Creating Actions

This guide walks you through creating actions on Universal API.

Web UI

Navigate to universalapi.co/actions and click "Create Action".

Required Fields

Field	Description
Action Name	Display name for your action
Description	What the action does
Category	Classification (Utilities, Communication, etc.)
Runtime	python3.12
Source Code	Your Python handler function

Optional Fields

Field	Default	Description
Visibility	private	public, private, or team
Status	development	development, active, deprecated
Memory	128 MB	128, 256, 512, or 1024 MB
Timeout	30 sec	1-300 seconds
Tags	-	Keywords for discovery
Keys Needed	-	Required API keys/OAuth tokens

Code Structure

Every action must have a handler function:

def handler(event, context):
    """
    Args:
        event: Contains request data, parameters, and injected keys
        context: Lambda execution context

    Returns:
        dict: Response with statusCode and body
    """
    # Your code here
    return {
        "statusCode": 200,
        "body": {"result": "success"}
    }

The Event Object

The event parameter contains:

{
    # Query parameters from URL
    "queryStringParameters": {
        "param1": "value1",
        "param2": "value2"
    },

    # Request body (for POST)
    "body": "...",

    # Your stored API keys (injected by Universal API)
    "keys": {
        "google_oauth": {
            "keyName": "google_oauth",
            "keyValue": "ya29.xxx...",  # Access token
            "secretKeyName": "refresh_token",
            "secretKeyValue": "1//0xxx..."
        },
        "openai": {
            "keyName": "openai",
            "keyValue": "sk-xxx..."
        }
    },

    # Request metadata
    "userId": "user-id",
    "actionId": "act-xxx",
    "headers": {...}
}

Reading Parameters

def handler(event, context):
    # From query string (?name=John&count=5)
    params = event.get("queryStringParameters", {}) or {}
    name = params.get("name", "World")
    count = int(params.get("count", 1))

    # From POST body
    import json
    body = event.get("body", "{}")
    if isinstance(body, str):
        body = json.loads(body)

    return {
        "statusCode": 200,
        "body": {"name": name, "count": count}
    }

Using API Keys

def handler(event, context):
    # Check if key exists
    if "keys" not in event or "openai" not in event["keys"]:
        return {
            "statusCode": 400,
            "body": {"error": "OpenAI API key not configured"}
        }

    # Get the key
    api_key = event["keys"]["openai"]["keyValue"]

    # Use it
    import requests
    response = requests.post(
        "https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions",
        headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {api_key}"},
        json={"model": "gpt-4", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hi"}]}
    )

    return {
        "statusCode": 200,
        "body": response.json()
    }

Using OAuth Tokens

def handler(event, context):
    # Check for Google OAuth
    if "keys" not in event or "google_oauth" not in event["keys"]:
        return {
            "statusCode": 400,
            "body": {"error": "Please connect your Google account"}
        }

    # Get tokens
    google_oauth = event["keys"]["google_oauth"]
    access_token = google_oauth["keyValue"]

    # Call Google API
    import requests
    response = requests.get(
        "https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files",
        headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}"},
        params={"pageSize": 10}
    )

    return {
        "statusCode": 200,
        "body": response.json()
    }

Creating via API

curl -X POST "https://api.universalapi.co/action/create" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-Uni-UserId: your-user-id" \
  -H "X-Uni-SecretUniversalKey: your-secret-key" \
  -d '{
    "actionName": "My Action",
    "description": "Does something useful",
    "category": "Utilities",
    "runtime": "python3.12",
    "visibility": "private",
    "sourceCode": "def handler(event, context):\n    return {\"statusCode\": 200, \"body\": {\"message\": \"Hello!\"}}"
  }'

Available Python Packages

Actions have access to:

• requests - HTTP library
• boto3 - AWS SDK
• json, datetime, re - Standard library
• And more common packages

Error Handling

def handler(event, context):
    try:
        # Your code
        result = do_something()
        return {
            "statusCode": 200,
            "body": {"result": result}
        }
    except ValueError as e:
        return {
            "statusCode": 400,
            "body": {"error": f"Invalid input: {str(e)}"}
        }
    except Exception as e:
        return {
            "statusCode": 500,
            "body": {"error": f"Internal error: {str(e)}"}
        }

Best Practices

1. Validate inputs - Check parameters before using them
2. Handle missing keys - Always check if API keys exist
3. Use timeouts - Set appropriate timeouts for external calls
4. Return meaningful errors - Help users understand what went wrong
5. Keep it focused - One action, one purpose

Next Steps

• Executing Actions - Call your actions
• OAuth Integration - Google services setup
• Examples - More code templates