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An action performs one unit of work: call an integration, update a message, transform data, emit a response, or produce another value.
Calling an action registers its invocation and returns a Signal for the eventual output. Automate.ax resolves its inputs, validates them, executes the action, validates its output, and then makes that output available to dependent work.

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Inputs

Action inputs are typed object properties. Each property accepts a direct value or a compatible signal:
Here, to and text are literal values. subject is a signal, so the action waits for the incoming email before executing. Defaults and validation belong to the action’s schema. The action reference documents each field, limit, and provider-specific rule.

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Outputs

An action’s return value is always a signal, even when its eventual output is an object, array, primitive, or void.
Property access keeps the output typed while recording the dependency.

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Concurrency and ordering

Actions become ready when all their signal inputs and inherited dependencies are ready. Two calls that depend only on the same trigger can execute concurrently. Passing one action’s output to another establishes ordering. Do not add a fake data dependency just to control order. When work must wait without consuming a value, use group(dependency, fn) to add an explicit dependency to the actions called inside the function.

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Failures

When an action fails, ordinary dependent actions do not execute. Independent branches can continue. Use failed(actionSignal) when another action should handle the failure as data. Action execution may be retried by the platform. Integration actions are designed around their provider’s behavior, but an automation should not assume that several separate actions form one transaction.

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Integration actions

Account-backed actions declare the service and permissions they require. Automate.ax resolves the selected integration account only when the action executes; provider credentials never appear in action inputs or signals. Browse the Actions reference for available operations.