# What is an action in Provely?

> What the agent attempted against the provider. The Provely definition, with an example.

Canonical: https://provely.sh/glossary/action  
Last reviewed: 2026-09-05  

**Action is what the agent attempted. It is a request to a provider, with its idempotency key. The agent performs it with its own credentials. Provely never performs the action.**

Example: `POST /v1/refunds` with `Idempotency-Key: op_01J...`. The contract records the canonical effect, `money.refund`, and the provider operation.

## Read next

- [Read the definition of Acknowledgement](https://provely.sh/glossary/acknowledgement)
- [Read the definition of Idempotency](https://provely.sh/glossary/idempotency)
- [See every glossary term](https://provely.sh/glossary)
- [Read how Provely works](https://provely.sh/how-it-works)