.. contents:: Topics


Cache Plugins
-------------

This plugin implelents a backend caching mechanism for Ansible to store gathered facts or inventory source data
to avoid the cost of retrieving them from source.

The default plugin is the :doc:`memory <cache/memory>` plugin which will only cache the data for the current execution of Ansible.
Other plugins with persistent storage are available to allow caching the data across runs.


Enabling Cache Plugins
++++++++++++++++++++++

Only one cache plugin can be active at a time.

You can enable in configuration, either via environment variable:

.. code-block:: shell

    export ANSIBLE_CACHE_PLUGIN=jsonfile

or in the ``ansible.cfg`` file:

.. code-block:: ini

    [defaults]
    fact_caching=redis

You will also need to setup other settings specific to each plugin, you can check the individual plugin documenattion
or the ansible :doc:`configuration <../config>` for more details.

Plugin List
+++++++++++

You can use ``ansible-doc -t cache -l`` to see the list of available plugins,
use ``ansible-doc -t cache <plugin name>`` to see specific documents and examples.

.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1
    :glob:

    cache/*

.. seealso::

   :doc:`action`
       Ansible Action plugins
   :doc:`callback`
       Ansible callback plugins
   :doc:`connection`
       Ansible connection plugins
   :doc:`inventory`
       Ansible inventory plugins
   :doc:`shell`
       Ansible Shell plugins
   :doc:`strategy`
       Ansible Strategy plugins
   :doc:`vars`
       Ansible Vars plugins
   `User Mailing List <http://groups.google.com/group/ansible-devel>`_
       Have a question?  Stop by the google group!
   `irc.freenode.net <http://irc.freenode.net>`_
       #ansible IRC chat channel