Playbooks
Playbooks are step-by-step checklists for launching a product, rotating a key, handling a leak and shutting a project down.
A playbook is a reusable checklist of steps. A run is one go through a playbook, for one item or one project. You find both under Playbooks in the sidebar.
Playbooks are fixed. You can't add, remove or reorder their steps, and nothing stored in your vault can change them. StackHangar plans the steps for your item or project when you start a run, and you work through them in order.
#The playbooks
| Playbook | Starts from | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Launch | Playbooks, or Launch a product on the Projects page | Set up the services a new product needs, with a project, accounts, items and reminders |
| Add a service | Add a service on a project page | Add one more service to a project you already have, with the same steps as Launch |
| Rotate or renew | Rotate, Renew or Fix this on an item | Replace a key, password, database credential or certificate, or renew a domain, subscription or membership |
| Leaked key | I think this leaked on an item | Replace a value that may have been exposed, revoke the old one and check for misuse |
| Sunset a project | Sunset project on a project page | Cancel, revoke and close everything a project uses, then retire it |
There is no playbook for handing a product over to a buyer. The Sunset a project playbook is the closest, but it winds a project down rather than transferring it.
#What a step looks like
Each step has a title, a short explanation and, where StackHangar knows the provider, a link that opens the right page at the provider in a new tab. You do the work at the provider, then tick the step off in StackHangar. Some steps ask for something in return, such as the new value of a key.
A step is in one of these states:
- Pending: you can do it now.
- Waiting: it depends on a step that isn't done yet. The step says what it is waiting for.
- Done: you finished it.
- Skipped: you skipped it. Only optional steps can be skipped.
You can undo a done or skipped step, as long as no later step depends on it. Optional steps are marked Optional.
#Doing steps by hand or from your browser
Where a playbook sends a new value to a deploy target (a Vercel project, a GitHub repository or a Netlify site), your browser can do it for you. That needs a deploy target on the item and the Solo plan. Every such step also has a by-hand route, so you are never stuck. See Deploy targets.
#Ending a run
A run ends in one of two ways:
- Finish closes it as Completed once every required step is done and the rest are done or skipped. You then see a summary of what changed.
- Abandon run closes it as Abandoned. Steps you already did stay done, and the run can't be reopened.
Runs you started appear under In progress until they end, then under History. See Runs.
#Explain this step
Steps have an Explain this step button. Nothing is sent until you press it. It asks for a plain-English explanation of the step. Only fixed details leave your device, such as the playbook, the step, the provider, the item type and the environment, never names, values or notes. The explanation doesn't change the steps. See What StackHangar can see.
#Agents and playbooks
An agent connected through MCP can propose a playbook run, and you approve it. See Agent proposals.
In this section
- LaunchSet up a new product in StackHangar: pick services and accounts, then work through the steps that create items, send values and add DNS records.
- Rotate or renewReplace a key, password, database credential or certificate, or renew a domain, subscription or membership, one step at a time.
- Leaked keyReplace a key or password that may have been exposed, revoke the old one right away and check the provider for misuse.
- Sunset a projectCancel subscriptions, revoke keys, decide what happens to domains and close accounts, then retire the project.
- RunsFind, resume and review your playbook runs: what In progress and History show, how to stop and come back, and how to end or delete a run.
- Deploy targetsSend a new key from your browser to a Vercel project, GitHub repository or Netlify site and redeploy it, without the value passing through StackHangar.
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