Ansible Partner Certification Checker GitHub Workflow v2.0.0

Introduction

Red Hat released version 2.0.0 of the Partner Certification Checker GitHub workflow in May 2026. This reusable GitHub Actions workflow lets collection maintainers run the same certification tests Red Hat uses — directly in their CI/CD pipeline. Catch certification failures early, before submitting to Automation Hub.

What It Does

The certification checker validates your Ansible collection against Red Hat's partner certification requirements:

Metadata validation — galaxy.yml completeness and correctness
Documentation checks — module/plugin documentation standards
Sanity tests — ansible-test sanity compliance
License verification — acceptable open source licenses
Import checks — no banned imports or dependencies
Runtime compatibility — works with supported ansible-core versions
Plugin standards — return values, option documentation, examples

Quick Start

# .github/workflows/certification.yml
name: Certification Check

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  certify:
    uses: ansible/certification-checker/.github/workflows/check.yml@v2.0.0
    with:
      collection_path: .

That's it — one workflow call runs the full certification suite.

What's New in v2.0.0

Feature	v1.x	v2.0.0
Ansible-core versions tested	2.15-2.17	2.17-2.20
Python versions	3.9-3.11	3.10-3.13
Parallel test execution	❌	✅
Detailed error reports	Basic	Rich markdown summaries
Custom config support	Limited	Full `.certification.yml`
Reusable workflow	❌	✅ (uses: syntax)

Configuration

# .certification.yml (in collection root)
---
# Skip specific checks if needed
skip_checks:
  - import-check  # Only if you have a documented exception

# Target specific ansible-core versions
ansible_core_versions:
  - "2.18"
  - "2.19"
  - "2.20"

# Python versions to test
python_versions:
  - "3.11"
  - "3.12"
  - "3.13"

Full Workflow Example

name: Collection CI

on:
  push:
    branches: [main, develop]
  pull_request:

jobs:
  # Run your own tests first
  unit-tests:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: "3.12"
      - run: pip install ansible-core
      - run: ansible-test units --docker

  # Then run certification checks
  certification:
    needs: unit-tests
    uses: ansible/certification-checker/.github/workflows/check.yml@v2.0.0
    with:
      collection_path: .

  # Integration tests
  integration:
    needs: certification
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: "3.12"
      - run: pip install ansible-core
      - run: ansible-test integration --docker

Common Certification Failures

Failure	Fix
Missing `DOCUMENTATION` in module	Add YAML doc string to all modules
Invalid `galaxy.yml` version	Use semantic versioning (x.y.z)
Banned import (e.g., `requests`)	Use `ansible.module_utils.urls` instead
Missing `RETURN` documentation	Document all return values
No `EXAMPLES` section	Add at least one working example
Incompatible license	Use GPL-3.0-or-later or Apache-2.0
Runtime metadata missing	Add `meta/runtime.yml` with requires_ansible

Pre-Submission Checklist

# Run locally before pushing
ansible-test sanity --docker
ansible-test units --docker

# Check galaxy.yml
cat galaxy.yml  # Verify namespace, name, version, license, dependencies

# Check meta/runtime.yml
cat meta/runtime.yml  # Verify requires_ansible version range

# Verify documentation
ansible-doc -l --playbook-dir . | grep your_module_name

Why Use the Workflow

Without	With
Submit to Automation Hub → wait days for feedback	Get results in minutes on every PR
Fix issues → resubmit → wait again	Fix immediately, submit once
Manual `ansible-test` runs	Automated in CI/CD
Forget to test against multiple versions	Matrix testing built-in

Collection Structure for Certification

my_collection/
├── galaxy.yml              # Collection metadata
├── meta/
│   └── runtime.yml         # Ansible version requirements
├── plugins/
│   └── modules/
│       └── my_module.py    # DOCUMENTATION + EXAMPLES + RETURN
├── roles/
├── tests/
│   ├── sanity/
│   ├── unit/
│   └── integration/
├── docs/
├── changelogs/
│   └── changelog.yaml
├── LICENSE                  # GPL-3.0+ or Apache-2.0
└── .certification.yml       # Optional config

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Workflow not found	Use `uses: ansible/certification-checker/.github/workflows/check.yml@v2.0.0`
Permission denied	Ensure workflow has `contents: read` permission
Timeout	Large collections may need longer timeout; check parallel execution settings
False positives	File issue on the certification-checker repo
Version mismatch	Pin to `@v2.0.0` tag, not `@main`

Best Practices

Run on every PR — catch issues before merge
Pin the workflow version — @v2.0.0 not @main
Fix all warnings too — warnings become errors in future versions
Test multiple ansible-core versions — ensure broad compatibility
Run locally first — ansible-test sanity --docker for quick feedback
Read the certification guide — https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_ansible_automation_platform/

Conclusion

The Partner Certification Checker v2.0.0 workflow brings Red Hat's certification tests into your GitHub Actions pipeline. Run it on every PR to catch documentation gaps, import violations, and compatibility issues before you submit to Automation Hub. One uses: line replaces days of back-and-forth with certification reviews.