Actions Reference

Complete reference guide for all automation actions with configuration details, conditions, and walkthrough examples

This reference covers every action available in the Elementum automation builder. Each section explains what the action does, how to configure it, and walks through a realistic scenario so you can see how it works in practice.

New to automations? Start with the Automation System guide to learn how triggers, conditions, and actions fit together.

Inspect Trigger and Action Outputs While Building

As you build an automation, every trigger and action lists the variables it produces in an Outputs section at the bottom of its configuration pull-out. Each entry shows the variable name (for example, textResult, result.project_name, create_record.id) and its data type (Text, Decimal, Date, and so on), with a checkbox next to each one.

Use this section to:

• Confirm available variables — Verify the exact name and type of every output before referencing it in a later step.
• Select which outputs to expose — Toggle the checkbox next to each variable to control whether it’s surfaced to downstream actions.
• Catch missing values early — If a variable you expect isn’t listed, the step isn’t producing it yet (a script may need an Output Schema property, an action may need to be re-tested, and so on).

Checking the Outputs section as you configure each step is the fastest way to confirm that variable names match what you expect — without having to publish and run a full automation trace.

Logic Actions

Logic actions control which path your automation takes. They let you branch based on data values, check multiple criteria, and loop through collections of records.

If / Otherwise If / Otherwise

The If action creates a decision point. You define a condition, and the actions nested beneath it only run when that condition is true. Otherwise If adds additional branches, and Otherwise catches everything that didn’t match a previous branch.

How Conditions Work

Each condition compares a value from your automation (a field on the trigger record, an output from a previous action, or a variable) against a target value using an operator.

A single condition has three parts:

Part	What it means	Example
Value	The data you want to check — select from trigger fields, action outputs, or variables	trigger.priority
Operator	How to compare the value	equals, does not equal, greater than, contains, is empty
Target	What you’re comparing against — a static value, another field, or a variable	"Critical"

Combining Multiple Conditions

When a single comparison isn’t enough, add more conditions to the same If block. You connect them with AND or OR:

• AND — Every condition must be true. Use this when you need all criteria met.
• OR — At least one condition must be true. Use this when any one criterion is enough.

Example: Route only high-value enterprise tickets to the priority queue:

Condition	Operator	Target	Connector
customer_tier	equals	Enterprise	AND
order_amount	greater than	10000	—

Both must be true for the actions beneath this If to run.

Condition Groups

When your logic mixes AND with OR, use condition groups to control evaluation order — similar to how parentheses work in math.

Without groups, the automation evaluates conditions strictly top to bottom, which can produce unexpected results. Groups let you say “evaluate these conditions together first, then combine the result with the rest.”

Scenario: You want to escalate a support ticket when the customer is Enterprise tier AND the issue is either Critical priority OR has been open for more than 48 hours.

Without condition groups, you’d have no way to express “Critical OR open 48+ hours” as a unit. With groups:

Group	Condition	Operator	Target	Connector
—	customer_tier	equals	Enterprise	AND
Group 1	priority	equals	Critical	OR
Group 1	hours_open	greater than	48	—

This reads as: customer is Enterprise AND (priority is Critical OR hours open is greater than 48).

To create a condition group in the automation builder, click Add Condition Group in the If action’s configuration panel. Drag conditions into or out of groups to restructure your logic.

Building Multi-Branch Decisions

Use Otherwise If and Otherwise to handle different outcomes in a single automation instead of building separate automations for each scenario.

Scenario

An order comes in and needs different approval paths depending on the amount:

1. If order_amount is greater than 10,000 — route to CFO for approval
2. Otherwise If order_amount is greater than 1,000 — route to the department manager
3. Otherwise (all remaining orders) — mark as auto-approved

How it evaluates

Elementum checks branches top to bottom and runs the first one that matches:

• A $15,000 order matches the first If, so it goes to the CFO. The remaining branches are skipped.
• A $3,000 order fails the first If (not greater than 10,000), matches the Otherwise If, and goes to the department manager.
• A $500 order fails both conditions, so it falls through to Otherwise and is auto-approved.

