> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://rasa.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Actions

> The Action class is the base class for any custom action. To

The `Action` class is the base class for any custom action. To
define a custom action, create a subclass of the `Action` class
and overwrite the two required methods, `name` and `run`. The
action server will call an action according to the return value
of its `name` method when it receives a request to run an action.

A skeleton custom action looks like this:

```python theme={null}
class MyCustomAction(Action):

    def name(self) -> Text:

        return "action_name"

    async def run(
        self, dispatcher, tracker: Tracker, domain: Dict[Text, Any],
    ) -> List[Dict[Text, Any]]:

        return []
```

## Methods

### Action.name

Defines the action's name. The name returned by this method is the one used in your bot's domain.

* **Returns**:

  Name of action
* **Return type**:

  `str`

### Action.run

```python theme={null}
async Action.run(dispatcher, tracker, domain)
```

The `run` method executes the side effects of the action.

#### **Parameters**

* **dispatcher** – the dispatcher which is used to
  send messages back to the user. Use
  `dispatcher.utter_message()` for complete responses, or the streaming methods
  `dispatcher.stream_start()`, `dispatcher.stream_chunk()`, and
  `dispatcher.stream_end()` to emit responses incrementally.
  See the [documentation for the dispatcher](/docs/reference/integrations/action-server/sdk-dispatcher), including
  [streaming responses](/docs/reference/integrations/action-server/sdk-dispatcher#streaming-responses) and
  [transport support](/docs/reference/integrations/action-server/sdk-dispatcher#supported-transports).
* **tracker** – the state tracker for the current
  user. You can access slot values using
  `tracker.get_slot(slot_name)`, the most recent user message
  is `tracker.latest_message.text` and any other
  `rasa_sdk.Tracker` property. See the [documentation for the tracker](/docs/reference/integrations/action-server/sdk-tracker).
* **domain** – the bot's domain

#### **Returns**

A list of `rasa_sdk.events.Event` instances. See the [documentation for events](/docs/reference/integrations/action-server/sdk-events).

#### **Return type**

`List`\[`Dict`\[`str`, `Any`]]

## Example

In a restaurant bot, if the user says “show me a Mexican restaurant”,
your bot could execute the action `ActionCheckRestaurants`,
which might look like this:

```python theme={null}
from typing import Text, Dict, Any, List
from rasa_sdk import Action
from rasa_sdk.events import SlotSet

class ActionCheckRestaurants(Action):
   def name(self) -> Text:
      return "action_check_restaurants"

   def run(self,
           dispatcher: CollectingDispatcher,
           tracker: Tracker,
           domain: Dict[Text, Any]) -> List[Dict[Text, Any]]:

      cuisine = tracker.get_slot('cuisine')
      q = "select * from restaurants where cuisine='{0}' limit 1".format(cuisine)
      result = db.query(q)

      return [SlotSet("matches", result if result is not None else [])]
```

This action queries a database to find restaurants matching
the requested cuisine, and uses the list of restaurants found
to set the value of the `matches` slot.


## Related topics

- [Actions](/docs/reference/integrations/action-server/actions.md)
- [Default Actions](/docs/reference/primitives/default-actions.md)
- [Custom Actions](/docs/reference/primitives/custom-actions.md)
- [Introduction to Actions](/docs/studio/build/actions/introduction.md)