Documentation

PLEASE NOTE: This document applies to latest version and not to the latest stable release v2.20

Documentation for other releases can be found by using the version selector in the top right of any doc page.

timer

Time task execution for debugging and performance profiling.

This module provides named timers that can be started, stopped, and read to measure elapsed time between tasks. Useful for debugging, performance optimization, and IoT devices with limited resources.

Attributes

check_mode:
  support: full

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Type	Values
name	true	string
precision		string	ms us ns
state		string	started stopped read

Examples

Basic timing

- name: Start performance timer
  timer:
    name: app_startup
    state: started

- name: Run application startup
  command: ./startup.sh

- name: Stop timer and get elapsed time
  timer:
    name: app_startup
    state: stopped
  register: elapsed

- name: Log startup time
  debug:
    msg: "Startup took {{ elapsed.extra.elapsed_ms }} milliseconds"

Read without stopping

- timer:
    name: long_operation
    state: started

- command: ./step1.sh

- timer:
    name: long_operation
    state: read
  register: checkpoint

- debug:
    msg: "Checkpoint: {{ checkpoint.extra.elapsed_ms }}ms elapsed"

- command: ./step2.sh

- timer:
    name: long_operation
    state: stopped
  register: final_time

Multiple timers with different precision

- timer:
    name: fast_op
    state: started
    precision: us

- command: ./fast.sh

- timer:
    name: fast_op
    state: stopped
  register: fast_elapsed

- debug:
    msg: "Fast op took {{ fast_elapsed.extra.elapsed_us }} microseconds"