Variables: Each If and Otherwise If outputs a boolean (true or false) that downstream actions can reference to check which branch ran.

Repeat for Each

Loops through a collection of records or data items and runs the same set of actions on each one. The collection typically comes from a Search Records or Find Related Records action earlier in the automation.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Collection	The list to iterate over — select from outputs of previous actions that return multiple items
Actions	Drag actions inside the Repeat for Each block to run them on every item

Variables: Inside the loop, you have access to:

Variable	Description
item	The current record or data item in the loop, with all its fields accessible (e.g., item.email, item.status)
index	The current iteration number (starting from 0)

Scenario

An automation runs at the end of each day to send shipping confirmations for all orders placed that day.

1. Search Records finds all orders with status = "Ready to Ship" and created_date = today
2. Repeat for Each iterates over the search results
3. Inside the loop, for each order: Run Calculation computes the shipping cost, Update Record Fields sets the shipping amount and changes status to “Shipped”, and Send Email Notification sends a confirmation to the customer

Performance tip

Each iteration adds execution time, especially if the loop body includes API calls or AI actions. Filter your collection as tightly as possible before entering the loop — use specific Search Records conditions rather than searching broadly and filtering inside the loop.

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Record Actions

Record actions create, update, search, and manage records and their relationships.

Create Record

Creates a new record in a specified element or table, populating fields from trigger data, action outputs, or static values.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	A descriptive name for this action
Element/Table	Which element or table to create the record in
Field Mappings	Map fields on the new record to values — select from trigger variables, previous action outputs, or enter static values

Variables: Outputs the new record ID and all field values, accessible as create_record.id, create_record.{field_name}, etc.

Scenario

When a customer sends an email to your support address, automatically create a support ticket:

1. Email Received trigger fires
2. Search Records finds the customer by trigger.sender_email
3. Create Record creates a new Support Ticket with:
   • Subject → trigger.subject
   • Customer → search_records.customer
   • Description → trigger.body
   • Status → "New"
   • Source → "Email"

Tip

Set all field values in the Create Record action itself rather than creating the record and then immediately updating it with a separate Update Record Fields action. This saves an extra round-trip and makes the automation faster.

Update Record Fields

Modifies one or more field values on an existing record.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	A descriptive name for this action
Record	Which record to update — typically the trigger record or a record from a previous action
Field Mappings	Map fields to new values from trigger data, action outputs, or static values

Variables: Outputs the updated record with its new field values.

Scenario

After AI classifies a support ticket, update the ticket with the classification results:

1. AI Classification analyzes the ticket description and returns category and confidence
2. Update Record Fields sets:
   • Category → ai_classification.category
   • Priority → ai_classification.confidence > 0.8 ? "High" : "Normal" (via a preceding Run Calculation)
   • Classification Confidence → ai_classification.confidence

Tip

Consolidate multiple field updates into a single Update Record Fields action instead of using several in a row. Each action that touches the record adds latency.

Relate Records

Establishes a relationship link between two records, enabling cross-record data access in views and subsequent automation steps.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	A descriptive name for this action
Source Record	The record to relate from
Target Record	The record to relate to
Relationship	The relationship type to create

Variables: Outputs relationship details and connected record information.

When to use: After creating a new record that needs to be linked to an existing one — for example, linking a newly created project record to the customer who requested it.

Search Records

Queries a table and returns records matching your criteria, making them available as variables for downstream actions.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	A descriptive name for this action
Element/Table	Which element or table to search
Conditions	Filter criteria using the same condition builder as If actions — value, operator, and target

Conditions in Search Records work the same way as If conditions: pick a field, choose an operator, and set a target value. You can add multiple conditions with AND/OR connectors and use condition groups for complex queries.

Variables: Outputs matching records as a collection. Use search_records.{field_name} to access the first result, or feed the collection into a Repeat for Each to process multiple matches.

