Create standardized execution environment templates for teams

Create pre-configured EE templates so that your teams start from a known-good baseline without choosing every dependency from scratch.

Before you begin

You have configured content discovery and synced content sources.
You have the AAP Administrator role.
You know which collections and dependencies your team requires.

About this task

When a user creates an EE definition through execution environment builder, the process generates a reusable <ee-name>-template.yaml file (with spec.type: execution-environment) that captures all selected defaults. The template structure follows the same format as the built-in "Start from scratch" template (ee-start-from-scratch.yaml from the ansible-rhdh-templates repository). You can use this to build standardized templates for each team.

Procedure

As an AAP administrator, log in to automation portal.
Navigate to Execution Environments > Create.
Select the Start from scratch template.
Select a base image appropriate for your environment.
In the collections picker, select the collections your team requires. For each collection, select the source (for example, rh-certified from your private automation hub).
Add any Python requirements and system packages the team needs.
Name the definition (for example, team-ops-ee) and add a descriptive tag such as team-ops.
Select Publish to a Git repository and save the definition to your organization's private Git repository.
After the definition is created, locate the generated <ee-name>-template.yml file in the repository and customize the following sections for your team.
Execution environment builder generates a reusable template with three parameter steps matching the wizard.

Metadata — set the name, description, and tags so team members can find the template:
```
metadata:
  name: team-ops-ee
  title: Team Ops EE
  description: "Pre-configured EE for the operations team"
  annotations:
    ansible.io/saved-template: 'true'
  tags:
    - execution-environment
    - team-ops
```
Collections — pre-fill the collections your team needs, with version constraints and source:
```
collections:
  default:
    - name: ansible.netcommon
      version: ">=2.0.0"
      source: rh-certified
    - name: ansible.utils
      version: ">=1.5.0"
      source: rh-certified
```
Build destination — set where the built image is pushed:
```
publishAndBuild:
  properties:
    buildRegistry:
      default: 'Private Automation Hub (PAH)'
    buildImageName:
      default: team-ops/team-ops-ee
    buildImageTag:
      default: latest
    registryTlsVerify:
      default: true
```
Note:

Set registryTlsVerify to false for registries using self-signed certificates. Set buildRegistry to 'Custom Registry' and add a customRegistryUrl if you use an internal registry other than private automation hub.

For the complete template structure including all steps and actions, see Complete execution environment template reference.
Register the template in automation portal:
1. Navigate to Execution Environments > Create.
2. Open the kebab menu and select Import Template.
3. Paste the URL to the template file in your Git repository.
4. Click Analyze, then Import.
Alternatively, add the template to catalog.locations in your Helm chart configuration for automatic loading.
Configure RBAC to control access to the template.

For example, create a role team-ops-ee-users with catalog.entity.read permission and add a conditional rule scoping it to entities with metadata.tags containing team-ops. Assign the role to the appropriate group. For full RBAC configuration instructions, see Grant execution environment builder access.

Results

Log in as a member of the target team group.
Navigate to Execution Environments > Create.
Verify the team template appears.
Launch the template and verify the wizard pre-populates the expected collections and dependencies.

Note:

This pattern works for any team — swap the collections, base image, and registry defaults to match your team's domain and infrastructure.