diff --git a/inventory/head-localhost b/inventory/head-localhost
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6446998
--- /dev/null
+++ b/inventory/head-localhost
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+; used to bootstrap CiaB configs
+
+[head]
+localhost ansible_connection=local
+
+[compute]
+; empty, but needed to avoid template issues