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runbook

skill · 87 lines · Apache-2.0 · operations/skills/runbook/SKILL.md

The facts

Its description

Create or update an operational runbook for a recurring task or procedure. Use when documenting a task that on-call or ops needs to run repeatably, turning tribal knowledge into exact step-by-step commands, adding troubleshooting and rollback steps to an existing procedure, or writing escalation paths for when things go wrong.

The description the agent reads to decide when to use it.

From its settingsline 3

When it starts

The agent would pick this skill when someone asks to document a recurring operational task or procedure as a repeatable, step-by-step runbook — especially one an on-call or ops person has to run — or asks to add troubleshooting, rollback, or escalation detail to an existing procedure.

Things a person might say (the model's guesses)

  • “Write a runbook for our nightly data sync job”
  • “Turn our tribal knowledge about restarting the payments service into a step-by-step doc”
  • “Add troubleshooting and rollback steps to our existing deploy runbook”

A model's summary of when it is used.

A model's reading

What it takes when started

<process or task name>

What to type after its name when you start it.

From its settingsline 4

Runs scripts

python sync.py

Scripts the text names. Found by matching words, so treat them as pointers.

Found by matching wordsline 85

Licence

Apache-2.0, from LICENSE

The terms its author shares it under, which let it be shown here.

From the repositorylicence text

The text

Open on GitHub

Most marks come from matching words in the file, so treat them as pointers.

1---
2name: runbook
3description: Create or update an operational runbook for a recurring task or procedure. Use when documenting a task that on-call or ops needs to run repeatably, turning tribal knowledge into exact step-by-step commands, adding troubleshooting and rollback steps to an existing procedure, or writing escalation paths for when things go wrong.
4argument-hint: "<process or task name>"
5---
6
7# /runbook
8
9> If you see unfamiliar placeholders or need to check which tools are connected, see [CONNECTORS.md](../../CONNECTORS.md).
11Create a step-by-step operational runbook for a recurring task or procedure.

/runbook

If you see unfamiliar placeholders or need to check which tools are connected, see CONNECTORS.md.

Create a step-by-step operational runbook for a recurring task or procedure.

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Boilerplate, lines 13 to 18. The same text appears in 24 other files here. Close
13## Usage
15```
16/runbook $ARGUMENTS
17```
19## Output
21```markdown
22## Runbook: [Task Name]
23**Owner:** [Team/Person] | **Frequency:** [Daily/Weekly/Monthly/As Needed]
24**Last Updated:** [Date] | **Last Run:** [Date]
26### Purpose
27[What this runbook accomplishes and when to use it]
29### Prerequisites
30- [ ] [Access or permission needed]
31- [ ] [Tool or system required]
32- [ ] [Data or input needed]
34### Procedure
36#### Step 1: [Name]
37```
38[Exact command, action, or instruction]
39```
40**Expected result:** [What should happen]
41**If it fails:** [What to do]
43#### Step 2: [Name]
44```
45[Exact command, action, or instruction]
46```
47**Expected result:** [What should happen]
48**If it fails:** [What to do]
50### Verification
51- [ ] [How to confirm the task completed successfully]
52- [ ] [What to check]
54### Troubleshooting
55| Symptom | Likely Cause | Fix |
56|---------|-------------|-----|
57| [What you see] | [Why] | [What to do] |
59### Rollback
60[How to undo this if something goes wrong]
62### Escalation
63| Situation | Contact | Method |
64|-----------|---------|--------|
65| [When to escalate] | [Who] | [How to reach them] |
67### History
68| Date | Run By | Notes |
69|------|--------|-------|
70| [Date] | [Person] | [Any issues or observations] |
71```

Output

## Runbook: [Task Name]
**Owner:** [Team/Person] | **Frequency:** [Daily/Weekly/Monthly/As Needed]
**Last Updated:** [Date] | **Last Run:** [Date]

### Purpose
[What this runbook accomplishes and when to use it]

### Prerequisites
- [ ] [Access or permission needed]
- [ ] [Tool or system required]
- [ ] [Data or input needed]

### Procedure

#### Step 1: [Name]

[Exact command, action, or instruction]

**Expected result:** [What should happen]
**If it fails:** [What to do]

#### Step 2: [Name]

[Exact command, action, or instruction]

**Expected result:** [What should happen]
**If it fails:** [What to do]

### Verification
- [ ] [How to confirm the task completed successfully]
- [ ] [What to check]

### Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely Cause | Fix |
|---------|-------------|-----|
| [What you see] | [Why] | [What to do] |

### Rollback
[How to undo this if something goes wrong]

### Escalation
| Situation | Contact | Method |
|-----------|---------|--------|
| [When to escalate] | [Who] | [How to reach them] |

### History
| Date | Run By | Notes |
|------|--------|-------|
| [Date] | [Person] | [Any issues or observations] |
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73## If Connectors Available
75If **~~knowledge base** is connected:
76- Search for existing runbooks to update rather than create from scratch
77- Publish the completed runbook to your ops wiki
79If **~~ITSM** is connected:
80- Link the runbook to related incident types and change requests
81- Auto-populate escalation contacts from on-call schedules

If Connectors Available

If ~~knowledge base is connected:

  • Search for existing runbooks to update rather than create from scratch
  • Publish the completed runbook to your ops wiki

If ~~ITSM is connected:

  • Link the runbook to related incident types and change requests
  • Auto-populate escalation contacts from on-call schedules
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Uses an outside tool ~~knowledge :75
83## Tips
851. **Be painfully specific** — "Run the script" is not a step. "Run `python sync.py --prod --dry-run` from the ops server" is.
862. **Include failure modes** — What can go wrong at each step and what to do about it.
873. **Test the runbook** — Have someone unfamiliar with the process follow it. Fix where they get stuck.

Tips

  1. Be painfully specific — "Run the script" is not a step. "Run python sync.py --prod --dry-run from the ops server" is.
  2. Include failure modes — What can go wrong at each step and what to do about it.
  3. Test the runbook — Have someone unfamiliar with the process follow it. Fix where they get stuck.
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Runs code python sync.py :85

From anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins at 2574e29, 2026-10-27. Skills read by DeepSeek V4.1 Flash on 2026-11-04. Summary and techniques by Claude Opus 5.5 on 2026-11-06.