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Action Nodes

Action nodes do the actual work in your workflow. They’re where things happen: sending emails, asking AI to analyze something, adding rows to spreadsheets, posting to Slack, and more.

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Available Action Nodes

Ask AI

Ask AI to write, summarize, analyze, categorize, or answer questions about text.

Call AI Agent

Run another workflow you’ve built (like calling a helper).

Execute Code

Run custom Python or JavaScript code for special tasks.

App Action

Do things in Gmail, Slack, Google Sheets, HubSpot, and hundreds of other apps.

HTTP Request

Connect to any website or service to send or receive data.

Update Variable

Save information to use in later steps.

Read File

Read text from PDFs, Word documents, images, and other files.

Ask a Person

Have back-and-forth conversations with people across email, Slack, and chat.

Send Reply

Send a message to someone.

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Which Action Should I Use?

I want to…Use This
Have AI write, summarize, or analyze textAsk AI
Use another workflow I already builtCall AI Agent
Do something custom with codeExecute Code
Send emails, post to Slack, update spreadsheetsApp Action
Connect to a website or service not in the app listHTTP Request
Save something to use laterUpdate Variable
Read text from a PDF, Word doc, or imageRead File
Have a back-and-forth conversation with someoneAsk a Person
Send a quick messageSend Reply

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What Information Do Actions Provide?

Each action gives you information you can use in the next steps:

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AI and File Actions

NodeWhat You Get
Ask AIThe AI’s response
Read FileThe text from the file
Execute CodeWhatever your code returns

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App and Web Actions

NodeWhat You Get
App ActionDepends on what you did (email ID, spreadsheet row, etc.)
HTTP RequestThe response from the website/service
Send ReplyConfirmation that the message was sent

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Saving Data

NodeWhat You Get
Update VariableThe value you saved
Call AI AgentWhatever that workflow returned

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What If Something Goes Wrong?

Sometimes things fail - a website is down, your email can’t send, etc. CogniAgent has ways to handle this:

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Automatic Retries

Many actions (like Ask AI, HTTP Request, and App Action) automatically try again if they fail the first time. They’ll attempt up to 3 times before giving up.

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Checking for Success

You can add a Condition node after an action to check if it worked: 
├── HTTP Request (get customer data)
├── Condition (did it work?)
│   ├── Yes: Continue with the data
│   └── No: Send alert to Slack

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Handling Errors in Code

If you’re using Execute Code, you can catch errors: 
try:
    result = do_something_risky()
    return {"success": True, "data": result}
except Exception as e:
    return {"success": False, "error": str(e)}

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Tips

For complex AI tasks, use multiple Ask AI nodes in sequence - one to analyze, one to decide, one to write. This makes it easier to see what’s happening at each step.
Use Update Variable to save results you’ll need later. It’s easier to use {{saved_result.value}} than to redo work.
Actions run one at a time in order, unless you’ve created separate paths with a Condition or Multi-Condition node.

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Next Steps

Ask AI Node

Start with AI-powered text processing

App Action

Connect your workflows to other apps