generated: '2026-08-29'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ansible/awx/devel/awxkit/README.md,
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ansible/awx/devel/awxkit/awxkit/cli/docs/source/usage.rst,
  https://pypi.org/project/awxkit/json
description: >-
  Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform's first-party command line client is `awx`, shipped in
  the awxkit Python distribution. It is a thin, fully generic front end over the Automation
  Controller REST API: it discovers the resource and action surface from the running server at
  invocation time, so its command set IS the Controller API rather than a hand-written subset.
clis:
- name: awx
  package: awxkit
  registry: pypi
  version: 24.6.1
  published: '2024-07-02'
  official: true
  license: Apache-2.0
  repository: https://github.com/ansible/awx/tree/devel/awxkit
  install:
  - pip install awxkit
  synopsis: "awx [<global-options>] <resource> <action> [<arguments>]"
  discovery: >-
    "The list of resources and actions may vary based on context" — `awx --help` enumerates
    resources from the connected server, and RBAC filters what appears (e.g. `launch` is hidden
    on job templates the caller may not launch). Verbatim from the published usage docs.
  base_path_note: >-
    On AAP 2.5 and later the client must be pointed at the gateway-fronted Controller path:
    AWXKIT_API_BASE_PATH=/api/controller/
  actions:
    base: [get, list, create, modify, delete]
    special: [launch]
    note: "Special actions are per-resource, e.g. `awx job_templates launch`."
  global_options:
  - flag: --conf.host
    env: CONTROLLER_HOST
    description: full URL of the AAP/AWX host
  - flag: --conf.username
    env: CONTROLLER_USERNAME
  - flag: --conf.password
    env: CONTROLLER_PASSWORD
  - flag: "-k, --conf.insecure"
    env: CONTROLLER_VERIFY_SSL
  - flag: "-f, --conf.format"
    description: output format; default is JSON
  - flag: "-v, --verbose"
    description: debug logs including the HTTP requests made
  output: valid JSON by default; job stdout commands print raw text
  currency_warning: >-
    awxkit's last PyPI release is 2024-07-02 (24.6.1) — over two years old at time of writing,
    against a Controller API this pipeline harvested with 632 operations. Because the CLI
    discovers its surface from the server rather than hard-coding it, staleness bites at the
    client/auth layer rather than the resource layer, but it is still the oldest first-party
    artifact in this profile.
- name: ansible-navigator
  package: ansible-navigator
  registry: pypi
  version: 26.8.0
  published: '2026-08-12'
  official: true
  install:
  - pip install ansible-navigator
  scope: >-
    Text UI and CLI for running and inspecting automation inside AAP execution environments
    (run, collections, images, doc, inventory, config, replay). Not an AAP REST client.
- name: ansible-builder
  package: ansible-builder
  registry: pypi
  version: 3.1.1
  published: '2025-10-27'
  official: true
  scope: Builds AAP execution environment container images from a definition file.
- name: ansible-galaxy
  package: ansible-core
  registry: pypi
  version: 2.21.3
  published: '2026-08-10'
  official: true
  scope: >-
    Ships with ansible-core and speaks the Automation Hub / Galaxy v3 API directly
    (`ansible-galaxy collection publish|install`), authenticated with an Automation Hub token.
    It is the CLI most consumers of the Hub API actually use.
not_a_cli:
  aap-mcp-server: >-
    Started with `npm start`, but it is a service, not a command line client. See mcp/.