Scenario

When processing an incoming email, find the customer record to link with the new ticket:

1. Search Records on the Customers element
2. Condition: email equals trigger.sender_email
3. If a match is found, use search_records.customer in the Create Record action to link the ticket to the customer

Search Records vs. AI Data Search

Use Search Records when you’re looking up records by exact field values — email addresses, IDs, status values.

Use AI Data Search when the input is natural language or free-form text — a ticket description, a customer question — and you want semantically similar results rather than exact matches.

Start Approval Process

Initiates a configured approval workflow for a record, sending notifications to designated approvers.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	A descriptive name for this action
Approval Process	Select an existing approval process configured in the app
Record	The record to submit for approval

The approval process itself (approvers, stages, escalation rules) is configured separately under the app’s Approval Processes settings. This action starts that process for a specific record.

Variables: Outputs the approval process ID and current status.

Update Approval Status

Changes the status of an active approval process, advancing or halting the workflow.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	A descriptive name for this action
Status	The new status to set — Approved, Rejected, or Pending

Variables: Outputs the new approval status and workflow state.

Add Watcher

Subscribes one or more users to a record so they receive in-platform notifications when the record changes.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	A descriptive name for this action
Record	The record to add watchers to
Users	Which users to subscribe — from a previous Search Users action, a static user, or a field on the record

When to use: When someone needs visibility into a record’s progress without being the assignee — for example, adding a department manager as a watcher on all high-priority issues.

Record Field Locking

Prevents changes to specified fields on a record, protecting data integrity after a process completes.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	A descriptive name for this action
Record	The record to lock fields on
Fields	Which fields to lock

When to use: After an approval process completes, lock the approved values (price, terms, quantities) so they can’t be changed without going through the approval process again.

Make Assignment

Assigns a record to a specific user or team.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	A descriptive name for this action
Record	The record to assign
Assignee	A user or team — from a Search Users result, a static value, or a field reference

When to use: After classification or routing logic determines who should handle a record. Often paired with an If action or AI Classification to route to the right team based on the record’s content.

Scenario

Route support tickets to the right team based on AI classification:

1. AI Classification categorizes the ticket as Technical, Billing, or General
2. If ai_classification.category equals "Technical" → Make Assignment to Technical Support team
3. Otherwise If ai_classification.category equals "Billing" → Make Assignment to Billing team
4. Otherwise → Make Assignment to General Support queue

Find Related Records

Returns all records related to a given record, making them available for downstream actions.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	A descriptive name for this action
Record	The record to find relationships for
Relationship	Which relationship type to follow

Variables: Outputs a collection of related records. Feed into a Repeat for Each to process each one, or access the collection’s count to make decisions.

When to use: When you need context from linked records before making a decision — for example, pulling a customer’s order history before classifying a support ticket’s priority.

Generate Report

Compiles data into a formatted Excel or PDF report file that subsequent actions can reference.

Generate Report creates the file but does not save it to a record. Use Save Attachment after this action to persist the file, or include it in a Send Email Notification as an attachment.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	A descriptive name for this action
Report	Select an existing report configured in the app

Variables:

Variable	Type	Description
generated_report	File	The report file (Excel or PDF) for use in Save Attachment, Send Email, or other file-accepting actions

Scenario

Generate and distribute a monthly performance report:

1. Time-Based trigger fires on the first of each month
2. Generate Report creates the Sales Performance Summary
3. Save Attachment attaches the report to the monthly reporting record
4. Send Email Notification sends the report to stakeholders with the file attached

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Elementum Intelligence Actions

Intelligence actions use AI to analyze, classify, summarize, transform, and search your data. They accept unstructured input and return structured output that subsequent actions can use.

