How to use
- Copy the installation command and review the source package before installing it in your own agent environment.
- Check the source document for required tools, credentials and supported hosts.
- Describe your input and desired deliverable; review the output against the source material.
npx skills add https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins --skill incident-responseBefore you start
- Installation does not include a model subscription, API allowance or permission to access your files.
- Repository stars and installation counts describe activity, not an independent quality or security test.
Original skill document
Rendered from the source repository. Headings, examples, code, tables, links, and referenced images are preserved.
/incident-response
If you see unfamiliar placeholders or need to check which tools are connected, see CONNECTORS.md.
Manage an incident from detection through postmortem.
Usage
/incident-response $ARGUMENTSModes
/incident-response new [description] # Start a new incident
/incident-response update [status] # Post a status update
/incident-response postmortem # Generate postmortem from incident dataIf no mode is specified, ask what phase the incident is in.
How It Works
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ INCIDENT RESPONSE │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Phase 1: TRIAGE │
│ ✓ Assess severity (SEV1-4) │
│ ✓ Identify affected systems and users │
│ ✓ Assign roles (IC, comms, responders) │
│ │
│ Phase 2: COMMUNICATE │
│ ✓ Draft internal status update │
│ ✓ Draft customer communication (if needed) │
│ ✓ Set up war room and cadence │
│ │
│ Phase 3: MITIGATE │
│ ✓ Document mitigation steps taken │
│ ✓ Track timeline of events │
│ ✓ Confirm resolution │
│ │
│ Phase 4: POSTMORTEM │
│ ✓ Blameless postmortem document │
│ ✓ Timeline reconstruction │
│ ✓ Root cause analysis (5 whys) │
│ ✓ Action items with owners │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Severity Classification
| Level | Criteria | Response Time |
|---|---|---|
| SEV1 | Service down, all users affected | Immediate, all-hands |
| SEV2 | Major feature degraded, many users affected | Within 15 min |
| SEV3 | Minor feature issue, some users affected | Within 1 hour |
| SEV4 | Cosmetic or low-impact issue | Next business day |
Communication Guidance
Provide clear, factual updates at regular cadence. Include: what's happening, who's affected, what we're doing, when the next update is.
Output — Status Update
markdown
## Incident Update: [Title]
**Severity:** SEV[1-4] | **Status:** Investigating | Identified | Monitoring | Resolved
**Impact:** [Who/what is affected]
**Last Updated:** [Timestamp]
### Current Status
[What we know now]
### Actions Taken
- [Action 1]
- [Action 2]
### Next Steps
- [What's happening next and ETA]
### Timeline
| Time | Event |
|------|-------|
| [HH:MM] | [Event] |Output — Postmortem
markdown
## Postmortem: [Incident Title]
**Date:** [Date] | **Duration:** [X hours] | **Severity:** SEV[X]
**Authors:** [Names] | **Status:** Draft
### Summary
[2-3 sentence plain-language summary]
### Impact
- [Users affected]
- [Duration of impact]
- [Business impact if quantifiable]
### Timeline
| Time (UTC) | Event |
|------------|-------|
| [HH:MM] | [Event] |
### Root Cause
[Detailed explanation of what caused the incident]
### 5 Whys
1. Why did [symptom]? → [Because...]
2. Why did [cause 1]? → [Because...]
3. Why did [cause 2]? → [Because...]
4. Why did [cause 3]? → [Because...]
5. Why did [cause 4]? → [Root cause]
### What Went Well
- [Things that worked]
### What Went Poorly
- [Things that didn't work]
### Action Items
| Action | Owner | Priority | Due Date |
|--------|-------|----------|----------|
| [Action] | [Person] | P0/P1/P2 | [Date] |
### Lessons Learned
[Key takeaways for the team]If Connectors Available
If ~~monitoring is connected:
- Pull alert details and metrics
- Show graphs of affected metrics
If ~~incident management is connected:
- Create or update incident in PagerDuty/Opsgenie
- Page on-call responders
If ~~chat is connected:
- Post status updates to incident channel
- Create war room channel
Tips
- Start writing immediately — Don't wait for complete information. Update as you learn more.
- Keep updates factual — What we know, what we've done, what's next. No speculation.
- Postmortems are blameless — Focus on systems and processes, not individuals.
