Picture this: you’re staring at your screen at 2 AM, trying to automate a simple task that should take five minutes. You’ve been wrestling with Ansible’s built-in modules for three hours, and they just won’t do what you need. Sound familiar?

I’ve been there too. Last month, I needed to integrate with our company’s custom API that manages firewall rules. The uri module felt clunky, the logic was scattered across multiple tasks, and error handling was a nightmare. That's when I realized it was time to build my own custom module.

Ansible comes with over 3,000 modules, but sometimes you need something that just doesn’t exist. Here are the red flags that scream “you need a custom module”:

Your playbook has 20+ tasks doing what should be one simple operation. You’re using shell or command modules with complex scripts. You're fighting with the uri module to make API calls that should be straightforward. You find yourself copying the same complex task structure across multiple playbooks.

If any of these sound like your current situation, you’re ready to level up.