Runbook Generation Skill

Trigger

• Keywords: runbook, release runbook, deployment handbook, release handbook, operational guide, pre-release checklist, rollback plan

When NOT to Use

Usage

/runbook                              # Auto-detect feature, create or update
/runbook <feature-keyword>            # Specify feature
/runbook --update                     # Force update mode
/runbook --check                      # Read-only staleness validation
/runbook --request <path|title>       # Specify target request (multi-request features)

Workflow

sequenceDiagram
    participant U as User
    participant S as /runbook
    participant FR as Feature Resolver
    participant CB as Codebase
    participant RB as runbook-release.md

    U->>S: /runbook [feature] [--update|--check] [--request path]
    S->>FR: node scripts/resolve-feature-cli.js
    FR-->>S: {key, doc_inventory, canonical_docs}
    S->>S: Mode dispatch + Request selection

    alt Create Mode
        S->>CB: Read canonical docs + active requests
        S->>CB: Scoped discovery (4-priority cascade)
        S->>RB: Write runbook-release.md from template
    else Update Mode
        S->>RB: Read existing runbook + provenance
        S->>CB: Compare current state vs provenance SHAs
        S->>RB: Edit changed sections only
    else Check Mode
        S->>RB: Read existing runbook + provenance
        S->>CB: Validate per-section SHAs
        S-->>U: Report: Fresh/Stale/Missing/Unknown
    end

Phase 0: Context Resolution

Resolve feature using the 5-level cascade:

# If positional feature arg provided, pass as --feature
if [ -n "$FEATURE_ARG" ]; then
  FEATURE_JSON=$(node scripts/resolve-feature-cli.js --feature "$FEATURE_ARG" 2>/dev/null || echo '{}')
else
  FEATURE_JSON=$(node scripts/resolve-feature-cli.js 2>/dev/null || echo '{}')
fi

Note: Mode dispatch keys off the specific file runbook-release.md, not any runbook-typed doc in doc_inventory. A feature may have runbook-deploy.md (a different topic) without triggering update mode for the release runbook.

Request Selection

Phase 1: Content Discovery (Create/Update modes)

Use scoped discovery cascade — narrow to wide, with confidence degradation:

See references/discovery-heuristics.md for per-section mapping.

Security — Redaction Rules

When mining configs/workflows/logs into committed markdown:

Phase 2: Generate / Update

Create Mode

1. Read canonical docs via canonical_docs map (tech_spec, architecture, requirements)
2. Read active request(s) for AC, scope, related files
3. Run scoped discovery for each template section
4. Fill template from references/template.md
5. Embed <!-- runbook-provenance --> manifest with source SHAs
6. Write to docs/features/{feature}/runbook-release.md

Update Mode

1. Read existing runbook-release.md and parse <!-- runbook-provenance --> block
2. Compare each sources[].sha against git hash-object <file>
3. Identify stale sections (any source SHA mismatch)
4. Re-run discovery for stale sections only
5. Edit stale sections via Edit tool (preserve fresh sections)
6. Update provenance manifest with new SHAs

Phase 3: Check Mode (--check)

Read-only validation — does not modify the runbook file.

1. Read existing runbook-release.md and parse provenance manifest
2. For each section, compare sources[].sha against current git hash-object
3. Classify: Fresh / Stale / Missing / Unknown (see references/check-output.md)
4. Output report with per-section status and SHA diffs
5. Emit verdict: Ready / Stale / Incomplete

Output

Verification

• Feature resolved via resolve-feature-cli.js
• Runbook detected in doc_inventory (ancillary/runbook type)
• Template has all 9 sections (see references/template.md)
• Provenance manifest embedded with multi-source SHA tracking
• Discovery uses scoped cascade (not repo-wide grep as first option)
• Redaction rules applied (no secrets in committed markdown)
• --check mode is read-only (no file writes)

Auto-Loop Integration

This skill produces .md output. Per @rules/auto-loop.md:

References

Examples

Input: /runbook
Action: Auto-detect feature → create runbook-release.md → /codex-review-doc

Input: /runbook auth --check
Action: Read auth/runbook-release.md → validate provenance SHAs → output report

Input: /runbook --update --request docs/features/auth/requests/2026-04-01-login-fix.md
Action: Read existing runbook → diff stale sections → update → /codex-review-doc