diff --git a/tests/inventory b/tests/inventory
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..68b2dac3be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/inventory
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+[all]
+localhost
diff --git a/tests/vars.yaml b/tests/vars.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8688f1204a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/vars.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+site_logs:
+  fqdn: fake
+site_zuulv3_dev:
+  fqdn: fake
+fileserver:
+  fqdn: fake
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index ea1feefcdf..602babdd97 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -38,7 +38,8 @@ commands =
     xargs -t -n1 -0 ansible-lint -xANSIBLE0012"
   # Ansible Syntax Check
   bash -c "find playbooks -type f -regex '.*.ya?ml' -exec \
-    ansible-playbook --syntax-check -i {toxinidir}/tests/inventory \{\} + > /dev/null"
+    ansible-playbook --syntax-check -i {toxinidir}/tests/inventory \
+    -e @tests/vars.yaml \{\} + > /dev/null"
 
 [testenv:gerrit]
 deps = PyYAML