Syncing GitLab Projects to AWX — My DevOps Journey By Sireesha

If you've been following my blog series, you already know I've set up Ansible AWX on Kubernetes using Helm. Now the next logical step for me was — how do I actually get my playbooks into AWX without manually uploading them every time?
The answer is GitLab. In this blog I'll walk through how I installed GitLab on a VM, pushed my Ansible playbooks to it, and then synced that repo into AWX as a project — in two ways:

Using an SSH key (SCM Private Key) — this is what I actually use in production
Using a Personal Access Token over HTTP — good for quick lab setups

Let's get into it.

What We're Building Here
The flow looks like this:

Ansible Server → Push Playbooks → GitLab (self-hosted VM) → Sync → AWX Project & Templates
Once this is set up, every time I update a playbook and push to GitLab, AWX syncs and picks up the latest version automatically. That's the real power of this setup.

Part 1 — Installing GitLab on a VM
I installed GitLab on a separate Ubuntu 22.04 VM. Here's exactly what I ran:
Step 1 — Install Dependencies
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y curl openssh-server ca-certificates tzdata perl
Step 2 — Add GitLab Repository and Install
curl https://packages.gitlab.com/install/repositories/gitlab/gitlab-ce/script.deb.sh | sudo bash
sudo apt install gitlab-ce
Step 3 — Configure GitLab
sudo vi /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
Update the external URL to your VM IP:
rubyexternal_url 'http://10.*.*.**'
Then reconfigure:
sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure
Step 4 — Get the Initial Root Password
sudo cat /etc/gitlab/initial_root_password
Open http://10.*.*.* in your browser → log in with root and the password above.

Tip: Change your root password immediately after first login — User Settings → Password.

Part 2. Creating a repo and pushing playbooks

Inside GitLab, I created a new blank project called:

ansibleawx

Set it to private and moved on.

On my Ansible server, I configured Git:

git config --global user.name "Sireesha"
git config --global user.email "your@email.com"

Then inside my playbook directory:

cd /etc/ansible

git init
git remote add origin http://ip/ansibleawx.git
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit - adding ansible playbooks"
git branch -M patches
git push -u origin patches

I’m using a patches branch here because that’s what I decided to track in AWX later.

That part matters more than it looks — branch mismatches will bite you.

Part3. Connecting AWX to GitLab using SSH (production way)

This is the setup I actually use properly. It’s more secure and avoids token expiry issues.

Generate SSH key (on AWX side)
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "awx@ansible"

Then grab the public key:

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Add it to GitLab

GitLab → User Settings → SSH Keys → paste key → save

Nothing complicated here.

Create AWX credential

In AWX:

Credentials → Add

Name: gitlab-cred
Type: Source Control
Username: root
SCM Private Key: paste private key (~/.ssh/id_rsa)

Click Save.

Create AWX project

AWX → Projects → Add

Name: AnsibleAWX
SCM Type: Git
URL: http:///ansibleawx.git
Branch: patches
Credential: gitlab-cred

Once saved, AWX syncs automatically.

When it turns green, you’re good.

That’s the moment everything starts clicking.

This is exactly the gitlab-cred credential I have set up — you can see from the screenshot it shows Credential Type: Source Control and SCM Private Key: Encrypted.

Part4. Alternative: HTTP with Personal Access Token

This is the quicker setup I used in a lab environment.

Create token in GitLab

GitLab → Settings → Access Tokens

Scope: read_repository

Copy it (you only see it once).

Add to AWX

Credentials → Add

Name: gitlab-http-cred
Username: root
Password:

Save.

Create project

Same as before, but use this credential instead.

It works fine — just not as clean or durable as SSH.

Part 5 — Creating Job Templates in AWX

Once the project sync works, playbooks automatically appear in AWX.

So I created a simple job template:

AWX → Templates → Add

Name: Linux Server Setup
Job Type: Run
Inventory: your inventory
Project: AnsibleAWX
Playbook: select from dropdown
Credentials: your machine credentials

Save and launch.

At this point, AWX is basically running whatever is in GitLab.

No file copying. No manual updates.

Errors I Hit Along the Way
Error 1 — Git Push Branch Mismatch

error: src refspec main does not match any
Fix — rename the branch to match what you set in AWX:
git branch -M patches git push -u origin patches
Error 2 — AWX Sync Failed on SSH Host Key

Host key verification failed
Fix — in your AWX Project settings under Source Control Options, tick:
✅ Disregard Host Checks
Error 3 — Playbook Dropdown Empty in Job Template

After syncing, the playbook dropdown was empty when creating a job template
.
Fix — go back to your Project → hit the Sync button (circular arrow) → wait for green → go back to template. Playbooks will appear.

Before this, updating a playbook meant manually copying files and hoping AWX had the latest version. Now my workflow is:

Edit playbook → git push to patches branch → AWX syncs → Launch job

Everything is version controlled, auditable, and consistent.

Drop your questions in the comments — happy to help!
— Sireesha

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