Actions are advanced features that allow your assistant to interact with external services, APIs, and third-party systems. Thanks to Actions, the assistant is not limited to providing information, but can perform concrete operations such as sending emails, creating support tickets, making reservations, or updating databases.
How Actions work
Actions are based on HTTP calls to external endpoints:
- User makes a request: For example "Create a support ticket for this problem"
- Assistant identifies the action: Recognizes that it must execute a specific action
- Parameter collection: Extracts necessary information from the conversation
- API call: Executes HTTP call to external service
- Response processing: Interprets the result and communicates the outcome to the user
Types of available Actions
Communication Actions
- Email sending: Send automatic emails to customers or internal team
- SMS/WhatsApp: Send messages on messaging platforms
- Push notifications: Alert users or administrators
- Slack/Teams: Create messages in company channels
Customer management Actions
- CRM Integration: Create or update contacts in Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.
- Support tickets: Open tickets in Zendesk, Freshdesk, etc.
- Lead management: Acquire and qualify potential customers
- Appointments: Book slots in external calendars
E-commerce Actions
- Order management: Check order status, process returns
- Inventory: Check product availability
- Payments: Process payments or refunds
- Shipping: Tracking and shipping management
Productivity Actions
- Document management: Create, modify or share documents
- Database queries: Query company databases
- Reporting: Generate automatic reports
- Workflow automation: Trigger business processes
Advantages of Actions
- Complete automation: Assistant becomes operational, not just informational
- Increased efficiency: Reduces manual workload
- Improved user experience: Users get concrete results
- Seamless integration: Connects assistant to your existing systems
- 24/7 availability: Operations can be performed at any time
Practical usage examples
Scenario: E-commerce customer support
User: "I have a problem with order #12345, I would like to make a return"
Assistant: "I have checked your order. I am proceeding to create the return request..."
Action executed: API call to order management system to create return case
Result: "I have created return request #RS789. You will receive instructions via email within 10 minutes."
Scenario: Appointment booking
User: "I would like to book a consultation for next Tuesday"
Assistant: "Checking availability for Tuesday..."
Action executed: API call to calendar system to check available slots
Result: "I found availability at 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM. Which do you prefer?"
Limitations and considerations
- Security: Actions can access sensitive systems, require careful configuration
- External dependencies: Operation depends on external service availability
- Error handling: Need to anticipate what to do if external API doesn't respond
- Rate limiting: External services might have call limits
- Additional costs: Some external APIs might have usage costs
Technical prerequisites
- API endpoint: Service must expose accessible REST APIs
- Authentication: API keys, tokens or credentials to access the service
- Documentation: Knowledge of API call structure
- Testing: Test environment to verify integrations