Create and Configure an App Action

Create a new App Action from start to finish using the visual builder.

Open the Visual Builder

1. Click on the top left corner of the screen.

2. Click Settings.

3. Under the App Developer Tools category, click Custom Actions.

4. Click Add App Action.

Enter Basic Information

In the first section of the builder, fill in the following:

Name — Enter a clear, descriptive name for your App Action. Use a verb + noun format and be specific about what the action does.

• Do: "Look Up Order by Order Number"

• Don't: "adapter1"

Naming rules:

• Must be unique within your organization

• Avoid special characters

Description — Describe what the action does, what input it needs, and what it returns. Gladly uses this description to understand when and how to trigger the action during a conversation.

Add Inputs

Inputs are the values your App Action needs in order to run. To add an input:

1. In the Inputs section, click + Add.

2. Fill in the following fields:

   1. Name – The input name, written in camelCase (e.g., orderId, customerEmail).

   2. Description – What this input represents and how it should be formatted to help Gladly reason about what value to provide.

   3. Type – The data type of the input value (see Input Types below)

      Type	Description	Example
      string	Text value	"ORDER-123"
      number	Numeric value	42
      boolean	True/false value	true
      object	Nested data structure	{"name": "value"}
      array	List of values	[1, 2, 3]
      string[]	Array of strings	["a", "b", "c"]

   4. Input required – Whether the input must be provided for the action to run

Add Steps

Steps are the operations that run when your App Action is triggered. They execute sequentially, and each step can reference inputs and the results of previous steps.

To add a step, hover your cursor below the Inputs section (or between any added steps), click the + icon that appears, and select a step type. There are four step types available: HTTP Request, Transformation, App Platform, and Secrets. For full details on configuring each type, see Step Types.

Steps can reference the following using JSONPath syntax:

• Inputs via $.params.inputName

• Previous step results via $.stepName.result

• Built-in customer context via $.context.*

Add Variables

Variables define the outputs of your App Action — the specific values extracted from the final step's results that the AI can use in a conversation.

To add a variable:

1. In the Variables section, click + Add.
   

2. Fill in the following fields:

   1. Name – The variable name, written in camelCase (e.g., orderStatus)

   2. Description – What this variable represents and its purpose

   3. JSONPath – The path to the value within the final step's output

   4. Type – The data type of the value being extracted

      Variable Types:

      Type	Use For
      string	Text, IDs, statuses
      number	Counts, amounts
      boolean	Flags, yes/no values
      date	Date values
      time	Time values
      array_of_string	Lists of text items
      array_of_number	Lists of numbers

Save and Activate

1. Click Save to save your App Action.

2. Locate the newly created App Action in the Inactive list, and click the More actions ⋮ icon.

3. Select Set to active.
   

Active App Actions

An App Action must be set to Active before it can be used in an AI guide.