Action Types

Every operation the Agent can perform is represented as a typed action. Actions are the atomic unit of the OpenParallax pipeline — each one passes through Shield evaluation, IFC checking, Chronicle snapshotting, and audit logging before execution.

OpenParallax defines 69 action types across 14 tool groups.

Source: internal/types/action.go

OTR Mode

In Off-the-Record mode, only read-only actions are permitted. Actions marked Yes in the OTR column below are allowed; all others are blocked. See Sessions — OTR Mode for details.

Source: internal/session/otr.go

Files

Tool group: files

Action	Constant	Description	OTR
`read_file`	`ActionReadFile`	Reads a file from the filesystem	Yes
`write_file`	`ActionWriteFile`	Writes content to a file	No
`delete_file`	`ActionDeleteFile`	Deletes a file from the filesystem	No
`move_file`	`ActionMoveFile`	Moves or renames a file	No
`copy_file`	`ActionCopyFile`	Copies a file to a new location	No
`create_directory`	`ActionCreateDir`	Creates a directory	No
`list_directory`	`ActionListDir`	Lists the contents of a directory	Yes
`search_files`	`ActionSearchFiles`	Searches for files matching a pattern	Yes
`copy_directory`	`ActionCopyDir`	Copies a directory recursively	No
`move_directory`	`ActionMoveDir`	Moves or renames a directory	No
`delete_directory`	`ActionDeleteDir`	Deletes a directory recursively	No
`grep_files`	`ActionGrepFiles`	Searches file contents for a text pattern	No

Shell

Tool group: shell

Action	Constant	Description	OTR
`execute_command`	`ActionExecCommand`	Executes a shell command	No

Communication

These actions are not part of a single tool group — send_message is used internally by channel adapters, and send_email belongs to the email group.

Action	Constant	Description	OTR
`send_message`	`ActionSendMessage`	Sends a message via a channel adapter	No
`send_email`	`ActionSendEmail`	Sends an email via SMTP	No

HTTP

Action	Constant	Description	OTR
`http_request`	`ActionHTTPRequest`	Performs an HTTP request	Yes

Browser

Tool group: browser

Action	Constant	Description	OTR
`browser_navigate`	`ActionBrowserNav`	Navigates a browser to a URL	Yes
`browser_click`	`ActionBrowserClick`	Clicks an element in the browser	No
`browser_type`	`ActionBrowserType`	Types text into a browser element	No
`browser_extract`	`ActionBrowserExtract`	Extracts content from the browser	Yes
`browser_screenshot`	`ActionBrowserShot`	Takes a screenshot of the browser	Yes

Schedule

Tool group: schedule

Action	Constant	Description	OTR
`create_schedule`	`ActionCreateSchedule`	Creates a recurring schedule entry	No
`delete_schedule`	`ActionDeleteSchedule`	Removes a schedule entry	No
`list_schedules`	`ActionListSchedules`	Lists all schedule entries	No

Calendar

Tool group: calendar

Action	Constant	Description	OTR
`read_calendar`	`ActionReadCalendar`	Reads calendar events	Yes
`create_event`	`ActionCreateEvent`	Creates a calendar event	No
`update_event`	`ActionUpdateEvent`	Updates a calendar event	No
`delete_event`	`ActionDeleteEvent`	Deletes a calendar event	No

Git

Tool group: git

Action	Constant	Description	OTR
`git_status`	`ActionGitStatus`	Shows the git working tree status	Yes
`git_diff`	`ActionGitDiff`	Shows the git diff	Yes
`git_commit`	`ActionGitCommit`	Creates a git commit	No
`git_push`	`ActionGitPush`	Pushes to a git remote	No
`git_pull`	`ActionGitPull`	Pulls from a git remote	No
`git_log`	`ActionGitLog`	Shows the git log	Yes
`git_branch`	`ActionGitBranch`	Manages git branches	No
`git_checkout`	`ActionGitCheckout`	Checks out a git branch or commit	No
`git_clone`	`ActionGitClone`	Clones a git repository	No

Memory

Tool group: memory

Action	Constant	Description	OTR
`memory_write`	`ActionMemoryWrite`	Writes to a workspace memory file	No
`memory_search`	`ActionMemorySearch`	Searches memory via FTS5	Yes

