--- title: Configuration url: https://www.tines.com/docs/actions/configuration/ updated: 2026-03-18T10:59:58+00:00 --- *[tines.com](https://www.tines.com/llms.txt) › [Docs](https://www.tines.com/llms.txt) › [Actions](https://www.tines.com/llm/docs/actions.md)* # Configuration *[View on tines.com](https://www.tines.com/docs/actions/configuration/)* Actions are configured from the properties panel on the right of the storyboard. This appears when you select an individual action. All actions share common configuration options, as well as options specific to the action. All actions have three tabs: build, status, and logs. Webhook actions have an additional summary tab. ## Common Config For all actions, you can: - Configure the name, description, and options unique to the action type from the build tab. - View the action status, set up action monitoring to notify you of events or errors, and [set up time saved per action](https://www.tines.com/docs/reporting/) from the status tab. - View action logs to find out what happened from the log tab. Depending on the action type, all options may not be available in the common config. | Action type | Can be scheduled | Can receive events | Can emit events | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Send Email Action](/docs/actions/types/email/) | Yes | Yes | Yes | | [Event Transformation Action](/docs/actions/types/event-transformation/) | Yes | Yes | Yes | | [HTTP Request Action](/docs/actions/types/http-request/) | Yes | Yes | Yes | | [Receive Email Action](/docs/actions/types/imap/) | Yes | No | Yes | | [Condition Action](/docs/actions/types/condition/) | No | Yes | Yes | | [Webhook Action](/docs/actions/types/webhook/) | No | No | Yes | | [Send to Story Action](/docs/actions/types/send-to-story/) | Yes | Yes | Yes | | **[AI Action](https://www.tines.com/docs/actions/types/ai-action/)** | Yes | Yes | Yes | ## Source and Receiver Actions When an action runs, either on a schedule or when an event is received from a source action, it will generate a new event and emit it to receiving actions. As shown below, by dragging a string between actions, we define where events should be emitted. **Failure path for actions** A failure path can be defined for actions. This will cause any action run which contains an error log to emit its event down the failure path. To opt into the behavior, use the action context menu and select "set failure path", and then link to another action to receive failures. [Video](https://stream.mux.com/qXNC6Kr02gMRZ02rz5ys5PUKB02eR400DXZt/high.mp4) ## Adding options All of the basic options required for an action to function will be shown when you first drag an action onto the storyboard. However, most actions have additional optional options which allow you to achieve more with the action. You can access these options by clicking on the add option button at the bottom of the properties panel. ![](https://www.datocms-assets.com/55802/1655988134-quickstart_creating_an_action_additional_options-7b104f7c1d13ca9881c90dffd1762ce4.png) ### Common Options Every action has the following options, as well as others more specific to that action type: | Option | Description | | --- | --- | | Customize output | This option allows you to modify an action's output via the `OUTPUT` key. This is useful for verbose actions like HTTP Request Actions, which produce a lot of metadata that you might not need, bloating events and making them harder to parse. With Customize output you can filter out any unnecessary information and just surface the values you need. **N.B.** The `OUTPUT` key is a special case just for the **Customize output** option (and the below **log error if** option). As a result, in previews it will always be `null`. You will need to run the action to see the actual output. You cannot reference the contents of the **Customize output** object via the `OUTPUT` key, as `OUTPUT` only refers to the original output of the action, before **Customize output** is applied. **N.B.** When a Webhook action is invoked as the entry point of a Send to Story (whether from a Send to Story action, an AI Agent tool, or Workbench) the customize output option is not applied. In this context, the incoming payload represents the story's input parameters, not an HTTP response, so the transformation is skipped to preserve the integrity of the data passed between stories. | | Emit failure event | This option provides a guarantee that an event will be emitted – even if a fatal error takes place, such as a formula expression which crashes. In those cases, an event with `{"failed": true}` will be emitted, allowing you to intercept and recover as required. | | Local values | This object is generated once per run and it can be referenced elsewhere in the action via the `LOCAL` key. It functions like a set of variables or cached values for the action, and it can be used to make your action options more readable or to save time by calculating a value only once and reusing it in multiple places. You can reference `LOCAL` from within the **Local values** object but it will only be able to refer to keys that were defined earlier, otherwise they will resolve to `null`. | | Log error if | Similar to the previous option customize output, this option allows you to log an error based on the action’s output – accessible with the `OUTPUT` key in a formulas expression. It is similar to the [HTTP request action’s log error on status option](https://www.tines.com/docs/actions/types/http-request/#:~:text=Defaults%20to%2025.-,log_error_on_status,-%3A%C2%A0%5B0%2C%20400), but more flexible and available to all actions. | > **NOTE:** Pages are a special case. While they support **Local values** and **Customize output**, they do not have an **Options** user interface. If you want to use these options in a page, you need to open the **Editor** view and add them to the JSON directly via the "local" and "customize\_output" keys. ### Action Metadata In addition to the common options, many actions also include the **Include action metadata** option. When enabled, this adds a `meta` attribute to emitted events, containing metadata about the action run. This metadata is only added if the event is an object. The following actions support metadata: [HTTP Request](https://www.tines.com/docs/http-request/), [Send Email](https://www.tines.com/docs/email/), [Condition](https://www.tines.com/docs/condition/) and [Event Transformation](https://www.tines.com/docs/event-transformation/) when used in [Automatic](https://www.tines.com/docs/automatic/), [Deduplicate](https://www.tines.com/docs/deduplicate/), [Explode](https://www.tines.com/docs/explode/), [Extract](https://www.tines.com/docs/extract/), or [Message only](https://www.tines.com/docs/message-only/) modes. All actions that support metadata include the following attributes, though some actions may provide additional metadata as well. | Attribute | Description | | --- | --- | | duration | The total time, in seconds, that the action took to complete. It measures the time from when the action started running to when an event was created, including formula evaluation, network requests, and any other internal processing. | | pending\_duration | The total time, in seconds, that an action was pending. It measures the time from when the action became eligible to run until processing began. | | response\_time (HTTP Request action only) | The total time, in seconds, from when a request is sent to when a response is received. Useful for identifying slow requests or monitoring the performance of external APIs. | ![](https://www.datocms-assets.com/55802/1755883502-screenshot-2025-08-22-at-1-22-49-pm.png) > **NOTE:** If the event already includes a `meta` attribute, any available metadata will be merged into the existing `meta` (when possible) without overwriting existing values.