Run Agent Task

Passes a task to a configured AI agent, which works autonomously and returns structured or text output. This is the most flexible intelligence action — use it when the other specialized actions (Classification, Summarization, etc.) don’t cover your needs.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for the agent task
AI Agent	Select an existing agent or create a new one
Task Definition	What the agent should accomplish — supports {{value_references}} from trigger data and previous actions
Output Type	Text (free-form response) or Structured (specific fields you define)
Output Fields	(Structured mode only) The fields the agent should return, with names and types

Variables:

Variable	Description
run_agent_task.success	Boolean — whether the task completed
run_agent_task.error_message	Error details if the task failed
run_agent_task.{custom_fields}	Your defined output fields (Structured mode)

The agent runs in a headless environment with no user interaction, so the task definition must include all necessary context. Built-in retry logic (up to 3 attempts) handles cases where the agent doesn’t return output in the expected format.

For a detailed guide on using this action, see the Agent Task Automation Guide.

AI File Analysis

Reads an uploaded document and extracts structured data into fields you define, without manual parsing.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
File	The file to analyze — from a trigger attachment, Read File output, or file field
Output Fields	The specific data points to extract, with field names and types

Variables: Outputs each extracted field as an individual variable.

Scenario

Automatically process uploaded invoices:

1. Attachment is Added trigger fires when a PDF is uploaded to a vendor record
2. AI File Analysis extracts: vendor name, invoice number, line items, total amount, due date
3. Create Record creates an Invoice record with the extracted values
4. If total_amount is greater than 5000 → Start Approval Process

Transform Data with AI

Cleans, normalizes, and reformats input data into a consistent format.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
Input	The data to transform — from trigger fields, action outputs, or variables
Transformation Instructions	What transformation to apply

Variables: Outputs the transformed data in the specified format.

When to use: When incoming data is inconsistent — addresses in different formats, phone numbers with or without country codes, company names with varying abbreviations — and you need it standardized before writing to records or sending to external systems.

AI Classification

Assigns a category or label to input content based on meaning and context, returning the result with a confidence score.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
Input	The content to classify — from trigger fields, action outputs, or variables
Categories	The set of categories the AI should choose from

Variables: Outputs the selected category and a confidence score (0–1). Use the confidence score in a downstream If action to handle low-confidence classifications differently — for example, routing to a human reviewer when confidence is below 0.7.

Scenario

Classify incoming support emails and route them:

1. Email Received trigger fires
2. AI Classification analyzes trigger.body against categories: Bug Report, Feature Request, Billing Question, General Inquiry
3. If category equals "Bug Report" AND confidence is greater than 0.8 → Make Assignment to Engineering
4. Otherwise If category equals "Billing Question" → Make Assignment to Finance
5. Otherwise → Make Assignment to General Support

AI Summarization

Distills lengthy input into a concise summary.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
Input	The content to summarize — from trigger fields, action outputs, or variables

Variables: Outputs the summary text.

When to use: When a downstream action needs a brief version of long-form content — for example, generating a one-line ticket description from a multi-paragraph customer email, or creating an executive summary from a detailed report before sending it via Teams.

AI Data Search

Runs a semantic search against an AI Search table and returns contextually relevant results. Unlike Search Records (which matches exact field values), AI Data Search finds results by meaning.

Configuration:

Field	Description
AI Search Table	Select a configured AI Search table (Element or Table)
Query	The search query — supports {{value_references}} for dynamic queries based on the current record

Variables: Outputs the search results for use in subsequent actions.

When to use: When the search input is natural language — a customer’s question, a ticket description, or any free-form text — and you want the most relevant matches by meaning rather than exact field values.

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Communication Actions

Communication actions send notifications, messages, and updates to users inside and outside of Elementum.

Send Record Update

Sends an in-platform notification about a record to specified users. No external email is sent — notifications appear within Elementum.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
Record	The record to notify about
Recipients	Users to notify — from a Search Users result, static users, or field references

When to use: For internal status updates that don’t warrant an email — for example, notifying a team that a record is ready for review.

