Action Steps

Action steps execute operations on external services through connectors. They are the primary way to interact with integrated systems like Stripe, Salesforce, HubSpot, QuickBooks, and more.

Configuration

{
  "id": "create-invoice",
  "type": "action",
  "name": "Create Stripe Invoice",
  "action": "stripe.createInvoice",
  "config": {
    "customerId": "{{input.customer_id}}",
    "items": [
      {
        "price": "price_xxx",
        "quantity": 1
      }
    ]
  }
}

Field	Type	Required	Description
`id`	string	Yes	Unique step identifier
`type`	string	Yes	Must be `"action"`
`name`	string	Yes	Human-readable name
`action`	string	Yes	Action identifier (e.g., `stripe.createInvoice`)
`config`	object	Yes	Action-specific configuration
`retryConfig`	object	No	Retry configuration
`errorHandling`	object	No	Error handling strategy
`timeoutMs`	number	No	Timeout in milliseconds

Action Format

Actions follow the pattern {connector}.{actionName}:

stripe.createInvoice
salesforce.updateOpportunity
hubspot.createContact
quickbooks.listCustomers
slack.sendMessage

Available Connectors

Connector	Description	Example Actions
`stripe`	Payment processing	`createInvoice`, `getCustomer`, `createSubscription`
`salesforce`	CRM operations	`getAccount`, `updateOpportunity`, `query`
`hubspot`	Marketing/CRM	`createContact`, `getDeal`, `searchContacts`
`quickbooks`	Accounting	`createInvoice`, `getCustomer`, `createPayment`
`pandadoc`	Document signing	`createDocument`, `sendDocument`, `getStatus`
`netsuite`	ERP operations	`createCustomer`, `createInvoice`, `suiteql`
`slack`	Messaging	`sendMessage`, `openModal`, `addReaction`
`email`	Email sending	`send`, `send_template`, `schedule`
`api`	Call any HTTP endpoint	`request`

See Integrations for complete action documentation per connector.

API Request Block

When no connector covers the service you need, the core api block calls any HTTP endpoint directly.

{
  "id": "fetch_report",
  "type": "action",
  "action": "api.request",
  "config": {
    "url": "https://api.example.com/v1/reports",
    "method": "POST",
    "headers": [{ "Key": "Authorization", "Value": "Bearer {{secrets.EXAMPLE_API_KEY}}" }],
    "params": [{ "Key": "format", "Value": "detailed" }],
    "body": { "startDate": "{{input.startDate}}", "endDate": "{{input.endDate}}" },
    "responseFormat": "auto",
    "retries": 3,
    "retryDelayMs": 500
  }
}

Field	Type	Description
`url`	string	Absolute http(s) URL. Templates are resolved before the call.
`method`	string	`GET`, `POST`, `PUT`, `PATCH`, or `DELETE` (default `GET`)
`params`	json	Query parameters, as an object or a `[{Key, Value}]` table
`headers`	json	Request headers, same shapes. Use `{{secrets.NAME}}` for credentials.
`body`	json	Object (sent as JSON, sets `Content-Type`) or a raw string
`responseFormat`	string	`auto` (default), `json`, `csv`, `text`, `pdf`, or `binary`
`csvDelimiter`	string	Delimiter for `csv` parsing (default `,`)
`timeout`	number	Milliseconds; default 300000, capped at 600000
`retries`	number	Retry attempts for timeouts, 408, 429 and 5xx (default 0)
`retryDelayMs`	number	Initial backoff, doubled each attempt (default 500)
`retryMaxDelayMs`	number	Backoff ceiling (default 30000)
`retryNonIdempotent`	boolean	Allow retries for `POST`/`PATCH` (default false)
`maxResponseBytes`	number	Refuse a larger response (default 20 MB)
`failOnError`	boolean	Throw on non-2xx (default true)

Outputs: data (parsed body), status, headers, ok, contentType, sizeBytes, plus text for textual formats, rows/columns for CSV, and base64 content for pdf/binary — so a downloaded file can flow straight into a workspace_files, data_table, transform, or agent step.

POST and PATCH are not retried unless retryNonIdempotent is set, because a retry can duplicate a side effect. Requests to loopback and private-network addresses (including cloud metadata endpoints) are refused unless the deployment sets ALLOW_PRIVATE_NETWORK_REQUESTS=true.

Template Variables

Use template syntax to reference input and previous step outputs:

{
  "id": "update-contact",
  "type": "action",
  "action": "hubspot.updateContact",
  "config": {
    "contactId": "{{steps.lookup.output.id}}",
    "properties": {
      "company": "{{input.company_name}}",
      "lifecyclestage": "customer",
      "last_order_date": "{{now}}"
    }
  }
}

Available Template Contexts

Context	Example	Description
`input`	`{{input.customer_id}}`	Workflow trigger input
`steps`	`{{steps.step-id.output.field}}`	Previous step output
`variables`	`{{variables.taxRate}}`	Workflow variables
`env`	`{{env.API_URL}}`	Environment variables
`now`	`{{now}}`	Current ISO timestamp

Nested Access

{
  "config": {
    "email": "{{input.customer.contact.email}}",
    "amount": "{{steps.calculate.output.totals.grandTotal}}"
  }
}

Error Handling

Retry Configuration

Configure automatic retries for transient failures:

{
  "id": "api-call",
  "type": "action",
  "action": "stripe.createInvoice",
  "config": { ... },
  "retryConfig": {
    "maxAttempts": 3,
    "initialDelayMs": 1000,
    "maxDelayMs": 30000,
    "backoffMultiplier": 2
  }
}

Field	Type	Description
`maxAttempts`	number	Maximum retry attempts (1-10)
`initialDelayMs`	number	Initial delay in ms (min: 100)
`maxDelayMs`	number	Maximum delay in ms (min: 1000)
`backoffMultiplier`	number	Exponential backoff multiplier (1-10)

retryConfig is accepted by the step schema but is not yet honoured by the execution engine, and errorHandling.strategy: "retry" re-raises to the task runner rather than retrying the step. For real per-step retries today, use the api block's own retries fields (above).

