The Action picker shows each action as module · action, for example Tasks · Create task. Your beehive only sees actions from modules that are switched on, and you only see actions whose permissions you hold. Action type in flight history shows the key.

Summary

Action Key Module Extra permission Needs a contact
Call a webhook workerbees.call-webhook Worker Bees (always available) Read access to the trigger’s records No
Emit an event workerbees.emit-event Worker Bees (always available) Read access to the trigger’s records No
Create task tasks.create-task Tasks tasks:write:tasks No
Email a colleague notifications.send-email Notifications (always available) None No
Post to Microsoft Teams notifications.send-teams Notifications (always available) notifications:read:targets No
Post to Slack notifications.send-slack Notifications (always available) notifications:read:targets No
Email a contact relationships.email-contact Relationships relationships:read:contacts Yes
Text a contact relationships.sms-contact Relationships relationships:read:contacts Yes

Every action also needs workerbees:admin:automations to set up. Settings marked Insert data accept {{ payload.x }} tokens; see Insert data from the event.

Call a webhook

Sends the triggering event’s details, as JSON, to an external URL. See Send event details to another system.

Setting Required Details
URL Yes Up to 2,000 characters. Must be a public address
Method No POST or PUT. Requests are currently always sent as POST
Headers No JSON object of header names and text values

Emit an event

Publishes a new event in your beehive that other systems can listen for.

Setting Required Details
Event type Yes Up to 100 characters
Payload Yes JSON

Create task

Creates a task in Tasks.

Setting Required Details
Title Yes Up to 200 characters. Insert data
Description No Up to 2,000 characters. Insert data
Assignee Yes A team member
Follower No A team member who follows the task
Due in days No Whole number from 0 to 3,650, counted from when the bee runs (in UTC). Left empty, the task is due in 7 days

Email a colleague

Emails one team member a fixed summary: the event type, event ID and time. The wording can’t be changed.

Setting Required Details
Recipient Yes A team member

Post to Microsoft Teams

Posts to a Teams channel registered as a notification target. See Post to Slack or Microsoft Teams.

Setting Required Details
Teams channel Yes A notification target
Message No Up to 2,000 characters. Insert data. Empty sends “Automation triggered.”

Post to Slack

Posts to a Slack channel registered as a notification target, with the event type and time shown underneath.

Setting Required Details
Slack channel Yes A notification target
Message No Up to 2,000 characters. Insert data. Empty sends “Automation triggered.”

Email a contact

Emails the contact the event is about, as plain text, if their consent allows. See Email or text a contact.

Setting Required Details
Contact Yes The event field holding the contact’s ID, such as contactId
Consent purpose Yes One of your active purposes, or Transactional — no consent check (receipts and confirmations)
Subject Yes Up to 200 characters. Insert data
Body Yes Up to 10,000 characters. Insert data

Text a contact

Sends the contact a text message to their phone number, if their consent allows. The number must be in international format, such as +447700900123.

Setting Required Details
Contact Yes The event field holding the contact’s ID, such as contactId
Consent purpose Yes As for Email a contact, checked against the contact’s SMS consent
Message Yes Up to 900 characters. Insert data

Contacts recorded as a child or as deceased are never emailed or texted, whichever purpose you choose.

When an action fails

Outcome Retried automatically?
A wrong or missing setting, refused consent, or missing contact details No
A webhook answering with an error, timing out or redirecting No
Slack or Teams rejecting a post Yes
A ThirdSectorBee module that’s temporarily unavailable or slow to answer Yes

See Read a Worker Bee’s flight history.