Send Email Notification

Sends a formatted email with dynamic content from automation variables. Supports up to 25 recipients and multiple attachment sources.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
From Display Name	The sender name that appears to recipients
From	The email address prefix (before @yourdomain.com)
To / Bcc	Recipients and blind carbon copy (up to 25 total)
Subject	Email subject line — supports {{value_references}}
Notification Body	Email content with HTML formatting — supports {{value_references}}
Email Attachments	Optional files to include

Email Attachments can come from three sources:

Source	Description
Record	Files from specific file fields on the trigger record
Attachments	All files from the attachments block on the trigger record
File	Files from the workflow context — such as a generated report from an earlier action

You can combine multiple attachment sources in a single email.

Total attachment size is limited to 25MB. If attachments exceed this limit, the email will fail to send.

For transactional emails only. Marketing use may result in restrictions or loss of access.

Post Comment

Adds a timestamped comment to a record, creating a visible log of what the automation did.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
Record	The record to comment on
Comment	The comment text — supports {{value_references}}

Variables: Outputs the comment ID and timestamp.

When to use: To create an audit trail on the record itself. Especially useful for logging AI decisions — for example, posting “AI classified as Bug Report with 92% confidence” so users can see why the ticket was routed a certain way.

Send Message to Teams

Posts a message to a Microsoft Teams channel.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
Channel	The Teams channel to post to
Message	Message content — supports {{value_references}}

Variables: Outputs message delivery status and channel information.

When to use: For real-time team notifications — critical issue alerts, escalation notices, or workflow completion updates that need immediate visibility in your team’s collaboration space.

Initiate Call

Triggers an outbound phone call from a configured AI agent. The call runs asynchronously — the workflow continues immediately without waiting for the call to complete.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
AI Agent	Which agent will conduct the call
Phone Service	Phone service provider
Phone Number	Number to call — from a record field, action output, or static value
Related Record	(Optional) Record this call relates to, for context
Additional Context	(Optional) Extra information for the AI agent
Default Language	Language for the conversation

Variables: Outputs call initiation status and call ID.

The workflow does not pause for the call to complete. Use the Agent Conversation Ended trigger in a separate automation to process call outcomes like transcripts, sentiment analysis, or follow-up actions.

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File Actions

File actions process documents, extract text content, and manage file storage on records.

File Size Limits: Elementum supports file uploads up to 250MB per file. Email attachments have a lower limit of 25MB due to email provider restrictions.

Read File

Extracts the text content of an uploaded file, making it available as a variable for downstream actions. Supports PDF, DOC, DOCX, TXT, CSV, and Excel formats.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
File	The file to read — from a trigger attachment, file field, or previous action output

Variables: Outputs the file content as text and file metadata.

When to use: When you need the text content of a file for AI analysis, script processing, or conditional logic — for example, reading a contract PDF before passing its content to AI File Analysis or an Execute Script action.

Read Bulk File

Extracts text from multiple files simultaneously, returning their contents as an array without needing a Repeat for Each loop.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
Files	The files to read — from a trigger’s attachment collection or a file field that accepts multiple files

Variables: Outputs an array of file contents and processing results.

Save Attachment

Saves a file to the attachments block on a specified record. Files generated or received during an automation are not persisted automatically — this action is required to keep them.

Use this action after Generate Report to attach the generated file to a record. Without this step, the report exists only as a temporary reference within the automation.

This action processes one file at a time. When an email includes multiple attachments, use a Repeat for Each action to save each one individually.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
File	The file to save — from a generated report, email attachment, API response, or other source
Record	Which record to attach the file to

Unzip File

Extracts files from a ZIP archive and makes the individual files available for subsequent actions.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
File	The ZIP file to extract

Variables: Outputs a list of extracted files.

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Data Actions

Data actions perform calculations, run scripts, set variables, and invoke other automations.

Execute Script

Executes custom JavaScript in a secure, sandboxed environment. Your code receives named input values and returns a result object that subsequent actions can reference.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
Inputs	Named values from triggers, previous actions, or static values
Code	JavaScript that processes inputs and returns a result object. Click Execute to test.

