Runbook and incident documentation that works at 2am
A runbook is read by a tired person at 2am, so it must be scannable and exact. Flocci Library gives you numbered steps, callouts for the irreversible ones, syntax-highlighted code blocks holding the exact command, and an @mention chip back to the architecture page that explains why the system behaves this way.
Write for the worst moment, not the calmest. Put the symptom at the top, the first diagnostic command immediately below it, and the escalation path in a callout — before any explanation. Context belongs at the bottom or, better, behind an @mention to the architecture page, where it can be maintained once.
Exactness is the whole value. A command in a code block copies cleanly; a command in a paragraph acquires a curly quote and fails. Attachments carry the config files, and inline SVG carries the topology diagram, both editable in place.
Then close the loop after the incident: the postmortem page @mentions the runbook it exercised, so the runbook's Links panel accumulates every incident it was used in — which is the evidence you need to know which runbooks deserve rewriting.
How to set it up
- One Runbooks space; one page per alert or failure mode, titled by symptom.
- Lead with symptom, first command, escalation path — in that order.
- Put every command in a code block; never in prose.
- Flag irreversible steps in a callout.
- @mention the architecture page for the why, and link postmortems back to the runbook.
Frequently asked questions
Can on-call engineers read runbooks without opening the app?
Any runbook can be published as a read-only share link that opens in any browser with no login — useful for vendors or contractors on rotation. Internal team members simply open the page directly.
How do I know which runbooks are out of date?
The activity stream shows when each page was last edited, and a runbook's Links panel shows the postmortems that referenced it. A runbook used in three incidents and untouched for a year is the one to rewrite first.
Related use cases
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