robocorp-action-server

Robocorp Action Server is a Python framework designed to simplify the deployment of actions (AI or otherwise).

An action in this case is defined as a Python function (which has inputs/outputs defined), which is served by the Robocorp Action Server.

The Robocorp Action Server automatically generates an OpenAPI spec for your Python code, enabling different AI/LLM Agents to understand and call your Action. It also manages the Action lifecycle and provides full traceability of what happened during runs.

1. Install Action Server

Action Server is available as a stand-alone fully signed executable and via pip install robocorp-action-server.

We recommend the executable to prevent confusion in case you have multiple/crowded Python environments, etc.

For macOS

# Install Robocorp Action Server
brew update
brew install robocorp/tools/action-server 

For Windows

# Download Robocorp Action Server
curl -o action-server.exe https://downloads.robocorp.com/action-server/releases/latest/windows64/action-server.exe

# Add to PATH or move to a folder that is in PATH
setx PATH=%PATH%;%CD%

For Linux

# Download Robocorp Action Server
curl -o action-server https://downloads.robocorp.com/action-server/releases/latest/linux64/action-server
chmod a+x action-server

# Add to PATH or move to a folder that is in PATH
sudo mv action-server /usr/local/bin/

2. Run your first Action

# Bootstrap a new project using this template.
# You'll be prompted for the name of the project (directory):
action-server new

# Start Action Server 
cd my-project
action-server start --expose

👉 You should now have an Action Server running locally at: http://localhost:8080, so open that in your browser and the web UI will guide you further.

👉 Using the --expose -flag, you also get a public internet-facing URL (something like "https://twently-cuddly-dinosaurs.robocorp.link") and the related token. These are the details that you need to configure your AI Agent to have access to your Action

What do you need in your Action Package

An Action Package is currently defined as a local folder that contains at least one Python file containing an action entry point (a Python function marked with @action -decorator from robocorp.actions).

The conda.yaml file is required for specifying the Python environment and dependencies for your Action (RCC will be used to automatically bootstrap it and keep it updated given the conda.yaml contents).

Note: the conda.yaml is optional if the action server is not being used as a standalone (i.e.: if it was pip-installed it can use the same python environment where it's installed).

See: More information on conda.yaml.

A robot.yaml used by RCC is not required, but it may be useful to have it to manually run the actions out of the Robocorp Action Server.
We recommend checking out Robocorp Code -extension for VS Code.

Bootstrapping a new Action

Start new projects with:

action-server new

Note: the action-server executable should be automatically added to your python installation after pip install robocorp-action-server, but if for some reason it wasn't pip-installed, it's also possible to use python -m robocorp.action_server instead of action-server.

After creating the project, it's possible to serve the actions under the current directory with:

action-server start

For example: When running action-server start, the action server will scan for existing actions under the current directory, and it'll start serving those.

After it's started, it's possible to access the following URLs:

• /index.html: UI for the Action Server.
• /openapi.json: Provides the openapi spec for the action server.
• /docs: Provides access to the APIs available in the server and a UI to test it.

API Reference

Information on specific functions or classes: robocorp.action-server

Changelog

A list of releases and corresponding changes can be found in the changelog.