How To Run An Action

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

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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/

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Request Example

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

{
  "action": "action_id",
  "authentication": "authentication_id",
  "input": {
    "email": "user@example.com",
    "message": "Hello from Powered by Zapier!"
  }
}

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Parameters

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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

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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.