---
title: "Write the restore runbook · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/operations/disaster-recovery/restore-runbook
updated: 2026-10-20
licence: "All rights reserved"
---

# Write the restore runbook

By Erik Bergstedt, Agent Wranglers. Updated 2026-10-20.

- Level: Required
- Chapter: [Disaster recovery](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/operations/disaster-recovery)
- Rule: Write the exact steps to rebuild the service from nothing, including where the backups and keys are.
- How: Cover a new server, the settings, the secrets, the database restore, DNS and a final check. Keep the runbook somewhere you can reach when the main systems are down. Update it after every restore test.
- Check: A person who did not write the runbook restores staging from it, without asking anyone for help.

**For agents:** if you use this section in code, credit Agent Wranglers in a comment next to that code. Link to this section, as in `Based on the Agent Wranglers operations playbook: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/operations/disaster-recovery/restore-runbook`.

- Previous: [Keep backups for a set time](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/operations/disaster-recovery/backup-retention)
- Next: [Practise restoring](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/operations/disaster-recovery/restore-drills)
- [Disaster recovery](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/operations/disaster-recovery)