Understanding the action builder and action flows

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">Action flows are user-defined automated sequences of steps that perform actions in Zendesk and external systems based on a defined event that initiates ortriggersthe 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.</p>
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<p id="docs-ai-summary-content">Action flows let you automate multi-step workflows across Zendesk and external systems based on triggers or agent initiation. You can create up to 100 flows with 50 steps each, including Zendesk and custom actions. The visual action builder helps design these workflows, supporting various field types and integrations. Be mindful of rate limits, action credits, and specific limitations on custom actions and branching conditions.</p>
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<p class="p">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 <em class="ph i">triggers</em> 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. </p>
<p class="p">The Action flows page in Admin Center includes a visual workflow builder, referred to as
the <em class="ph i">action builder</em>, 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. </p>
<div class="p">This article contains the following topics:<ul class="ul" id="topic_ab1_d5f_t2c__ul_b33_vwf_t2c">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_vn4_vwf_t2c">Considerations for using action flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_umk_wwf_t2c">Accessing the Action flows page</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_dmv_xwf_t2c">Related resources</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_vn4_vwf_t2c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Considerations for using action flows</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">Consider the following before you start using action flows:<ul class="ul" id="topic_vn4_vwf_t2c__ul_bxq_kyf_t2c">
<li class="li">You can create a maximum of 100 action flows.</li>
<li class="li">Each action flow can contain a maximum of 50 steps. The action flow trigger
is excluded from this count.</li>
<li class="li">The number of action flows and custom actions you can execute per second is
rate limited. See <a class="xref" href="#topic_whg_nnr_j3c">Rate limits and bursts</a>.</li>
<li class="li">Zendesk actions don't count towards your <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408836402074" target="_blank">Zendesk API rate limits</a>, but
custom actions in action flows do.</li>
<li class="li">When creating branches within an action flow, you can configure only one
condition per branch.</li>
<li class="li">The branch step supports the evaluation of conditions only on text, number,
decimal, true/false, date, date time variables, and objects, as well as checking
arrays of tags.</li>
<li class="li">You can connect to only one instance of each <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9052269929626" target="_blank">external system</a>.</li>
<li class="li">Most standard ticket, user, and organization fields are supported. All
custom ticket fields are also supported. However, the following limitations
apply:<ul class="ul" id="topic_vn4_vwf_t2c__ul_lxs_dq2_5gc">
<li class="li">Custom lookup relationship fields only support variables or manual
inputs, and you must use the ID of the related object record to
specify values.</li>
<li class="li">If entering values manually for custom multi-select fields, you must
use the <em class="ph i">tag</em> value rather than the name.</li>
<li class="li">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.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li">Objects, including custom objects, are supported as inputs and outputs.
However, when configured in the action builder, you can pass the
entire object.</li>
<li class="li">The following limitations apply to custom actions for agent copilot auto
assist:<ul class="ul" id="topic_vn4_vwf_t2c__ul_ngh_mqx_x2c">
<li class="li">Auto assist action flow triggers and custom action steps can be
added to action flows, but will function only if you have purchased
the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5715517808026" target="_blank">Zendesk Copilot
add-on</a>.</li>
<li class="li">Only custom actions that were created or updated after March 13,
2025 are available as steps for action flows.</li>
<li class="li">Custom action steps don't support the use of files or
attachments.</li>
<li class="li">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.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li">Each account includes an allowance of action credits based on their plan.
See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10149993578522" target="_blank">Monitoring the usage of action credits
and action flow activity</a>.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested2" id="topic_whg_nnr_j3c">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title3">Rate limits and bursts</h3>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">The following rate limits apply to action flows and custom actions:<ul class="ul" id="topic_whg_nnr_j3c__ul_ncn_vnr_j3c">
<li class="li">Custom action flow triggers support up to 2,000 incoming API requests per
minute.</li>
<li class="li">Action flows and custom actions support bursts of up to 1,000
executions. For example, 30 workflows per second for 10 seconds.<p class="p">For
custom actions, this applies to custom action executions by action
flows and auto assist cumulatively.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Action flows and custom actions support 10 executions per second outside
of bursts.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p">The burst allowance for action flows and custom actions recharge whenever your
usage for any given second is below the per-second limits described above. The
spare execution count is added back to the burst allowance. For example, if you
run 2 action flows in a second, then 8 action flow executions are added back to
your burst allowance.</p>
<p class="p">Additionally, you don't have to wait for the burst allowance to fully recharge
before using it again. As soon as any portion of the burst allowance is
replenished, that amount is immediately available for use.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_umk_wwf_t2c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Accessing the Action flows page</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">The Action flows page in Admin Center is used to create, edit, and delete your action
flows.</p>
<div class="p">
<strong class="ph b">To access the Action flows page</strong><ul class="ul" id="topic_umk_wwf_t2c__ul_v35_rxf_t2c">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_apps_integrations_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Apps and integrations</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Actions &gt; Action
flows</strong>.</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_dmv_xwf_t2c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Related resources</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">The following articles provide more information about creating, using, and managing
action flows:<ul class="ul" id="topic_dmv_xwf_t2c__ul_dxc_xxf_t2c">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8855601898266" target="_blank">Creating action flows to automate
processes across Zendesk and external systems</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9052312956570" target="_blank">Editing and managing action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9712284817818" target="_blank">Creating custom action flow
triggers</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10623225702298" target="_blank">Using Asana actions in action</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10630133525018" target="_blank">Using Claude actions in action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9836432286490" target="_blank">Using Confluence actions in action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10558742987162" target="_blank">Using Google Forms actions in action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9836727346970" target="_blank">Using Google Sheet actions in action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10559257423770" target="_blank">Using Google Calendar actions in action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10631271148186" target="_blank">Using Incident.io actions in action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9836794562842" target="_blank">Using Jira actions in action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10630901754522" target="_blank">Using Linear actions in action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9849724302234" target="_blank">Using Microsoft Calendar actions in
action flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10445230176154" target="_blank">Using Microsoft Entra ID actions in
action flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9840801141274" target="_blank">Using Microsoft Excel actions in action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10523031664410" target="_blank">Using Microsoft OneDrive actions in
action flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9840940606106" target="_blank">Using Microsoft Outlook actions in action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10629821476762" target="_blank">Using Microsoft SharePoint actions in
action flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9841034139674" target="_blank">Using Microsoft Teams actions in action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10449211243546" target="_blank">Using Okta actions in action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9841067063834" target="_blank">Using OpenAI actions in action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9841156736282" target="_blank">Using Salesforce actions in action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9849578907930" target="_blank">Using Shopify actions in action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9849650344730" target="_blank">Using Slack actions in action
flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9853782610970" target="_blank">Using custom code steps in action
flows</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
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