Our Action endpoints enable you to programmatically run Zapier-powered actions inside your product. This is especially useful for offering automation natively—without needing your users to build full workflows themselves. This guide walks you through how to initiate and monitor an action run using the API. By the end, you’ll be able to trigger any Zapier-powered action (like sending an email, updating a spreadsheet, or creating a record in another app) and retrieve the result, all from within your app.

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What is an Action Run?

An action run represents a single execution of an action step in a Zapier workflow. When you call the Action Run API, Zapier executes the action logic and returns a run_id that you can use to check the run’s status and result.

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Example / Demo

See a walkthrough of how to run one-off actions using the WorkflowAPI.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure:
  • You have access to a public Zapier integration.
  • You’ve registered your app and authenticated to use the API.
  • You have at least one action configured in your integration, with required fields and sample data tested in the Zapier UI or via the API.

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Step 1: Trigger an Action Run

To trigger an action, make a POST request to /v2/action-runs/
Important: Before every action run, for the action attribute on your request body you should retreive a new/unique id from the Get Actions endpoint for the action that you’d like to execute. This ensures that the action run can be uniquely tracked, that it can be properly debugged, and that attributions are properly reported.Note: The id attribute will be unique for every lookup on the Get Actions endpoint, and the key attribute will be the action’s consistent developer-provided identifier.

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Request Example

POST https://api.zapier.com/v2/action-runs/
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "action": "core:89sg4uhs5g85gh53hso59hs399hgs59",
  "authentication": "UHsi8e6K",
  "input": {
    "email": "user@example.com",
    "message": "Hello from Powered by Zapier!"
  }
}

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Parameters

FieldTypeDescription
actionstringThe unique identifier of the action you want to run.
authenticationstringThe authentication id needed to run this action.
inputobjectKey-value pairs of input fields required by the action.

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Response Example

{
  "data": {
    "type": "run",
    "id": "arun_abc123"
  }
}
You can use this run’s id to poll for the run’s status and result.

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Step 2: Retrieve the Action Run Result

To check the outcome of the action, send a GET request to /v2/action-runs/

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Request Example

GET https://api.zapier.com/v2/action-runs/arun_abc123/
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN

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Possible Statuses

StatusMeaning
queuedThe run is waiting to be processed.
runningThe action is currently being executed.
successThe run completed successfully.
errorAn error occurred while executing the run.

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Response Example

{
  "data": {
    "type": "run",
    "run_id": "arun_abc123",
    "status": "success",
    "results": {
      // Action result data here
    },
    "errors": []
  }
}
If successful, the results field will contain the result of the action. You can surface this directly to the user or trigger a follow-up process.