> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rootly.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Rootly AI in Retrospectives

> Rootly AI drafts retrospective sections from incident data, timeline events, Slack channels, and bridge-call transcripts.

## Overview

**AI blocks** solve the blank-page problem. Inside the [Rootly retrospective editor](/collaborative-retrospectives/using-the-editor), an AI block is a section, such as What Happened or Contributing Factors, that Rootly AI drafts for you from the incident's own context. You decide which blocks belong in a retrospective by adding them to a [template](/retrospectives/configuring-templates), and every retrospective created from that template generates those sections automatically.

Every AI block shows the sources it drew on and stays fully editable.

The recommended starting point is the [Best Practice template](/retrospectives/best-practice-template) — Rootly's opinionated default, built from patterns across the millions of incidents managed in Rootly and the resilience engineering literature, with a blameless instruction set already wired into its AI blocks.

***

## How AI Blocks Work

AI blocks live in the [Rootly retrospective editor](/collaborative-retrospectives/using-the-editor), right alongside your headings, text, data blocks, and Liquid variables.

* **Each block has a purpose-built prompt.** You don't write it, you just add the block.
* **They pull context automatically.** Every block draws on the incident's metadata, its timeline, the incident Slack channel, and bridge-call transcripts (when captured via the Rootly AI [Meeting Scribe](/ai/meeting-scribe)), with no setup required.
* **They stay live in the document.** Regenerate, edit inline, convert to plain text, comment, or rate.
* **Steer generation** with custom instructions on the template.

***

## Key Capabilities at a Glance

| Capability | Description | Where |
| :- | :- | :- |
| Preset AI blocks | Ten ready-made section types, each with an expert prompt | Template builder + editor |
| Custom AI block | Write your own section with a title and a plain-language prompt | Template builder + editor |
| Rootly AI-powered templates | Add AI blocks to a template so every retro generates them automatically | Template builder |
| Custom instructions | Steer how each block (or the whole template) is written | Template builder |
| Preview against a past incident | See exactly what a block produces before rolling out the template | Template builder |
| Insert on the fly | Add an AI block to any retro document with the slash menu | Editor |
| Regenerate & edit | Regenerate any block, edit it inline, convert it to plain text, or delete it | Editor |
| Sources & prompt | Inspect what a block drew on and the prompt behind it | Editor |

***

## The AI Block Types

Rootly ships ten preset blocks, from Summary and What Happened to Contributing Factors, Learnings, and Curated Timeline, plus a custom block for any section you define with your own prompt. See the full list in [Building AI Templates](/ai/ai-in-retrospectives/building-ai-templates#the-preset-blocks), and learn how to work with them in a document in [Using AI Blocks](/ai/ai-in-retrospectives/using-ai-blocks).

***

## How Permissions Work

AI blocks respect your existing Rootly retrospective permissions. There is no separate AI permission system.

* Anyone who can edit a retrospective can insert, generate, regenerate, edit, and convert AI blocks.
* **Observers (read-only users) cannot modify AI blocks**. They can't regenerate, edit, convert, or delete them, just as they can't edit the rest of the document.

***

<a id="faq" />

<a id="faqs" />

## Frequently Asked Questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What does it take to turn Rootly AI on for retrospectives?" icon="sparkles">
    Rootly AI in Retrospectives is enabled from **AI & Agents**. Ask an Incident Response Owner or Admin with an Incident Response seat on the current team to turn it on. Once it's on, AI blocks appear in the template builder palette and the editor's slash menu.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Where does Rootly AI get its information?" icon="circle-info">
    From the incident's metadata, its timeline, the incident Slack channel, and the bridge-call transcript (when captured via the Rootly AI Meeting Scribe). No other external sources are used.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Will regenerating overwrite my manual edits?" icon="star">
    Rootly AI warns you before regenerating a block you've edited by hand, so you don't lose your changes by accident.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is my data used to train AI models?" icon="circle-question">
    No. Incident context is used to generate your draft and is not used to fine-tune base models.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

***

## Related Pages

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Building AI Templates" icon="wand-magic-sparkles" href="/ai/ai-in-retrospectives/building-ai-templates">
    Add AI blocks to a template and preview them against a past incident before rollout.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Using AI Blocks" icon="pen-to-square" href="/ai/ai-in-retrospectives/using-ai-blocks">
    Insert, generate, edit, and regenerate AI blocks inside a retrospective document.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Using the Retrospective Editor" icon="computer-mouse" href="/collaborative-retrospectives/using-the-editor">
    The editor AI blocks live in, with formatting, data blocks, Liquid, and collaboration.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Configuring Templates" icon="file-code" href="/retrospectives/configuring-templates">
    How retrospective templates work.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.