What it proves
A small workflow utility can be useful when it stabilizes the structure people need before analysis, not after.
Workflow checks
incident-timeline-formatter makes incident sequence, impact, and handoffs readable before the review turns into argument.
This guide exists because incident notes are often technically complete and still hard to use. The repo stays focused on one repeated problem: turning messy notes into a timeline shape that a real review can build on.
Why this repo carries the track
A short site-side guide before the proof layer on GitHub.
Why it matters in this track
It extends the workflow-check idea beyond linting. The check here is on sequence and handoff clarity, which are often the first blockers in an incident writeup.
What survives the first run
The formatted timeline is the artifact. It preserves event order, visible impact changes, and ownership handoffs in one reviewable shape.
What the first useful success looks like
incident-timeline-formatter as a first useful success, not only a demo.
The first useful run is a stable Markdown timeline that lets the team agree on sequence, impact changes, and handoffs before the deeper analysis starts. That alone removes a lot of review drag.
Use this before an incident review, before sharing rough notes with another team, or anywhere the real blocker is that the event sequence still is not trustworthy enough to discuss cleanly.
python3 incident_timeline_formatter.py sample_incident.json# Incident Timeline
- Events: 4
- Window: 2026-04-17 08:04 UTC to 2026-04-17 08:43 UTC
- Impact updates: 2
## Timeline
- 2026-04-17 08:04 UTC | API Gateway | Webhook retries start spiking for partner ingest. | status: signal | impact: Delayed order intake for one region.
- 2026-04-17 08:11 UTC | On-call | Confirms queue backlog and starts incident thread. | status: investigatingWhere it routes next
Turns rough incident notes into a stable Markdown timeline with impact and handoff shape intact.