Incident Postmortem Writer

Software development skill, available on Zeplik

Incident Postmortem Writer is a ready-to-run software development skill on Zeplik. Timeline reconstruction, root cause analysis, action items, facilitation. Ask in plain language and Zeplik applies the skill's method for you inside the conversation, on whichever AI model you prefer. It returns a structured document you can keep and reuse: Document artifact -- structured written deliverable with headed sections and a TL;DR (see artifact-templates/document.md).

The Incident Postmortem Writer skill loads automatically when your request matches it, or you can invoke it directly by typing /postmortem-writing in any chat. It works with attachments, connectors, and any model that supports the task, so you get the same expert method every time without setting anything up.

What the Incident Postmortem Writer skill can do

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Pick a prompt to open it in the Zeplik app. If you are not signed in yet, your prompt is waiting for you the moment you do.

How the Incident Postmortem Writer skill works

/postmortem-writing

Write blameless postmortems that drive real learning: reconstructed timelines, honest root cause analysis, and action items that actually get done.

Usage

/postmortem-writing $ARGUMENTS

What I Need From You

Paste what you have: incident channel logs, alert timestamps, the fix that resolved it, severity, duration, and customer impact. Rough notes are fine; I will structure them.

Blameless Principles

Blame-focusedBlameless
"Who caused this?""What conditions allowed this?"
"Someone made a mistake""The system allowed this mistake"
Punish individualsImprove systems
Hide informationShare learnings

Write a postmortem for: SEV1/SEV2 incidents, customer-facing outages over 15 minutes, data loss or security incidents, near-misses that could have been severe, and novel failure modes. Start within 1-2 days while memory is fresh; hold the review meeting by day 3-5; file action item tickets by day 7.

Full Postmortem Structure

  1. Summary -- two sentences: what broke, for how long, who was affected.
  2. Impact -- duration, affected users/requests, revenue or SLA impact, support volume.
  3. Timeline -- exact timestamps from first trigger through detection, escalation, mitigation, and resolution. Note detection lag (time to alert) and response lag (time to mitigation) explicitly.
  4. Root cause analysis -- see 5 Whys below. Distinguish trigger (what set it off) from root cause (why the system was vulnerable) from contributing factors.
  5. What went well / what went poorly -- honest bullets on detection, escalation, tooling, communication.
  6. Action items -- each with owner, due date, ticket link, and type (prevention, detection, mitigation). No orphans.
  7. Lessons learned -- what this incident teaches beyond the fix.

5 Whys Analysis

Ask "why" repeatedly, backing each answer with evidence, until you reach systemic causes. Example chain: service failed -> DB connections exhausted -> a refactor bypassed the connection pool -> review focused on business logic and missed the infra change -> no automated tests or documentation covered connection behavior. Root causes land on missing safety nets (tests, docs, review checklists, canary deploys), not on the person who typed the change. Map each root cause to an improvement and classify it: prevention, detection, or mitigation.

Quick Postmortem (minor incidents)

For SEV3-level events, a compact form keeps the habit cheap:

# Quick Postmortem: [Title]
**Date**: [date] | **Duration**: [X min] | **Severity**: SEV3
## What Happened
[One or two sentences]
## Timeline
- [time] - [event]
## Root Cause
[One sentence]
## Fix
- Immediate: [what stopped the bleeding]
- Long-term: [ticket]
## Lessons
[One line]

Facilitating the Review Meeting (60 min)

  1. Opening (5 min): restate blameless norms -- "we are here to learn, not to blame".
  2. Timeline walkthrough (15 min): chronological, clarifying questions, fill gaps.
  3. Analysis (20 min): what failed, why, what conditions allowed it, what would have prevented it.
  4. Action items (15 min): brainstorm, prioritize by impact vs effort, assign owners and dates.
  5. Closing (5 min): summarize learnings, confirm owners.

Facilitation tips: redirect blame toward systems, draw out quiet participants, document dissenting views, time-box tangents.

Anti-Patterns

  • Blame game -- kills learning; focus on systems.
  • Shallow analysis -- stopping at the first "why" guarantees recurrence.
  • No action items -- a postmortem without next steps is theater.
  • Unrealistic actions -- scope items so they actually complete; track them in your ticketing system and verify at follow-up.
  • Skipping small incidents -- minor events reveal patterns; review them quarterly in aggregate.

Output

A complete, shareable postmortem document in the structure above, plus a ready-to-paste action item list with owners and suggested priorities.

How to use the Incident Postmortem Writer skill

  1. Sign in to Zeplik

    Create a free Zeplik account or sign in. New accounts start with free credits, so you can try the Incident Postmortem Writer skill right away.

  2. Describe your software development task

    Ask in plain language, or type /postmortem-writing to invoke the skill directly. Zeplik recognizes the Incident Postmortem Writer skill and applies its method.

  3. Review and refine the result

    Zeplik returns a structured document you can edit, download, and reuse. Ask follow-ups to refine it.

Source and credit

Author
wshobson
License
MIT

Adapted from the open-source wshobson/agents project and tuned to run natively on Zeplik. View source on GitHub.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Incident Postmortem Writer skill?
Incident Postmortem Writer is a ready-to-run software development skill on Zeplik. Timeline reconstruction, root cause analysis, action items, facilitation. Ask in plain language and Zeplik applies the skill's method for you inside the conversation, on whichever AI model you prefer. It returns a structured document you can keep and reuse: Document artifact -- structured written deliverable with headed sections and a TL;DR (see artifact-templates/document.md).
How do I use Incident Postmortem Writer on Zeplik?
Sign in to Zeplik and ask in plain language, or type /postmortem-writing in any chat to invoke it directly. The skill applies its method and returns a result you can refine in the same conversation.
Which AI model does the Incident Postmortem Writer skill use?
Any model you choose. Zeplik works across every model in one chat, so the Incident Postmortem Writer skill runs on your preferred model for the task.
Where does the Incident Postmortem Writer skill come from?
The Incident Postmortem Writer skill is adapted from the open-source wshobson/agents project (MIT) and tuned to run natively on Zeplik. The original source is linked on this page.
How much does the Incident Postmortem Writer skill cost?
Using the skill is free to start. You only spend Zeplik credits when the assistant runs, and new accounts begin with free credits.

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