## Context

The inventory file contains environment-specific values (IPs, usernames). It should follow the same pattern as credentials — template in repo, instance gitignored.

## Goals / Non-Goals

**Goals:**
- Ship `hosts.yml.example` as the tracked template
- Gitignore the actual `hosts.yml`

**Non-Goals:**
- Changing the inventory format or structure

## Decisions

### 1. `.example` suffix convention

Use `hosts.yml.example` — consistent with common conventions. Users run `cp inventory/hosts.yml.example inventory/hosts.yml` and edit.

## Risks / Trade-offs

- **[Forgotten copy step]** → New users may miss the copy. Mitigation: documented in README setup steps, Ansible will fail with a clear error if `hosts.yml` is missing.