<a id="manage-actions"></a>

# How to manage actions

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SOURCE: https://discourse.charmhub.io/t/juju-actions-opt-in-to-new-behaviour-from-juju-2-8/2255
TODO: Add more example outputs. (The doc above has many but they're from 2020, so they might not be the latest. And I don't quite get the first bit about the custom-defined action -- how does it get attached to the charm?
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> See also: [Action](https://documentation.ubuntu.com/juju/2.9/reference/action.md#action)

This document demonstrates how to manage actions.

## List all actions

To list the actions defined for a deployed application, use the `actions` command followed by the deployed charm’s name. For example, assuming you’ve already deployed the `git` charm, you can find out the actions it supports as below:

```text
juju actions git
```

This should output:

```text
Action            Description
add-repo          Create a git repository.
add-repo-user     Give a user permissions to access a repository.
add-user          Create a new user.
get-repo          Return the repository's path.
list-repo-users   List all users who have access to a repository.
list-repos        List existing git repositories.
list-user-repos   List all the repositories a user has access to.
list-users        List all users.
remove-repo       Remove a git repository.
remove-repo-user  Revoke a user's permissions to access a repository.
remove-user       Remove a user.
```

By passing various options, you can also do a number of other things such as specify a model or an output format or request the full schema for all the actions of an application. Below we demonstrate the `--schema` and `--format` options:

```text
juju actions git --schema --format yaml
```

Partial output:

```text
add-repo:
  additionalProperties: false
  description: Create a git repository.
  properties:
    repo:
      description: Name of the git repository.
      type: string
  required:
  - repo
  title: add-repo
  type: object
```

#### NOTE
The full schema is under the `properties` key of the root action. Actions rely on [JSON-Schema](http://json-schema.org) for validation. The top-level keys shown for the action (`description` and `properties`) may include future additions to the feature.

> See more: [juju actions](https://documentation.ubuntu.com/juju/2.9/reference/juju-cli/list-of-juju-cli-commands/actions.md#command-juju-actions)

## Show details about an action

To see detailed information about an application action, use the `show-action` command followed by the name of the charm and the name of the action. For example, the code below will show detailed information about the `backup` action of the `postgresql` application.

```text
juju show-action postgresql backup
```

<!--add sample output-->
> See more: [juju show-action](https://documentation.ubuntu.com/juju/2.9/reference/juju-cli/list-of-juju-cli-commands/show-action.md#command-juju-show-action)

## Run an action

#### IMPORTANT
**Did you know?** When you run an action, how the action is run depends on the type of the charm. If your charm is a machine charm, actions are executed on the same machine as the application. If your charm is a Kubernetes charm implementing the sidecar pattern, the action is run in the charm container.

To run an action on a unit, use the `run-action` command followed by the name of the unit and the name of the action you want to run.

```text
juju run-action mysql/3 backup
```

By using various options, you can choose to run the action in the background, specify a timeout time, pass a list of actions in the form of a YAML file, etc. See the command reference doc for more.

Running an action returns the overall operation ID as well as the individual task ID(s) for each unit.

> See more: [juju run-action](https://documentation.ubuntu.com/juju/2.9/reference/juju-cli/list-of-juju-cli-commands/run-action.md#command-juju-run-action)

## Debug an action

To debug an action (or more), use the `debug-hooks` command followed by the name of the unit and the name(s) of the action(s). For example, if you want to check the `add-repo` action of the `git` charm, use:

```text
juju debug-hooks git/0 add-repo
```

> See more: [juju debug-code](https://documentation.ubuntu.com/juju/2.9/reference/juju-cli/list-of-juju-cli-commands/debug-code.md#command-juju-debug-code), [juju debug-hooks](https://documentation.ubuntu.com/juju/2.9/reference/juju-cli/list-of-juju-cli-commands/debug-hooks.md#command-juju-debug-hooks)