The Puppet ecosystem

Install existing modules from Puppet Forge

Modules manage a specific technology in your infrastructure and serve as the basic building blocks of Puppet desired state management. On the Puppet Forge, there is a module to manage almost any part of your infrastructure. Whether you want to manage packages or patch operating systems, a module is already set up for you. See each module’s README for installation instructions, usage, and code examples.

When using an existing module from the Forge, most of the Puppet code is written for you. You just need to install the module and its dependencies and write a small amount of code (known as a profile) to tie things together. Take a look at our Getting started with PE guide to see an example of writing a profile for an existing module. For more information about existing modules, see the module fundamentals documentation and Puppet Forge.

Develop existing or new modules with Puppet Development Kit (PDK)

You can write your own Puppet code and modules using Puppet Development Kit (PDK), which is a framework to successfully build, test and validate your modules. Note that most Puppet users won’t have to write full Puppet code at all, though you can if you want to. For installation instructions and more information, see the PDK documentation.

Write Puppet code with the VSCode extension

The Puppet VSCode extension makes writing and managing Puppet code easier and ensures your code is high quality. Its features include Puppet DSL intellisense, linting, and built-in commands. You can use the extension with Windows, Linux, or macOS. For installation instructions and a full list of features, see the Puppet VSCode extension documentation.

Run acceptance tests with Litmus

Litmus is a command line tool that allows you to run acceptance tests against Puppet modules for a variety of operating systems and deployment scenarios. Acceptance tests validate that your code does what you intend it to do. For more information, see the Litmus documentation.