Agent skill
runbook
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.
Install this agent skill to your Project
npx add-skill https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins/tree/main/operations/skills/runbook
SKILL.md
/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.
Usage
/runbook $ARGUMENTS
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] |
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
Tips
- Be painfully specific — "Run the script" is not a step. "Run
python sync.py --prod --dry-runfrom the ops server" is. - Include failure modes — What can go wrong at each step and what to do about it.
- Test the runbook — Have someone unfamiliar with the process follow it. Fix where they get stuck.
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