Understanding the action builder and action flows

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Action flows are user-defined automated sequences of steps that perform actions in Zendesk and external systems based on a defined event that initiates or triggers the workflow. Action flows can run in response to their configured action flow trigger events or be initiated by agents using agent copilot auto assist. The steps within an action flow can include Zendesk actions as well as actions that occur in external systems.

The Action flows page in Admin Center includes a visual workflow builder, referred to as the action builder, that is used to create and edit action flows. The action builder is designed to make it easier to make multi-system workflows that integrate Zendesk with external systems.

This article contains the following topics:

Considerations for using action flows

Accessing the Action flows page

Related resources

Considerations for using action flows

Consider the following before you start using action flows:

You can create a maximum of 25 action flows.

Each action flow can contain a maximum of 50 steps. The action flow trigger is excluded from this count.

Action flows support bursts of up to 300 action flow executions and then can continue at a rate of 10 executions per second during a recharge period.

Custom actions support bursts of up to 280 action executions, and can then continue at a rate of 6 executions per second during a recharge period. This limit applies to custom action executions in action flows and auto assist cumulatively.

Custom action flow triggers support up to 100 incoming API requests per minute.

When creating branches within an action flow, you can configure only one condition per branch.

The branch step supports the evaluation of conditions only on text, number, decimal, true/false, date, and date time variables as well as checking arrays of tags.

You can connect to only one instance of each external system.

Most standard ticket, user, and organization fields are supported. All custom ticket fields are also supported. However, the following limitations apply:

Custom lookup relationship fields only support variables or manual inputs, and you must use the ID of the related object record to specify values.

If entering values manually for custom multi-select fields, you must use the tag value rather than the name.

Numeric and decimal custom ticket fields are treated as text outputs. This means only conditional operators for text can be used to evaluate these fields.

The following limitations apply to custom actions for agent copilot auto assist:

Auto assist action flow triggers and custom action steps can be added to action flows, but will function only if you have purchased the Zendesk Copilot add-on.

Only custom actions that were created or updated after March 13, 2025 are available as steps for action flows.

Custom action steps don't support the use of files or attachments.

Updates made to custom actions that are already used in action flows aren't reflected in the action flow's step. To use the updated version of a custom action in an existing action flow, you must delete the custom action step and re-add it.

Each account includes an allowance of action credits based on their plan. See Monitoring the usage of action credits and action flow activity.

Accessing the Action flows page

The Action flows page in Admin Center is used to create, edit, and delete your action flows.

To access the Action flows page

In Admin Center, click Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Actions > Action flows.

Related resources

The following articles provide more information about creating, using, and managing action flows:

Creating action flows to automate processes across Zendesk and external systems

Editing and managing action flows

Creating custom action flow triggers

Using Confluence actions in action flows

Using Google Sheet actions in action flows

Using Jira actions in action flows

Using Microsoft Calendar actions in action flows

Using Microsoft Excel actions in action flows

Using Microsoft Outlook actions in action flows

Using Microsoft Teams actions in action flows

Using OpenAI actions in action flows

Using Salesforce actions in action flows

Using Shopify actions in action flows

Using Slack actions in action flows

Using custom code steps in action flows