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Forget flowcharts
Sema4.ai Agents are powered by Runbooks — executable blueprints that define how they reason, collaborate, and act — enabling business users to create and deploy intelligent agents directly through Sema4 Studio.
What are runbooks?
At their core, runbooks capture three foundational aspects of a business process:
1. Intent – What needs to be done and why. This is the goal of the work, the clear purpose that drives the action. For example, ‘Ensure all new employees have proper system access on day one.’
2. Output – The tangible result or outcome we’re aiming for. This defines what ‘done’ looks like and sets clear success criteria. Following our example: ‘New employees have active credentials for all required systems, their access is confirmed, and they’ve completed first-time login.’
3. Recipe – The step-by-step path to achieve the goal. This is the detailed ‘how-to’ that bridges the gap between intent and output. For our example, this would include each step from requesting access to final verification.
When these three elements come together, they create a powerful guide that helps ensure successful execution. By knowing both what needs to be done and exactly how to do it, teams move from uncertainty to confidence, from inconsistency to reliability.
Traditionally, runbooks have been used to document critical operational procedures, helping teams handle important processes during challenging situations like middle-of-the-night service outages. Their effectiveness at bringing clarity to complex situations has made them invaluable tools for teams that need to deliver consistent results under pressure.
Today, we introduce a broader vision: Runbooks for Work. Every business process—including customer service, finance, and human resources—can benefit from clear documentation of intent, output, and a detailed recipe. Whether you’re processing payroll, onboarding clients, or managing vendor relationships, runbooks bring structure and confidence to your daily operations.
What runbooks are not
Don’t worry – runbooks aren’t BPM making a comeback. You won’t find those intimidating flow charts that engineers love to draw. You know the ones with endless boxes and arrows that make perfect sense on a whiteboard, but turn into a puzzle when you actually need to get work done.
They are not code statements or rigid scripts written in English. A runbook isn’t about turning humans into robots following inflexible instructions. Runbooks are about unlocking the power of large language models by interpreting natural language as a human would.
Why do business users love runbooks?
Business users love runbooks because they capture the full richness of their work – not just the steps, but the priorities, the constraints, and the exceptions. This is their work, in their language, with all its nuances.
What really sets runbooks apart is the power they give back to business users. When processes need to change, and they always do, business users can update their runbooks themselves. No IT tickets. No waiting for technical teams. No translations needed between business and technical language.
We saw this enthusiasm firsthand. When we first introduced runbooks to business users, their excitement was visible. When we met in-person, they would walk to the front of the room to read the sample runbooks. They would discuss among themselves how their work would change if they had runbooks. We listened.
This wasn’t just about documentation. It was about having a tool that truly captured and supported their work in the way they had always needed.
Our first technical stakeholder refused to install our software on his machine. We were worried. Then he clarified his concerns. He told us that if all of his business users could not install Sema4 Studio and work with runbooks, then our approach was not going to work. He was right and we designed Studio specifically for business users.
What value do runbooks unlock for the business?
Runbooks are the single source of truth to fully describe the work – what it is, how it should be done and what the expected outcomes are. This simple but powerful fact unlocks tremendous value for the business.
When everyone is literally on the same page the business gains:
- Central control over how work gets done
- The ability to refine processes with confidence
- Clear change management across the organization
- A foundation for continuous improvement
- True operational resiliency
With a definitive source, work gets done consistently and correctly. No multiple versions, no outdated procedures, no confusion about the current process. One master record for how work should be executed.
How do runbooks come to life?
Runbooks define every aspect of how Sema4 AI agents reason – who they are, what work they do, and how they do the work. Our agents are runbooks brought to life, software life that is.
When a runbook defines work, it creates a complete template for execution – the intent, the output, and the recipe. For AI agents, this isn’t just documentation – it’s their operating model. Every priority, constraint, and exception in the runbook shapes how they function.
Our agents need to do the work to your specification. Rather than create plans from scratch, agents need to excel at plan composition and instruction following.
Is everything a runbook?
It’s tempting to think that every process, every task, every bit of work can and should be captured in a runbook. But this isn’t quite right.
Work needs to be well-defined to be captured in a runbook. You need to know the intent, the output, and how to get there. If you can’t define these elements clearly, you don’t have a runbook – you have a problem statement waiting to be solved.
With Runbooks for agents, a lot of the well-defined work is now accessible to agents. Look around your organization – you’ll find the seeds of runbooks everywhere. Manuals, SOPs, training handbooks – these are all good starting points for work that can be specified through runbooks.
Simpler and shorter runbooks are better. A 75-page training manual might yield a dozen focused, effective runbooks. Each one clear, specific, and ready for execution.
Creative work, exploratory research, strategic planning – these activities require different approaches. They need space for discovery, innovation, and iteration before they become defined work that can be captured in a runbook.
We also need to be pragmatic about the current capabilities of Large Language Models. Their strength lies in learning from in-context examples, following well-defined instructions and accurate tool-calling. Understanding these limitations helps us focus on the right kind of work to capture in runbooks today, while keeping an eye on what’s possible tomorrow.
Future work – watch this space
The future of runbooks is tied to the rapid evolution of Large Language Models. As these models get better at planning, instruction following and tool use, runbooks will unlock more and more possibilities for getting work done.
We are already seeing complex business processes being broken down into well-defined runbooks and executed by agents. And this is just the beginning. The best AI use cases are those that are really hard but possible. As the technology inevitably becomes better, cheaper, and faster, Sema4 AI agents will be perfectly positioned to transform these advances into tangible business value.
The key questions we are building for:
- How do we guide runbook authors to write better runbooks?
- How do we evaluate the accuracy of agents in doing the work?
- How do we enable continuous improvement using feedback from process architects and runbook authors?
To hear more about our runbooks, join our launch webinar series.
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