When you add an Execute Script action, the code editor starts with a template:

/**
 * Access your input values from the `input.parameters` object
 * Example:
 *
const {
  recordType,
  id,
  title
} = input.parameters;
**/

return {};

As you add input parameters in the sidebar, they are automatically added to the example destructuring statement, showing you which variables are available.

Execution Environment:

• Server-side, isolated sandbox — consistent behavior between testing and production
• No access to file system, network, or external resources
• Execution timeout: 10 seconds
• Statement limit: 50,000 JavaScript statements
• Console output captured (maximum 20 KB)

Built-in Utilities:

Base64

Encode and decode Base64 strings directly in your scripts.

const encoded = btoa("Hello, World!");
const decoded = atob("SGVsbG8sIFdvcmxkIQ==");

return { encoded, decoded };

Useful for preparing data for APIs that expect Base64-encoded payloads, or decoding Base64 content from external systems.

CSV Parsing

Parse CSV strings into structured data using the built-in csvParse utility.

const csvContent = input.parameters.fileContent;
const rows = csvParse(csvContent);

return {
  totalRows: rows.length,
  firstRow: rows[0],
  columnNames: Object.keys(rows[0])
};

Useful for processing CSV content from the Read File action before creating or updating records.

Variables:

Variable	Type	Description
result	JSON	The object returned by your JavaScript code
textResult	Text	JSON string representation of the result

The script must return a JavaScript object. Arrays, null, undefined, and primitive values are not valid return values. Wrap arrays in an object property if needed.

Output Schema:

Execute Script includes a built-in schema editor (similar to a JSON File Reader) that describes the shape of the object your script returns. Defining the schema is what makes individual properties available as value references in downstream actions — without it, downstream steps can’t see the structure of result.

Open the Outputs panel on the right side of the Script Configuration pull-out and select the Schema tab to manage it.

Field	Description
Property name	The key your script returns in the result object (for example, project_name, version)
Type	The data type for that property — Text (String), Number, Boolean, Date, Object, or Array
Add Property	Add a new top-level property to the schema. Nested objects can be expanded to define their own properties.

After running your script with Execute, switch to the Result tab to see the actual returned values, then update the schema to match. Add a property for every key your script returns that you want a later action (Update Record Fields, If, Send API Request, etc.) to reference.

Whenever you change what your script returns — adding, renaming, or removing a key — update the Output Schema to match. Downstream actions reference these properties by name, so a stale schema will silently break value references.

Scenario: Discount calculation

Calculate tiered discounts for an order:

const orders = input.parameters.orderData;
const discountTier = input.parameters.customerTier;

const discountRates = {
  "Enterprise": 0.20,
  "Professional": 0.10,
  "Standard": 0.05
};

const discount = discountRates[discountTier] || 0;
const subtotal = orders.reduce((sum, order) => sum + order.amount, 0);
const discountAmount = subtotal * discount;

return {
  subtotal: subtotal,
  discountPercent: discount * 100,
  discountAmount: discountAmount,
  total: subtotal - discountAmount,
  orderCount: orders.length
};

Scenario: Ticket analysis

Analyze open tickets and compute statistics:

const tickets = input.parameters.openTickets;

const summary = tickets.map(ticket => ({
  id: ticket.id,
  priority: ticket.priority,
  age: Math.floor(
    (Date.now() - new Date(ticket.createdAt).getTime()) / 86400000
  )
}));

return {
  tickets: summary,
  totalOpen: tickets.length,
  criticalCount: summary.filter(t => t.priority === "Critical").length
};

Run Calculation

Evaluates a mathematical or logical expression using values from triggers or previous actions.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
Expression	The calculation to evaluate — supports standard math operators and value references

Variables: Outputs the calculated value.

When to use: For straightforward math — totaling order amounts, computing tax, determining percentages. For anything more complex (conditionals, loops, string operations), use Execute Script instead.

