Modules overview

Many modules depend on other modules to work properly. When you install a module using the Bolt command-line interface (CLI), Bolt automatically manages those dependencies for you.

First, Bolt adds the module to your project configuration file (bolt-project.yaml) under a modules key. For example, if you created a project and added the mysql and apache modules, your bolt-project.yaml file would contain the following section:

# bolt-project.yaml
...
modules:
  - puppetlabs/apache
  - puppetlabs/mysql

Next, Bolt resolves the modules and their dependencies and generates a Puppetfile. Avoid editing your Puppetfile directly. The Puppetfile for the above project would look like this:

# Puppetfile
...

# The following directive installs modules to the managed moduledir.
moduledir '.modules'

mod 'puppetlabs/apache', '5.6.0'
mod 'puppetlabs/puppetserver_gem', '1.1.1'
mod 'puppetlabs/resource_api', '1.1.0'
mod 'puppetlabs/translate', '2.2.0'
mod 'puppetlabs/stdlib', '6.5.0'
mod 'puppetlabs/mysql', '10.8.0'
mod 'puppetlabs/concat', '6.2.0'

Finally, Bolt installs the modules and dependencies to the Bolt-managed module directory (moduledir) in your Bolt project directory (.modules):

.modules/
├── apache/
├── concat/
├── mysql/
├── puppetserver_gem/
├── resource_api/
├── stdlib/
└── translate/

📖 Related information

• Installing modules

• Bolt projects

The list of directories where Bolt looks for content is called the modulepath. Bolt always loads content from:

• The current Bolt project.

• Any modules in the configurable modules directory. By default this is modules/.

• The Bolt-managed moduledir (.modules).

• Any modules that come bundled with Bolt.

If you'd like to modify or add a directory to Bolt's modulepath, add the path to the directory to a modulepath key in your bolt-project.yaml file. The modulepath key accepts an array of directories. For example, if you wanted to load modules from a directory at ../my-modules/modules/ in addition to the modules directory:

# bolt-project.yaml
...
  modulepath: 
  - modules
  - ../my-modules/modules/

If you add a modulepath key and omit modules, Bolt will not load content from the modules directory.

You can see a list of directories and modules Bolt is loading from the current modulepath using the following command:

*nix shell command

bolt module show

PowerShell cmdlet

Get-BoltModule

Bolt 2.30.0 introduced module dependency management. The changes introduced by this feature affect:

• Existing Bolt projects that were created before the dependency changes came into effect. For information on how to migrate your Bolt project to use dependency management, see Migrate a Bolt project.

• Your Puppet Enterprise installation (if you're using the dependency management feature).