diff --git a/tests/unit/test_inventory.py b/tests/unit/test_inventory.py
index b7e35ebd26..30fa10c4d6 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_inventory.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_inventory.py
@@ -89,14 +89,16 @@ class TestInventory(ZuulTestCase):
 
         all_nodes = ('controller', 'compute1', 'compute2')
         self.assertIn('all', inventory)
+        self.assertIn('children', inventory['all'])
         self.assertIn('hosts', inventory['all'])
         self.assertIn('vars', inventory['all'])
         for group_name in ('ceph-osd', 'ceph-monitor'):
-            self.assertIn(group_name, inventory)
+            self.assertIn(group_name, inventory['all']['children'])
         for node_name in all_nodes:
             self.assertIn(node_name, inventory['all']['hosts'])
             self.assertIn(node_name,
-                          inventory['ceph-monitor']['hosts'])
+                          inventory['all']['children']
+                          ['ceph-monitor']['hosts'])
         self.assertIn('zuul', inventory['all']['vars'])
         z_vars = inventory['all']['vars']['zuul']
         self.assertIn('executor', z_vars)
diff --git a/zuul/executor/server.py b/zuul/executor/server.py
index 46b161ce0c..dd8151ee7f 100644
--- a/zuul/executor/server.py
+++ b/zuul/executor/server.py
@@ -565,15 +565,19 @@ def make_inventory_dict(nodes, args, all_vars):
     }
 
     for group in args['groups']:
+        if 'children' not in inventory['all']:
+            inventory['all']['children'] = dict()
         group_hosts = {}
         for node_name in group['nodes']:
             group_hosts[node_name] = None
         group_vars = args['group_vars'].get(group['name'], {}).copy()
         check_varnames(group_vars)
-        inventory[group['name']] = {
-            'hosts': group_hosts,
-            'vars': group_vars,
-        }
+
+        inventory['all']['children'].update({
+            group['name']: {
+                'hosts': group_hosts,
+                'vars': group_vars,
+            }})
 
     return inventory