Secret Generation

Secret and Dynamic Config Generation

Use when generating secrets/keys during Ansible runs, managing dynamic configuration, or implementing per-run generated values with persistence.

Rules

1. ALWAYS use env_generated_path - NEVER hardcode filename
2. ALWAYS use delegate_to: localhost when writing generated files
3. ALWAYS use create: true - file may not exist on first run
4. ALWAYS use mode: "0600" - file contains private keys
5. NEVER use copy or template - they overwrite entire file
6. ALWAYS provide sensible defaults when reading generated values
7. NEVER fail if generated file is missing - degrade to defaults
8. NEVER put dynamic/computed values in group_vars/all.yml as constants

Recent Variable Management Lessons: 9. ALWAYS provide default values for hardware-dependent variables (igpu_render_device: "/dev/dri/renderD128") 10. ALWAYS use | default('value', true) for environment lookups to prevent Jinja2 template failures 11. ALWAYS test with missing generated env files - test scenarios don't always have complete environment setup 12. ALWAYS validate network configuration computation works with default gateway values

Patterns

Writing generated values:

- name: Write WireGuard key to generated env file
  ansible.builtin.blockinfile:
    path: "{{ env_generated_path }}"
    create: true
    mode: "0600"
    marker: "# {mark} WireGuard Keys (auto-generated)"
    block: |
      WG_PRIVATE_KEY={{ wg_private_key.stdout }}
      WG_PUBLIC_KEY={{ wg_public_key.stdout }}
  delegate_to: localhost

Reading generated values:

- name: Read WireGuard private key from generated env
  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
    _wg_private_key: >-
      {{ lookup('pipe', 'grep "^WG_PRIVATE_KEY=" ' + env_generated_path + ' 2>/dev/null | cut -d= -f2')
         | default('', true) }}

Path resolution:

# In group_vars/all.yml
env_generated_path: >-
  {{ project_root }}/{{
     'test.env.generated'
     if lookup('env', 'MOLECULE_PROJECT_DIRECTORY') | length > 0
     else '.env.generated' }}

Variable scoping table:

# Static constants (group_vars/all.yml)
openwrt_vm_id: 100

# Operator secrets (.env/test.env)
HOME_API_TOKEN: "secret"

# Auto-generated secrets (env_generated_path)
WG_PRIVATE_KEY: "generated"

# Dynamic runtime config (env_generated_path)  
LAN_GATEWAY: "10.10.10.1"

# Per-host overrides (host_vars/<host>.yml)
ansible_host: "192.168.86.201"

Verify requirement

Every section written to the generated env file SHOULD have a corresponding assertion in molecule/default/verify.yml. This ensures the generated values are actually produced during converge and are accessible in subsequent plays.

Controller VPN key flow

The controller (build/test machine) gets its own WireGuard keypair for the VPN tunnel to the hub. The key flow spans two phases:

1. Key generation (prepare.yml or first converge): Controller private key generated with wg genkey, public key derived with wg pubkey. Both written to env_generated_path under the Controller WireGuard Keys marker block: WIREGUARD_PRIVATE_KEY_CONTROLLER and WIREGUARD_PUBLIC_KEY_CONTROLLER.

2. Hub pubkey availability (wireguard_configure play): The hub (home WireGuard container) generates its keypair and writes WIREGUARD_HUB_PUBLIC_KEY to env_generated_path. The controller VPN play reads this via lookup('env', 'WIREGUARD_HUB_PUBLIC_KEY').

3. Controller VPN setup (site.yml, after wireguard_configure): Reads both keys from env, templates /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf, and brings up wg0. Skips gracefully if either key is empty (first run before wireguard_configure has produced the hub key).

4. Endpoint resolution: WIREGUARD_SERVER_ENDPOINT is computed from the hub's reachable IP + port 51820. Written to env_generated_path by the WireGuard configure role.

The build machine VPN play uses explicit sudo (not become: true). The NOPASSWD sudoers entry for wg-quick, wg, and install is already installed by setup.sh. This is a solved problem — no manual steps needed.

Anti-patterns

NEVER explain what secrets are in secret generation rules NEVER write the same section from two different roles NEVER use bare relative paths - they break with molecule scenarios NEVER hardcode test.env.generated vs .env.generated decisions NEVER use become: true on localhost — use explicit sudo. NOPASSWD sudoers is already installed by setup.sh