Overview

Actions are interactive buttons in Forest that execute operations on your data. They let you implement business logic, provide a secure way for users to update your data, and integrate with external services directly from your back-office.

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What are actions?

An action is a button that appears in the Forest interface. When clicked, it triggers custom logic - from simple field updates to more complex business logic. Actions let you:

• Execute business operations (approve orders, ban users, send invoices)
• Integrate with external services (Stripe, SendGrid, Slack)
• Process data (bulk updates, exports, transformations)
• Implement approval processes
• Trigger webhooks to third-party tools

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Where actions appear

Actions are available throughout Forest:

• Collections
  • Table view: Actions on records in table and detail views (single, bulk, or global actions)
  
  • Details tab: Trigger an Action on the selected record, from its Details tab
  
  • Summary tab: Trigger an Action from a record’s summary view, when configured
• Workspaces - learn more here
• Workflows - learn more here

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Built-in actions

Forest provides native actions out-of-the-box: These work automatically with your data structure and require no configuration.

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Custom actions

Beyond built-in actions, create your own custom actions with custom code in your back-end:

• Complex business logic
• Dynamic forms: Forms that adapt to user input
• External integrations: Deep API integrations
• File generation: Create PDFs, CSVs, reports
• Custom result types: HTML responses, redirects, downloads

For developers who need full control and flexibility.

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Action scopes

Every action has a scope that defines when it’s available:

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Action types

You can customize the appearance of action buttons to match their purpose, via the Collection settings: The button color helps users quickly identify the nature of an action before executing it from a Workspace or Summary View.

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Action visibility

Control when and where actions appear in your interface. Role-based permissions determine which users can see and execute specific actions. Configure permissions per team and role to restrict sensitive operations. See Roles & permissions for configuration. Approval workflows require validation from another authorized user before execution. This adds a review step for critical operations. See Approval workflows for more information. Conditional visibility allows actions to appear only when certain conditions are met, i.e. when the selected record belong to one or more specific segments.

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What actions enable

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Approval workflows

Actions integrate with Forest’s approval system. Require manager approval before execution, track approval history, and maintain an audit trail of who approved what.

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Role-based permissions

Control who can execute actions by configuring permissions per team and role. Show actions only when conditions are met and restrict sensitive operations.