major versions of Ansible (N/N-1).
- Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel distribution.
License · maintenance · safety
MIT (permissive) — MIT license is permissive, allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions—you may use, modify, and distribute Molecule freely as long as you include the license notice.
last release 2026-08-12 (2 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-13 · 4,134 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 2,394,163 downloads/mo, #3,084 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install molecule
molecule --version
molecule init scenario --scenario-name default- Whether Molecule's test scenarios can run in CI/CD pipelines without additional setup beyond the listed dependencies.
- Support for specific container runtimes or orchestration platforms beyond the general 'any system reachable from Ansible' claim.
What it is and what it does
Molecule is a testing framework built on top of Ansible that helps developers validate Ansible roles, playbooks, and collections. It uses standard Ansible features—inventory, playbooks, and collections—to run test scenarios against any infrastructure Ansible can reach: containers, VMs, cloud services, APIs, databases, and network devices. The framework encourages consistent, well-written Ansible content by automating the testing workflow.
The package is actively maintained by the Ansible community and requires Python 3.10 or later, supporting only the two most recent major versions of Ansible. It ships as a pure-Python wheel with 11 runtime dependencies including ansible-core, click for CLI handling, and rich for terminal output formatting. Installation is straightforward and friction-free.
Use it for
- Test Ansible roles across multiple OS distributions and container images in a single scenario.
- Validate playbook logic and variable handling before deploying to production infrastructure.
- Verify Ansible collection functionality and compatibility across supported Ansible versions.
- Automate inventory configuration validation and dynamic inventory source testing.
- Run integration tests for Ansible content in CI/CD pipelines targeting cloud or on-premises systems.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
Molecule is production-stable, actively maintained, permissively licensed, and has low install friction. It is the standard testing framework for Ansible content development. Install it if you develop or maintain Ansible roles, playbooks, or collections and want to automate testing across diverse infrastructure targets.
Install
molecule on PyPI
Before you install
Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel distribution. Actively maintained with a release 2 days ago and recent commits. Requires Python 3.10 or later and depends on 11 runtime packages including ansible-core, click, and rich for CLI functionality.
Requires Python 3.10 or later and Ansible installed (via ansible-core dependency). Molecule supports only the latest two major versions of Ansible (N/N-1).
License in practice
MIT license is permissive, allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions—you may use, modify, and distribute Molecule freely as long as you include the license notice.
Quickstart
pip install molecule
molecule --version
molecule init scenario --scenario-name defaultVerify before relying
- Whether Molecule's test scenarios can run in CI/CD pipelines without additional setup beyond the listed dependencies.
- Support for specific container runtimes or orchestration platforms beyond the general 'any system reachable from Ansible' claim.
Package facts
| License | MIT permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.10 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 11 packagesansible-compatansible-coreclickenrichjinja2jsonschemapackagingpluggypyyamlrichwcmatch |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 2 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 2,394,163 / month, #3,084 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableEnvironment :: ConsoleIntended Audience :: DevelopersIntended Audience :: Information TechnologyIntended Audience :: System AdministratorsOperating System :: MacOSOperating System :: POSIXProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Topic :: Software Development :: Bug TrackingTopic :: Software Development :: Quality AssuranceTopic :: Software Development :: TestingTopic :: System :: Systems AdministrationTopic :: Utilities |
Evidence: molecule-26.8.0-py3-none-any.whl
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See also molecule-docker · mitogen · molecule-plugins · molecule-vagrant · molecule-multipass · ansible-base · ansible-dev-tools · pytest-ansible · ansible-core · ansible-builder