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Ansible in a Minute · Ansible Core ·

Use delegate_facts to assign facts to the delegated host

Short answer

Use delegate_facts true so facts gathered with delegate_to are stored on the delegated host, not the play host.

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Request

gather facts on localhost and assign them to localhost with delegate_facts

Example

A quick heads-up: Every environment is different. Review and test this example before you run it on systems you care about.

YAML
---
- name: Assign setup facts to the delegated host
  hosts: all
  gather_facts: false
  tasks:
    - name: Gather facts on localhost and store them on localhost
      ansible.builtin.setup:
      delegate_to: localhost
      delegate_facts: true
      run_once: true

How it works

By default, facts from a delegated task are assigned to inventory_hostname. Set delegate_facts to true to assign those facts to the delegated host instead.

When to use it

  • Gathering facts from database hosts while targeting app servers
  • Looking up hostvars for machines that are not the current play host

Requirements

  • Ansible: >=2.14

Validation

  • Syntax validated
  • Not execution-tested
  • Last verified 2026-09-16

Notes

A common pattern is delegate_to: "{{ item }}" with loop: "{{ groups['dbservers'] }}" and delegate_facts: true so each database host keeps its own facts while the play targets another group.

Reference

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Use delegate_facts to assign facts to the delegated host · Level Up Labs