Error Handling Strategy

{
  "id": "optional-sync",
  "type": "action",
  "action": "hubspot.updateContact",
  "config": { ... },
  "errorHandling": {
    "strategy": "continue",
    "fallback": {
      "synced": false,
      "error": "Sync failed"
    }
  }
}

Strategy	Behavior
`fail`	Stop workflow, mark run as failed (default)
`continue`	Log error, continue with fallback output
`retry`	Retry with `retryConfig` settings

Timeout

{
  "id": "slow-api",
  "type": "action",
  "action": "netsuite.suiteql",
  "config": { ... },
  "timeoutMs": 60000
}

Output

Action outputs are stored and available to subsequent steps:

// Access in later steps
{{steps.create-invoice.output.id}}
{{steps.create-invoice.output.number}}
{{steps.create-invoice.output.status}}
{{steps.create-invoice.output.amount_due}}

Checking Output Existence

{
  "id": "check-result",
  "type": "condition",
  "config": {
    "conditions": {
      "left": "{{steps.create-invoice.output.id}}",
      "operator": "exists"
    },
    "then": ["send-notification"],
    "else": ["handle-error"]
  }
}

Common Patterns

Create Then Update

{
  "steps": [
    {
      "id": "create-customer",
      "type": "action",
      "action": "stripe.createCustomer",
      "config": {
        "email": "{{input.email}}",
        "name": "{{input.name}}"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "create-invoice",
      "type": "action",
      "action": "stripe.createInvoice",
      "config": {
        "customer": "{{steps.create-customer.output.id}}",
        "auto_advance": true
      }
    }
  ]
}

Conditional Action

{
  "steps": [
    {
      "id": "check-exists",
      "type": "action",
      "action": "hubspot.searchContacts",
      "config": {
        "filterGroups": [{
          "filters": [{
            "propertyName": "email",
            "operator": "EQ",
            "value": "{{input.email}}"
          }]
        }]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "route-action",
      "type": "condition",
      "config": {
        "conditions": {
          "left": "{{steps.check-exists.output.total}}",
          "operator": "gt",
          "right": "0"
        },
        "then": ["update-contact"],
        "else": ["create-contact"]
      }
    }
  ]
}

With Fallback

{
  "id": "sync-to-crm",
  "type": "action",
  "action": "salesforce.updateAccount",
  "config": {
    "id": "{{input.sf_account_id}}",
    "fields": { "Website": "{{input.website}}" }
  },
  "errorHandling": {
    "strategy": "continue",
    "fallback": {
      "synced": false,
      "syncError": "Failed to update Salesforce"
    }
  }
}

Connector-Specific Examples

Stripe

{
  "id": "create-payment",
  "type": "action",
  "action": "stripe.createPaymentIntent",
  "config": {
    "amount": "{{input.amount}}",
    "currency": "usd",
    "customer": "{{input.stripe_customer_id}}",
    "metadata": {
      "order_id": "{{input.order_id}}"
    }
  }
}

Salesforce

{
  "id": "query-accounts",
  "type": "action",
  "action": "salesforce.query",
  "config": {
    "soql": "SELECT Id, Name, Website FROM Account WHERE Type = 'Customer' LIMIT 100"
  }
}

Slack

{
  "id": "notify-team",
  "type": "action",
  "action": "slack.sendMessage",
  "config": {
    "channel": "#sales-notifications",
    "text": "New deal closed: {{input.deal_name}} for ${{input.amount}}"
  }
}

Troubleshooting

Action Not Found

{
  "error": {
    "code": "ACTION_NOT_FOUND",
    "message": "Action 'stripe.unknownAction' not found"
  }
}

Verify the action name matches the connector's available actions.

Connection Required

{
  "error": {
    "code": "CONNECTION_REQUIRED",
    "message": "No active connection found for provider 'salesforce'"
  }
}

Ensure you have an active OAuth connection for the connector.

Rate Limited

{
  "error": {
    "code": "RATE_LIMITED",
    "message": "Rate limit exceeded for provider"
  }
}

Add retry configuration with exponential backoff.

Action Steps

Action Steps

Configuration

Action Format

Available Connectors

API Request Block

Template Variables

Available Template Contexts

Nested Access

Error Handling

Retry Configuration

Error Handling Strategy

Timeout

Output

Checking Output Existence

Common Patterns

Create Then Update

Conditional Action

With Fallback

Connector-Specific Examples

Stripe

Salesforce

Slack

Troubleshooting

Action Not Found

Connection Required

Rate Limited

Next Steps

Condition Steps

Transform Steps

Integrations

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