Runbook Template

Field	Value
Type	Skill Resource
Source	~/.copilot/skills/technical-writing/references/templates/runbook.md
Description	Not specified

Source Content

Runbook Template

Operational steps for a paged engineer at 3 a.m. Diátaxis mode: how-to, under stress — every word must earn its place.

Skeleton

# Runbook: {{alert or scenario name}}

{{Incident scene, 2–3 sentences — never a novel: "The alert fires on
Jill's shift at 3 a.m. She runs the two checks below, restarts the
worker, and is back asleep in ten minutes. Jack, who skipped the checks
last quarter, restarted the wrong service." Then one sentence: what
fired and what this runbook restores.}}

**Severity:** {{P1–P4}}
**Owner:** {{team}}
**Last verified:** {{ISO date}}

## Confirm it's real

{{The one or two checks that separate a real incident from a flapping alert.}}

## Triage

{{Mermaid flowchart: symptom → checks → branch to remediation — follow
the diagram rules in ../mermaid.md.}}
_{{What to notice: which branch handles the common case.}}_

## Remediate

1. {{Exact command, expected output, and how long it takes.}}
2. {{Next step.}}

## Verify recovery

{{The dashboard or command that proves it's over.}}

## Escalate

{{Who, how, and with what information — one line each.}}

## Postmortem hooks

{{What to capture now for the review later: logs, timestamps, graph links.}}

{{The useful ending, one line: what Jill now knows that Jack didn’t.}}

Rules for this template

• Write for a stressed reader: short sentences, exact commands, expected output after every step.
• Metadata (Severity, Owner, Last verified) goes one pair per line — the key-value rule matters most here.
• The opening incident scene is 2–3 sentences and stops there; deeper narrative belongs in the postmortem.
• The useful ending is one line, folded into the postmortem hooks — never its own heading.
• “Last verified” is a promise — re-run the runbook when it ages past a quarter.
• Cast: always Jack (the path with friction) and Jill (the path that works) — see ../personas.md.
• Reminders: story, own line per person · useful ending.
• Format: short paragraphs · lists and tables · diagram + “what to notice”.