IT Runbook Template
Draw the runbook as the flow your engineers follow, and keep each step's procedure, commands and contacts one click behind it.
Free forever on the Personal plan
Runbooks: an example
The flow on one page
Detect, triage, mitigate and recover, with every decision visible at a glance.
Commands behind the step
Procedures, commands and contacts open from the step that needs them.
Escalation built in
Time limits and who to call next are part of the runbook, not a separate list.
The basics
What is a runbook?
A runbook is a documented procedure for handling a known event, such as a site going offline, a failed backup or a full disk: how to recognise it, what to check, what to do for each cause, how to confirm the fix and when to escalate. It lets any engineer on call handle the event the same way.
Most runbooks are long pages of numbered steps, which are slow to follow at three in the morning. Drawing the procedure as a flow shows the decisions at a glance, with the detailed steps for each box kept right behind it.
In Blueprintr a runbook is a diagram whose steps open strata with numbered procedures, commands and contacts. MSPs keep each client's runbooks in that client's team, beside the rest of its documentation.
Why Blueprintr
Runbooks your engineers can follow under pressure
The flow on the canvas, the procedure behind every step.
Flowchart shapes and phases
Draw checks as diamonds and actions as boxes, grouped into phases, with labelled yes and no paths. Vellum includes flowchart and BPMN shapes too.
VellumProcedures behind each step
Give each step a stratum with numbered instructions, a Raw tab for commands with line numbers and highlighting, and a table of contacts.
StratumOn-call snapshots on Enterprise
Continuum Link attaches dated snapshots from PagerDuty, incident.io, Rootly, Jira Service Management Operations and more to a step's record.
ContinuumA runbook library
On the Team plan, collect runbooks in a folium: a searchable documentation site with a page tree, page comments and change requests.
FoliumReviewed before it changes
On team-owned blueprints, require approval before an edit is merged into the published runbook, so on-call engineers never follow an unreviewed step.
Ask which runbook to use
AI Assist answers questions from the blueprints and documentation you can open. The free plan includes 50 conversation turns a month.
How to
How to write a runbook in Blueprintr
Create a blueprint
Sign up free and create a blueprint, or start from the operational runbook template in the Compendium.
Draw the flow
Add the alert, the checks as diamonds and the actions as boxes, grouped into phases.
Write each step
Right-click a step and add a stratum with its numbered procedure, commands and contacts.
Add limits and escalation
Put the time limit on each phase and a step for who to call when it runs out.
Link it from the alert
Publish the runbook and add its link to the monitoring alert, so engineers open it from the page.
Start from a template
Operational runbook
Detect, triage, mitigate, resolve and review as a flow, with a stratum per step, severity definitions, a decision tree, a communications plan and an escalation matrix.
FAQ
Questions about runbooks
Is this runbook template free?
Yes. The Vellum editor and strata are on the free Personal plan, and the Compendium includes an operational runbook template to start from. Runbook libraries in a folium are part of the Team plan.
What should a runbook include?
The symptom or alert it covers, the checks in order, the action for each cause, commands ready to copy, contacts, time limits with escalation, and how to confirm the fix and close the ticket.
What is the difference between a runbook and a playbook?
A runbook is the procedure for one known event, step by step. A playbook covers a type of incident, such as a security breach, with roles and decisions, and often calls several runbooks along the way.
Can I put commands and scripts in a runbook?
Yes. A stratum's Raw tab holds commands or scripts with line numbers and syntax highlighting, and rich text can include code blocks, so engineers can copy them straight from the step.
Can I link a runbook from a monitoring alert?
Yes. Every published blueprint has its own link. Add it to the alert's description so the on-call engineer opens the runbook from the alert itself.
Does Blueprintr run the steps for me?
No. Blueprintr documents the procedure; it does not run commands or change systems. Engineers follow the steps and record what they did in the ticket.