Playbook constructs like ‘host_vars’ and ‘group_vars’ work via ‘vars’ plugins. They inject additional variable data into ansible runs that did not come from an inventory, playbook, or command line. Note that variables can also be returned from inventory, so in most cases, you won’t need to write or understand vars_plugins.

More documentation on writing vars plugins is pending, though you can jump into lib/ansible/inventory/vars_plugins and figure things out pretty easily.

If you find yourself wanting to write a vars_plugin, it’s more likely you should write an inventory script instead.