Display the Zen of Ansible principles and review Ansible code against them for simplicity, readability, and clarity. Use when user says "zen of ansible", "simplify my playbook", "is this too complex", or "clean code review". Complements ansible-cop-review with philosophical guidance. Do NOT use for strict rule compliance (use ansible-cop-review instead).
ansible-cop-review. Zen focuses on
philosophy and style; CoP focuses on rule compliance. 1. Ansible is not Python.
2. YAML sucks for coding.
3. Playbooks are not for programming.
4. Ansible users are (most likely) not programmers.
5. Clear is better than cluttered.
6. Concise is better than verbose.
7. Simple is better than complex.
8. Readability counts.
9. Helping users get things done matters most.
10. User experience beats ideological purity.
11. "Magic" conquers the manual.
12. When giving users options, use convention over configuration.
13. Declarative is better than imperative -- most of the time.
14. Focus avoids complexity.
15. Complexity kills productivity.
16. If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea.
17. Every shell command and UI interaction is an opportunity to automate.
18. Just because something works, doesn't mean it can't be improved.
19. Friction should be eliminated whenever possible.
20. Automation is a journey that never ends.
If invoked without arguments, display the full Zen. Pick one random principle and explain it with a practical NAS-related Ansible example (good vs bad, 5-10 lines each).
If arguments contain a path or files, review Ansible code against Zen principles. Focus on simplicity, readability, and clarity.