Runbook

Noun · Development

Definitions

  1. A documented set of step-by-step procedures for handling specific operational tasks or incidents. Good runbooks include the alert that triggers them, diagnostic steps, remediation actions, escalation contacts, and rollback procedures. Enable on-call engineers to resolve incidents they haven't seen before.

    In plain English: A step-by-step guide for handling specific incidents or operations tasks, so anyone on call can fix the problem.

    Example: "The database-full alert links to a runbook: check table sizes, identify bloat, run VACUUM FULL on the worst offender, and page the DBA if it doesn't help."

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