---
id: molecule-docker
version: "2.1.0"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: abandoned
---

# molecule-docker — Molecule aids in the development and testing of Ansible roles

License: permissive · Maintenance: abandoned · Downloads: 605.7K/mo

## What it is and what it does

Molecule Docker Plugin is a driver that integrates Docker containers into Molecule's Ansible role testing workflow. It allows developers to provision and manage test containers as the target infrastructure for running Ansible playbooks and roles during development and validation cycles.

The plugin depends on the community.docker Ansible collection and the docker Python module to manage container lifecycle. It was designed to work with Molecule's standard testing patterns but is no longer actively maintained—the repository was archived and has received no updates since 2023-01-02. While it remains installable and may work with compatible versions of its dependencies, users should be aware that bug fixes and compatibility updates are no longer being released.

Use it for:

- Test Ansible roles against multiple container images (CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian) in a single test run.
- Develop and validate Ansible playbooks locally using Docker containers before deployment to production.
- Integrate Ansible role testing into CI/CD pipelines using containerized test environments.
- Verify role idempotency and handler behavior across different Linux distributions via Docker.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Molecule Docker Plugin enables Docker containers as test infrastructure for Ansible role development and testing through Molecule's testing framework.

No. The package is abandoned (archived repository, no commits since 2023-01-02) and receives no maintenance. While it may still function with compatible versions of molecule, docker, and community.docker, there is no support pathway for bugs or compatibility issues. For new projects, use an actively maintained Molecule driver or container testing framework instead.

## Install

pip install molecule-docker
uv add molecule-docker
poetry add molecule-docker

## Installing molecule-docker

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel, but the package is abandoned as of 2023-01-02 with no active maintenance. The repository is archived and no updates have been released since the latest release on 2022-09-29.

License in practice: MIT license is permissive and imposes no significant restrictions on use, modification, or distribution.

Quickstart:

pip install molecule-docker

from molecule_docker import driver
# Configure molecule.yml to use docker driver
# molecule test

Requires community.docker Ansible collection and a compatible version of the docker Python module; system-packaged Ansible versions may have incompatible dependencies.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the abandoned status and lack of maintenance since 2023-01-02 creates compatibility issues with current Ansible or Docker versions.
- Whether community.docker collection updates have introduced breaking changes relative to this plugin's last release.
- Current usability with Python 3.10 and 3.11 despite abandoned maintenance status.

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: abandoned
- Downloads: 605.7K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

ansible role testing with docker, molecule docker driver, container-based ansible testing, ansible test automation docker, molecule provisioning docker, ansible development testing containers, ansible-testing, docker-driver, abandoned

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/molecule-docker) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/molecule-docker/)