How to resolve the variable reference conflict between n8n and ansible?

Questions
1

Ansible uses the {{ aa }} format to reference variables, but n8n also uses this format, causing commands to not be transmitted to the SSH node at all. How can this be resolved?

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3

Hi @bfbz, welcome!
This is because n8n processes anything in between {{ }} as JavaScript, so instead of {{ aa }}, try this:
{{ '{' + '{' + ' aa ' + '}' + '}' }}
And this should work, but you can also just construct the whole command:
ansible-playbook site.yml -e "var={{ '{' + '{' + ' aa ' + '}' + '}' }}"

4

Hi @bfbz. In my experience, if n8n can’t see the actual schema value declared in a previous node, it will tag it as undefined. I experienced something similar sending dynamic variables to Vapi.

So, make sure the value is actually being passed from a previous n8n node.

If the value comes dynamically, store it first through a Set node, database node, or another node that outputs it before referencing it.

This way, n8n can see and use the actual value.

5

there are multiple options.
One was provided by @Anshul_Namdev

another one is using the escaping syntax:

msg={"host_ip": "{{ '\{\{ ansible_host \}\}' }}", "host_group": "{{ '\{\{ group_names \}\}' }}"}

But with JSON it’s always better to use JSON.stringify:

msg={{ 
JSON.stringify({ 
  host_ip: "{{ ansible_host }\}", 
  host_group: "{{ group_names }\}" 
}) 
}}
6

Welcome to the n8n community @bfbz

these docs can help: