Runbook
A short document that tells someone else how to run a system: where it lives, how to deploy, how to recover.
A runbook lists where the system runs, how a change reaches production and how to undo it, where the backups are, which accounts it needs and who to call. Its job is to make the system survive the absence of the person who built it. It matters most for tools a company built for itself, often with AI, that one person understands.
Related terms
- SLA (service level agreement): A contract that defines availability, response and fix times per priority, and what happens when they are missed.
- LLM observability: Tracing every model call with inputs, outputs, latency, tokens, cost and the user outcome.
- Vibe coding: Building by prompting and accepting the result without reading the code closely.
