# Turn the incident timeline into the runbook for the next one

What somebody worked out at 3am, written down before it is forgotten.

Category: Incident follow-through
Source: https://letsship.ai/use-cases/turn-the-incident-timeline-into-a-runbook
Published: 2026-08-25

## Goal

Convert an incident timeline into a runbook a different person could follow.

## Acceptance criteria

- Every step names the dashboard, query, or command it needs
- Each step has been run and confirmed to work
- It states how to tell whether the step worked
- It is linked from the alert that would fire for this again

## What lands as proof

Every command and link in the runbook exercised, so it is verified rather than remembered.

## Prompt

Copy this to an agent to open the ticket:

```text
Create a Linear issue in my team and assign it to the SHIP agent.

Title: Write the runbook from the {incident} timeline

Description: Convert an incident timeline into a runbook a different person could follow.

Acceptance criteria:
- Every step names the dashboard, query, or command it needs
- Each step has been run and confirmed to work
- It states how to tell whether the step worked
- It is linked from the alert that would fire for this again

Before you create the issue, find a recent incident with a timeline and replace {incident} with its reference.
```

## Questions

### What does the agent actually change?

The ticket is scoped to one outcome: convert an incident timeline into a runbook a different person could follow. Work that serves that outcome is in scope, and anything outside it is left for a separate ticket, so the pull request stays reviewable.

### How do I know the work is done?

The pull request carries the evidence, not only the diff. Here that means each step verified against the real dashboards and commands, so a reviewer can confirm the result without reproducing the work locally.

### How much oversight does this need?

None is required before the run starts. Every claim this ticket makes can be checked by machine, so the agent works straight through and a person reviews the finished pull request like any other.