> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cogniagent.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Action Nodes
> Do things - send emails, use AI, update spreadsheets, and more
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.
## Available Action Nodes
Ask AI to write, summarize, analyze, categorize, or answer questions about text.
Run another workflow you've built (like calling a helper).
Run custom Python or JavaScript code for special tasks.
Do things in Gmail, Slack, Google Sheets, HubSpot, and hundreds of other apps.
Connect to any website or service to send or receive data.
Save information to use in later steps.
Read text from PDFs, Word documents, images, and other files.
## Which Action Should I Use?
| I want to... | Use This |
| --------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| Have AI write, summarize, or analyze text | [Ask AI](/nodes/actions/ask-ai) |
| Use another workflow I already built | [Call AI Agent](/nodes/actions/call-ai-agent) |
| Do something custom with code | [Execute Code](/nodes/actions/execute-code) |
| Send emails, post to Slack, update spreadsheets | [App Action](/nodes/actions/app-action) |
| Connect to a website or service not in the app list | [HTTP Request](/nodes/actions/http-request) |
| Save something to use later | [Update Variable](/nodes/actions/update-variable) |
| Read text from a PDF, Word doc, or image | [Read File](/nodes/actions/read-file) |
| Have a back-and-forth conversation with someone | [Conversation Flows](/conversation-flows/overview) |
## What Information Do Actions Provide?
Each action gives you information you can use in the next steps:
### AI and File Actions
| Node | What You Get |
| ------------ | -------------------------- |
| Ask AI | The AI's response |
| Read File | The text from the file |
| Execute Code | Whatever your code returns |
### App and Web Actions
| Node | What You Get |
| ------------ | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| App Action | Depends on what you did (email ID, spreadsheet row, etc.) |
| HTTP Request | The response from the website/service |
### Saving Data
| Node | What You Get |
| --------------- | ------------------------------- |
| Update Variable | The value you saved |
| Call AI Agent | Whatever that workflow returned |
## What If Something Goes Wrong?
Sometimes things fail - a website is down, your email can't send, etc. CogniAgent has ways to handle this:
### 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.
### 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
```
### Handling Errors in Code
If you're using Execute Code, you can catch errors:
```python theme={null}
try:
result = do_something_risky()
return {"success": True, "data": result}
except Exception as e:
return {"success": False, "error": str(e)}
```
## 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.
## Next Steps
Start with AI-powered text processing
Connect your workflows to other apps