AI agent actions: a refund, not a link to a form

AI agent actions: a refund, not a link to a form.

An AI agent action is a task the agent performs during the conversation — it looks up the order, books the demo, moves the refund — instead of telling the customer where to go and do it. Outlearn runs actions from a trigger written in plain language, against Slack, Gmail, Calendly or your own API, and hands off with the transcript when a person has to take over.

One conversation, one action

Sample workspace

Refund

Website chat
Signed in · Priya
I was charged twice for September. Can one of them be refunded?
I can see both charges. The duplicate from 3 September is refundable under the 30-day policy, so I'll issue it now.
Done. The refund is on its way and should reach your card within 5 to 10 business days.

Refund issued
Charge: INV-2291
Amount: $99.00
Status: Refund in progress

Issue refund

POST /refunds

  1. Look up the account.

Your site passed a signed identity token, so the agent already knows who is asking.

  1. Check the refund policy.

Read from a connected source: duplicate charges within 30 days are refundable.

  1. Run the action.

A POST to your billing endpoint, with the auth headers you configured.

  1. Confirm in the chat.

The result comes back as a card, the response format chosen for this action.

Website chat

Signed in · Tom
I've moved. Can you send order 48213 to 12 Harbour St, Leeds instead?
Order 48213 hasn't been dispatched yet, so the address can still be changed. Updating it now.

Updated. Order 48213 will ship to 12 Harbour St, Leeds.
Here is what I changed:

Order 48213

Update shipping address

PATCH /orders/{id}

  1. Look up the order.

A GET on your orders endpoint: order 48213, not yet dispatched.

  1. Check the rule.

The trigger says: only change an address before dispatch. This order qualifies.

  1. Run the action.

A PATCH with the new address, to your endpoint, with your auth.

  1. Show it back.

The new address is returned as a card so the customer can check it.

Website chat

Signed in · Ana
How do I upgrade to Pro?
I can do that for you now. Pro is billed from today and prorated for the rest of your cycle. Shall I go ahead?
Yes please.

Done. I've moved you to Pro. Your next invoice is prorated.

Subscription

Change plan

POST /subscriptions/{id}/plan

  1. Look up the subscription.

Verified customer, current plan Starter, monthly billing.

  1. Check the pricing rule.

Read from your pricing documentation: upgrades apply today and prorate.

  1. Run the action.

The trigger says to ask first. The customer said yes, so the POST goes out.

  1. Confirm in the chat.

Plan, effective date and the invoice note come back as a card.

Website chat

Signed in · Marcus
I'd like a refund on the annual plan I bought in March.
Annual refunds after 30 days need a person to approve them. I've passed this to the billing team with our conversation so far, so you won't have to repeat any of it. They'll reply here.

Handed to billing · transcript and summary attached
Issue refund · blocked by policy
Handoff · Billing team

Measured, not promised

Resolved means resolved, and we publish the denominator.
A conversation that ends in a link to a form is not resolved, whatever the dashboard says. These are production numbers with the arithmetic attached, from the AI support benchmark.

What an action does

Four things a support lead stops doing by hand

The documentation groups actions by what they touch. Each of these is a task that used to end with “I'll pass this on.”

  1. Alert the team
    Post to a channel when a trigger is met: a high-priority issue, a cancellation risk, or a summary when a chat ends.
  2. Send the email
    Send a conversation summary to the customer when the issue is resolved, or an alert to the support inbox when it is urgent.
  3. Book the meeting
    Check availability and book the demo or the call inside the chat, with the slots shown as a card the customer picks from.
  4. Call your own system
    A custom action runs against your own endpoint with your own auth headers: orders, refunds, plan changes, whatever your API can do.

Configure an action

A trigger written like a note to a new hire

Every action has a trigger in plain English, a response format, the channels it may run in and a limit per session. The agent reads each message against the trigger and decides. Test it in the Preview panel with the phrases customers actually use, then switch it on.

Actions · Create Action

Where it connects

The catalogue, and any API you already run

Sources and actions

A source gives the agent something to say. An action, something to do.
The two work together. The refund policy lives in the documentation you already keep; the refund itself is an action. The documentation's advice is to start with sources, get the agent answering well, then add actions where a conversation still ends in “I'll pass this on”.

The difference

Most bots send a link. This one does the thing.
A typical chatbot answers the refund question with a link to the refund form.
Outlearn checks the policy from your docs, issues the refund through your API, and confirms it in the same chat.

What support leads ask about AI agent actions

What are AI agent actions?

An action is a task the AI agent performs during a conversation, as opposed to information it gives. Where a knowledge source gives the agent something to say, an action gives it something to do: look up an order, book a meeting, send an email, post an alert to a channel, or call your own API to issue a refund or change a plan. In Outlearn each action has a plain-language trigger, a response format and a per-session limit, and the agent decides when to run it by reading the conversation.

Can the AI agent process a refund on its own?

Yes, once you have connected it.

How does the agent know when to run an action?

Every action has a Trigger: a plain-language description of when the agent should run it, such as 'use when the customer asks to book a demo, schedule a call or check availability'.

Which systems can an Outlearn action connect to?

The documented integrations are Slack and Google Chat for messages and alerts, Gmail and Outlook for email, and Calendly and Google Calendar for availability and bookings.