Poll Until

netcli.poll_until repeatedly runs one CLI command on each target device until the output satisfies a match condition, or gives up after a maximum number of attempts. Use it as a check or wait step for convergence-style conditions — an HSRP state becoming Active, a route appearing, a neighbor coming up — where a plain sleep would be a guess.

Using It

Command to Poll is required, and so is a match condition: fill in Match Regex, Match String, or both. The regex is evaluated case-insensitively in multiline mode against the command output; the string is a case-insensitive substring test. When both are set, only the regex is used. Turn on Invert Match to flip the test — the poll then succeeds once the pattern no longer matches, useful for waiting until something disappears from the output. The command accepts {{ variable }} templates, resolved before the step runs. Targets are chosen with the role-based target picker.

Each device is polled independently: the command runs, the output is tested, and if it does not satisfy the condition the step waits Interval (sec) seconds (default 5) and tries again, up to Max Attempts times (default 12). Polling stops on the first satisfying attempt; no wait follows the final attempt. Max Parallel Devices controls how many devices poll concurrently (default 1 = one after another, capped at 32). Every attempt's output streams into the step's live log.

Output

The step adds no custom chainable output keys; its results are recorded as evidence. Each device yields one poll_result artifact - named poll_ plus the first word of the command (so any show ... poll is poll_show), with the device name appended when more than one device is targeted - recording the command, the match condition, whether it matched, the number of attempts used, and the final output. When the condition was never met, the artifact also includes a 500-character output preview from every attempt. A device that errors yields a poll_result artifact displayed as poll_error_<device>, with the message. Metrics record device_count, max_attempts, and interval_seconds.

When It Fails

Configuration errors fail the step before any polling: no target devices, no command, no match condition, or a regex that does not compile. During the run, a device fails when it has no management host, when connecting or executing raises an error, or when the condition is still unsatisfied after Max Attempts tries. Every device must satisfy the condition for the step to succeed; the error lists each failing device. There is no separate timeout — the step's duration is bounded by attempts times interval plus the time the command itself takes on each device.