Canvas

Tool group: canvas

Action	Constant	Description	OTR
`canvas_create`	`ActionCanvasCreate`	Creates a canvas file (Mermaid, SVG, Markdown, HTML)	No
`canvas_update`	`ActionCanvasUpdate`	Updates an existing canvas file	No
`canvas_project`	`ActionCanvasProject`	Creates a multi-file project in a directory	No

Image and Video Generation

Tool groups: image_generation, video_generation

Action	Constant	Description	OTR
`generate_image`	`ActionGenerateImage`	Generates an image from a text prompt	No
`edit_image`	`ActionEditImage`	Edits an existing image based on a prompt	No
`generate_video`	`ActionGenerateVideo`	Generates a short video from a text prompt	No

Email

Tool group: email

Action	Constant	Description	OTR
`email_list`	`ActionEmailList`	Lists emails in a mailbox folder	No
`email_read`	`ActionEmailRead`	Reads a specific email by UID	No
`email_search`	`ActionEmailSearch`	Searches emails by query	No
`email_move`	`ActionEmailMove`	Moves an email to a different folder	No
`email_mark`	`ActionEmailMark`	Marks an email as read/unread/flagged	No

System

Tool group: system

Action	Constant	Description	OTR
`clipboard_read`	`ActionClipboardRead`	Reads from the system clipboard	No
`clipboard_write`	`ActionClipboardWrite`	Writes to the system clipboard	No
`open`	`ActionOpen`	Launches a file or URL in the default application	No
`notify`	`ActionNotify`	Sends an OS notification	No
`system_info`	`ActionSystemInfo`	Returns system information (disk, memory, CPU, etc.)	No
`screenshot`	`ActionScreenshot`	Captures the desktop screen	No

Utilities

Tool group: utilities

Action	Constant	Description	OTR
`archive_create`	`ActionArchiveCreate`	Creates a zip or tar.gz archive	No
`archive_extract`	`ActionArchiveExtract`	Extracts a zip or tar.gz archive	No
`pdf_read`	`ActionPDFRead`	Extracts text from a PDF file	No
`spreadsheet_read`	`ActionSpreadsheetRead`	Reads data from a CSV or Excel file	No
`spreadsheet_write`	`ActionSpreadsheetWrite`	Writes data to a CSV or Excel file	No

Agents

Tool group: agents

Action	Constant	Description	OTR
`create_agent`	`ActionCreateAgent`	Spawns a sub-agent to work on a task	No
`agent_status`	`ActionAgentStatus`	Checks the status of a sub-agent	No
`agent_result`	`ActionAgentResult`	Collects the result from a completed sub-agent	No
`agent_message`	`ActionAgentMessage`	Sends an additional instruction to a running sub-agent	No
`delete_agent`	`ActionDeleteAgent`	Terminates a sub-agent immediately	No
`list_agents`	`ActionListAgents`	Lists all active sub-agents	No

Tool Groups

Actions are organized into tool groups for on-demand loading via the load_tools meta-tool. The LLM starts each turn with no tools loaded and calls load_tools(["files", "git"]) to gain access.

Group	Description
`files`	Read, write, list, search, and delete files in the workspace
`shell`	Execute shell commands on the system
`git`	Git version control — status, diff, log, commit, push, pull, branch, clone
`browser`	Browse the web — navigate, click, type, extract, screenshot
`email`	Send and read emails — list inbox, search, read, move, mark, and send
`calendar`	Manage calendar events — list, create, update, delete
`memory`	Write structured memories and search past conversations
`schedule`	Manage recurring tasks via HEARTBEAT.md cron entries
`canvas`	Create files, multi-file projects, and live-preview websites
`image_generation`	Generate images using AI if supported by model
`video_generation`	Generate videos using AI if supported by model
`agents`	Spawn and manage sub-agents for parallel task execution
`system`	Clipboard access, launch files/URLs, OS notifications, system info, screenshots
`utilities`	Math calculations, archive zip/extract, PDF text extraction, spreadsheet read/write

Groups can be disabled via tools.disabled_groups in config.yaml. MCP server tools are registered as mcp:<server-name> groups automatically.

Action Types ​

OTR Mode ​

Files ​

Shell ​

Communication ​

HTTP ​

Browser ​

Schedule ​

Calendar ​

Git ​

Memory ​

Canvas ​

Image and Video Generation ​

Email ​

System ​

Utilities ​

Agents ​

Tool Groups ​