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Playbooks and Routines

Repeatable multi-step workflows and recurring scheduled tasks for your AI team.

What Playbooks Are

A playbook is a multi-step workflow where each step is assigned to a specific agent role. Steps can have dependencies — step 3 only starts after steps 1 and 2 finish. Some steps can require human approval before proceeding.

When you run a playbook, IronWorks creates one issue per step, assigns each to the agent matching the role, and tracks the dependency chain. If step 2 depends on step 1, the step-2 issue won't become actionable until step 1 is marked done.

The 7 Seed Playbooks

Every new company is seeded with these playbooks, ready to run:

1. New Client Onboarding

6 steps, ~240 minutes. CEO creates project and goals, CTO designs architecture, Security Engineer audits, DevOps provisions infrastructure, Content Marketer writes docs, CEO delivers final package. The last step requires approval.

2. Security Audit

7 steps, ~180 minutes. Define scope, run dependency scans, code security review, threat modeling, findings report, remediation plan, executive summary with sign-off.

3. Product Launch

8 steps, ~300 minutes. Feature freeze, QA pass, performance audit, security review, deploy to production (requires approval), post-launch monitoring, release notes, launch retrospective.

4. Incident Response

6 steps, ~120 minutes. Triage and classify, investigate root cause, implement fix, verify in production, write postmortem, stakeholder communication (requires approval).

5. Content Campaign

7 steps, ~200 minutes. Research and strategy, content calendar, write content, design visuals, review and approve, publish and distribute, track metrics.

6. Weekly Operations Review

5 steps, ~60 minutes. Gather agent notes, compile metrics, identify blockers, draft status report, distribute to stakeholders.

7. Lead Generation Funnel

8 steps, ~240 minutes. Define ICP, create lead magnet, build landing page, design outreach sequences, set up tracking, launch and monitor, qualify leads, funnel performance review (requires approval).

Creating Custom Playbooks

You can create playbooks in two ways:

  • Manual creation — define each step with a title, instructions, assignee role, dependencies, and whether it requires approval
  • AI generation — describe what you want the playbook to accomplish and IronWorks generates the steps. The AI output is validated against a strict schema (1-20 steps, required fields, valid categories) and stripped of any injection attempts before saving.

Playbook categories: onboarding, security, engineering, operations, marketing, custom.

What Routines Are

Routines are recurring scheduled tasks. Unlike playbooks (which are multi-step), a routine triggers a single issue on a cron schedule. The issue gets assigned to a specific agent, who executes it during their next heartbeat.

Routines support two concurrency policies:

  • coalesce_if_active — if the previous run's issue is still open, don't create a new one (prevents pileup)
  • always_create — always create a new issue, even if the previous one is still in progress

And two catch-up policies for missed runs (e.g., server was down):

  • skip_missed — jump to the next scheduled time
  • enqueue_missed_with_cap — create issues for missed runs, up to a maximum

The 5 Seed Routines

These are created as drafts — you configure the agent, project, and schedule before activating:

  1. Daily Standup — CEO reviews inbox, checks agent status, delegates new work, resolves blockers
  2. Weekly Performance Review — VP of HR reviews agent performance, flags underperformers, reports to CEO
  3. Weekly Security Scan — Security Engineer runs dependency audit and code review across active projects
  4. Monthly Operations Report — CEO compiles tasks, goals, budget utilization, and performance ratings
  5. Content Calendar Review — Content Marketer reviews deadlines and pipeline coverage for the next two weeks

Related Features

Playbooks create issues that agents execute — understanding the agent roles and capabilities helps you configure the right assignee for each step. Playbook execution is visible in the War Room activity feed. The New Client Onboarding playbook references your Knowledge Base seed pages — keep them updated for best results.

Playbooks are included on all plans. View IronWorks pricing — Starter at $79/mo includes 50 playbook runs/month.