What is replibook?

Replibook scans a running Linux or macOS server and turns what it finds, installed packages, running services, Docker containers, and Docker Compose deployments, into a ready to run Ansible playbook that can recreate the same setup on another machine. It automatically detects whether it is running on Linux or macOS and uses the right tools for each: apt and dpkg for packages plus systemd for services on Linux, or Homebrew formulas, casks, and Homebrew services on macOS. If a tool like Docker or Homebrew is not present, that part of the scan simply returns nothing rather than failing. You install it with pipx, then run the replibook command, which walks you through an interactive menu explaining what each scan module does, lets you choose where to save the output, and asks whether the resulting inventory should target the local machine or a remote one over SSH. The result is a playbook file and a matching inventory file that you can hand to Ansible directly, or apply through Replibook's own guided apply command, which can also install Ansible and any missing collections it needs first. The README is direct about the tool's limits: generated playbooks can contain sensitive information such as Docker environment variables and file paths specific to the original host, so they should be reviewed before being shared or committed anywhere. Replibook also does not back up actual data: Docker volumes, bind mounted files, databases, uploads, or other application data are not captured, only the configuration needed to reproduce the setup, so real backups still need to be handled separately. The project is organized into a scanner package with one module per scan type, a generator package that assembles scan results into Ansible YAML using Jinja2 templates, and small utility code for detecting the operating system. It requires no elevated privileges on macOS, and on Linux only needs elevated access for reading the Docker socket. It is released under the MIT license.