Using Runbooks for Incident Response (Pro Feature)

Runbooks help your team respond faster during incidents by keeping the actual response steps close to the incident itself.

Unlike incident templates, which help you create the incident message, runbooks are operational instructions for responders. They can include checklists, escalation notes, rollback steps, links, and internal guidance.

What Runbooks Do

Runbooks let you:

• Create internal response instructions for common failure scenarios
• Scope a runbook to an entire status page or to a specific component
• Automatically link the best matching runbook when a new incident is created
• View the linked runbook directly from the incident details sidebar

This is especially useful for recurring issues like database failover, API degradation, background queue stalls, or dependency outages.

Where to Find Runbooks

In the user dashboard:

1. Open Incidents in the left menu
2. Click Runbooks
3. Create, edit, or delete your runbooks from there

Runbooks are available on Pro plans and above.

If you have not set up affected components yet, start with Managing Components and Groups so your incidents and runbooks can match the right services.

Creating a Runbook

1. Go to Incidents -> Runbooks
2. Click Create Runbook
3. Fill in the fields
4. Save the runbook

Runbook Fields

Page-Level vs Component-Level Runbooks

You can scope runbooks in two ways:

Component-Level

Choose a specific component when you create the runbook.

Use this when the response steps are unique to one service, for example:

• Database failover
• Cache cluster restart
• Payment gateway degradation

Page-Level Fallback

Leave the component field empty.

Use this when you want a more general response guide that applies to the whole status page if there is no component-specific runbook.

How Auto-Linking Works

When you create a new incident:

• If the incident has a matching component-specific runbook, that runbook is linked automatically
• If no component-specific runbook exists, StatusPage.me can fall back to a page-level runbook
• If no runbook matches, the incident is created without one

This means you can prepare guidance once and have it appear automatically when the right incident happens.

Viewing a Linked Runbook During an Incident

Open any incident and look at the Incident Context sidebar.

If a runbook is linked, you can:

• See the runbook name
• Expand the runbook steps inline
• Jump to edit the runbook if you have access

The same sidebar also shows impacted monitor context, so responders can move from diagnosis to action without switching between multiple pages.

Runbooks vs Incident Templates

Use both together, but for different jobs:

Example:

• Use an incident template to quickly publish “API latency is elevated”
• Use a runbook to guide responders through rollback, scaling, escalation, and verification steps

See Using Incident Templates if you want both workflows in place.

Best Practices

• Keep runbook titles specific and easy to scan
• Use component scoping whenever the response differs by service
• Put escalation contacts and rollback criteria near the top
• Include verification steps so responders know when recovery is complete
• Review runbooks after major incidents so they stay current

Troubleshooting

My runbook did not link automatically

Check that:

• The incident was created for the same status page
• The component matches the runbook scope
• A page-level fallback exists if you expected one

I can see the incident but not edit the runbook

Runbook management follows the same account and team permissions as other incident-management tools. Ask the owner or an allowed admin/editor to update it.

If you work with teammates on shared status pages, also review Teams.

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What’s Next?

• Creating and managing incidents
• Using Incident Templates
• Managing Components and Groups
• Teams
• On-call scheduling