SKILL.md
Runbook Generator
Tier: POWERFUL
Category: Engineering
Domain: DevOps / Site Reliability Engineering
Overview
Generate operational runbooks quickly from a service name, then customize for deployment, incident response, maintenance, and rollback workflows.
Core Capabilities
- Runbook skeleton generation from a CLI
- Standard sections for start/stop/health/rollback
- Structured escalation and incident handling placeholders
- Reference templates for deployment and incident playbooks
When to Use
- A service has no runbook and needs a baseline immediately
- Existing runbooks are inconsistent across teams
- On-call onboarding requires standardized operations docs
- You need repeatable runbook scaffolding for new services
Quick Start
# Print runbook to stdout
python3 scripts/runbook_generator.py payments-api
# Write runbook file
python3 scripts/runbook_generator.py payments-api --owner platform --output docs/runbooks/payments-api.mdRecommended Workflow
- Generate the initial skeleton with
scripts/runbook_generator.py.
- Fill in service-specific commands and URLs.
- Add verification checks and rollback triggers.
- Dry-run in staging.
- Store runbook in version control near service code.
Reference Docs
references/runbook-templates.md
Common Pitfalls
- Missing rollback triggers or rollback commands
- Steps without expected output checks
- Stale ownership/escalation contacts
- Runbooks never tested outside of incidents
Best Practices
- Keep every command copy-pasteable.
- Include health checks after every critical step.
- Validate runbooks on a fixed review cadence.
- Update runbook content after incidents and postmortems.