Short answer
An AI agent action is an operation an AI agent performs in another system, beyond replying: looking up an order, cancelling it, issuing a refund or handing off to a person. Actions let an agent resolve a request instead of describing it.- Also called
- Agent actions, AI actions, tool calls, function calls
- Two kinds
- Read actions that fetch data, write actions that change it
- Examples
- Order lookup, cancellation, refund, address change, handoff
- Controlled by
- Permissions, identity checks, customer confirmation, approval limits
A chatbot can tell a customer how to cancel an order. An AI agent can cancel it. The difference is the action: the agent calls another system, such as the store's order platform or the helpdesk, and something changes there.
What counts as an action
Actions fall into two groups, and the risk sits almost entirely in the second.
- Read actions fetch data: look up an order, check tracking, read stock for a size, find the customer's past conversations. A wrong read leads to a wrong answer.
- Write actions change data: cancel an order, issue a refund, update an address, tag a ticket, assign it to a team. A wrong write has to be undone, and some cannot be.
Technically, most actions are tool calls. The model is given a list of tools with a description of each, chooses one, fills in its inputs, and the surrounding system runs it and returns the result.
In Aide, the helpdesk side of this list lives in procedures: a step can tag the conversation, tag the Shopify order, assign it to a group, run a Zendesk macro or add an internal note. On Zendesk, procedures can also read and fill ticket fields.
How an AI agent takes an action
A well-built agent takes the same steps before any write action.
- Work out what the customer is asking for.
- Check the person has the right to it, for example that the order is theirs.
- Read the current state: has the order been fulfilled, can it still be refunded?
- Confirm the change with the customer.
- Run the action, or send it to a person for approval.
- Record what was done, with the result, where the team can see it.
With Aide, step 5 has a check of its own: every reply is verified before it is sent, and a reply that promises an action the topic's AI level does not allow is revised or handed to the team. See agent governance.
AI agent action examples
Five requests from a Shopify store's queue, and the action behind each:
| Customer writes | Action | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| "Where is order 4831?" | Look up the order and tracking | Read |
| "I ordered twice by mistake, cancel one" | Cancel the duplicate order | Write |
| "I moved, send it to my new address" | Change the shipping address before fulfillment | Write |
| "The mug arrived broken" | Refund the item, after a teammate approves | Write |
| "Can I talk to someone?" | Hand the conversation to the team | Handoff |
Controlling which actions an agent may take
The question is never only whether an agent can act. It is which actions, on which requests, for which customers, and with whose approval.
- Scope. Allow a write action only on the requests it belongs to.
- Identity. Require the customer to prove the order or account is theirs.
- Approval. Keep actions that move money behind a person until the results earn trust.
- Limits. Cap what can be refunded or changed to what the order still allows.
- Record. Log every action offered, run or declined.
The practice this page rejects is judging an agent by the length of its action list. A long list is a capability. What matters is which actions run without a person, and whether the team can see each one afterwards.
Action agents and action in AI
An action agent, or agent of action, is an AI agent built to carry out tasks rather than only answer questions. A platform that gives agents their tools and connections is sometimes called an agent action platform. In AI research more broadly, an action is any choice an agent makes in its environment: a move in a game, a step for a robot, a call to a tool.
Where Aide fits
For shoppers who prove the order is theirs, the Aide AI Agent can cancel a Shopify order, refund it, change the shipping address, remove an item that has not shipped or add a note, when the shopper asks or accepts the offer. Refunds wait for a teammate by default, and on a topic set to Drafts, any action the shopper confirms waits for the team. Teammates can also hold fulfillment or send a free replacement, including from the Aide panel in Zendesk and Front, and each action offered, run or sent for approval shows in the conversation's Action Trace.