Set Variable

Stores a value under a named variable that any subsequent action can reference.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
Variable Name	The name to store the value under
Value	The value to store — from trigger data, action outputs, or a static value

When to use: When you need to reference the same computed value in multiple downstream actions, or when you want to give a descriptive name to a value for readability. For example, storing the result of a calculation as total_with_tax so it’s clear what the value represents when used later.

Run Automation

Invokes a separate automation as a step in the current workflow, enabling reuse of shared logic.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
Automation	Select the automation to invoke

Variables: Outputs the invoked automation’s execution status.

When to use: When the same sequence of actions is needed in multiple automations — for example, a “Notify Stakeholders” automation that sends Teams messages and emails. Instead of duplicating those steps everywhere, build it once and call it with Run Automation.

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User Actions

User actions find users and user groups for assignments and notifications.

Search Users

Queries the user directory and returns matching users.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
Conditions	Filter criteria — department, role, name, email, or other user attributes

Variables:

Variable	Type	Description
users	User (array)	All users matching the criteria
user	User	The first matching user (convenient for single-user lookups)
count	Number	Total matching users

Each user has sub-properties: user.id, user.name, user.email.

To process multiple users from the users array, use a Repeat for Each action. Inside the loop, each item has item.id, item.name, and item.email.

Search User Groups

Queries the user group directory and returns matching groups.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
Conditions	Filter criteria — group name or attributes

Variables: Outputs matching user groups and their member details.

When to use: When you need to assign a record to a team rather than a specific person, or when routing decisions depend on group membership.

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External Actions

External actions connect your automations to third-party systems.

Send API Request

Sends an HTTP request to any REST API and returns the response for downstream actions.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
Method	GET, POST, PUT, or DELETE
URL	The API endpoint — supports {{value_references}}
Headers	Request headers (key-value pairs)
Body	Request body for POST/PUT — supports {{value_references}}
Authorization	Authentication method (see below)

Authorization options:

Type	Description
No Auth	No authorization header
Basic Auth	Username and password, sent as Base64-encoded Authorization header. Credentials encrypted at rest.
Bearer Token	Static token (encrypted at rest) or dynamic reference from a previous action output
OAuth	Client Credentials flow — provide OAuth URL, Client ID, and Client Secret. Tokens are cached and refreshed automatically.

OAuth Configuration:

Field	Description
OAuth URL	The token endpoint URL
Client ID	Your OAuth client identifier (encrypted at rest)
Client Secret	Your OAuth client secret (encrypted at rest)
Request Type	How credentials are sent — HTTP Basic (Authorization header) or Form URL Encoded (request body)
Custom Headers	Additional headers for the token request (optional)

Variables:

Variable	Type	Description
response	JSON	Parsed JSON response body
success	Boolean	Whether the request succeeded
textResponse	Text	Raw text response body
statusCode	Number	HTTP status code (200, 404, 500, etc.)
file	File	Downloaded file (when response type is FILE)

Scenario

Check inventory before processing an order:

1. Record is Created trigger fires for a new order
2. Send API Request sends a GET to the inventory system with the product IDs from the order
3. If send_api_request.success equals true AND response.in_stock equals true → continue processing
4. Otherwise → Update Record Fields sets status to “Backordered” and Send Email Notification alerts the customer

Error handling

Enable Continue on Error on the Send API Request action, then add an Execute Script immediately after it. Pass the status code and response into the script to determine whether the call succeeded and extract useful error details. This prevents a single failed API call from stopping the entire automation.

Run Function

Invokes a pre-built custom function with input parameters for specialized processing.

Configuration:

Field	Description
Action Name	Descriptive name for this action
Function	Select the custom function to invoke
Inputs	Input parameters for the function

Variables: Outputs the function result and any computed values.

When to use: For specialized business logic or integrations that aren’t covered by built-in actions — custom pricing algorithms, proprietary system integrations, or reusable processing routines.

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For design principles, performance strategies, and proven patterns, see Automation Best Practices. For trigger configuration and use cases, see the Automation Triggers Reference.