Agent skill · operations · anthropics
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.
Why this skill is useful
Provides a structured template for documenting operational procedures that ensures consistency and completeness, which the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
About 2k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-07. 23,345 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
/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 Output [Exact command, action, or instruction] [Exact command, action, or instruction] 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 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.
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills anthropics/runbook