glossary
What Is a Runbook?
A documented procedure for handling a specific operational event — used live, under pressure.
A runbook is a written, step-by-step procedure used by on-call or operations staff to execute a specific task — typically responding to an incident or handling a recurring operation. Good runbooks are concrete enough to follow at 3am with no prior context.
Examples
- Database failover runbook: detection signals, switch commands, verification checks, rollback.
- Customer outage comms runbook: triggers, status page template, exec notification thresholds.
Related terms
Runbook
Playbook
SOP
Incident response
SRE
Frequently asked questions
Put this into practice
Track every step, assign teammates, and ship faster.