---
source_url: https://www.pubnub.com/docs/integrations/event-forwarding/available-actions
title: Available actions
updated_at: 2026-09-30T07:20:08.000Z
---

# Available actions

## Documentation index

To discover more PubNub resources:

1. Fetch [PubNub's llms.txt](https://www.pubnub.com/llms-full.txt) for a list of available pages in Markdown format.
2. Identify relevant URLs from that index.
3. Fetch the target pages.

Do not assume a path exists, always check the index first.

An [event listener](https://www.pubnub.com/docs/integrations/event-forwarding/overview.md) forwards a matching event to one or more actions. This reference lists every available action type and the mechanics that all of them share: retries, the envelope, and batching. Each how-to page linked below covers connecting and configuring that one action type. Your [Events & Actions tier](https://www.pubnub.com/docs/pricing/quotas.md#events--actions) sets how many actions a single listener can trigger.

## Action types

| Action | Description | How to configure |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Webhook | Sends the event as an HTTP request to an endpoint you control. | [Create a Webhook action](https://www.pubnub.com/docs/integrations/event-forwarding/create-webhook-action.md) |
| Amazon SQS | Sends the event to an [Amazon SQS](https://aws.amazon.com/sqs/) queue for medium to large data volumes. | [Create an SQS action](https://www.pubnub.com/docs/integrations/event-forwarding/create-sqs-action.md) |
| Amazon Kinesis | Streams the event to [Amazon Kinesis](https://aws.amazon.com/kinesis/) for large to extra-large data volumes. | [Create a Kinesis action](https://www.pubnub.com/docs/integrations/event-forwarding/create-kinesis-action.md) |
| Amazon S3 | Uploads the event to an [Amazon S3](https://aws.amazon.com/s3/) bucket for storage. | [Create an S3 action](https://www.pubnub.com/docs/integrations/event-forwarding/create-s3-action.md) |
| Apache Kafka | Publishes the event to an [Apache Kafka](https://kafka.apache.org/) topic. | [Create a Kafka action](https://www.pubnub.com/docs/integrations/event-forwarding/create-kafka-action.md) |
| IFTTT Webhook | Triggers an [IFTTT](https://ifttt.com/) applet with the event. | [Create an IFTTT action](https://www.pubnub.com/docs/integrations/event-forwarding/create-ifttt-action.md) |
| AMQP | Publishes the event to an [AMQP](https://www.cloudamqp.com/blog/what-is-amqp-and-why-is-it-used-in-rabbitmq.html) exchange, such as RabbitMQ. | [Create an AMQP action](https://www.pubnub.com/docs/integrations/event-forwarding/create-amqp-action.md) |

## Retries

Every action type supports request retries. A retry uses a new random delay for each attempt.

Events & Actions retries use jittered backoff:

```bash
delay = random_between(minIntervalForRetry = 10sec, min(maxRetryPeriod = 900sec, (baseRetryIntervalDefinedByUser * 2) ^ attemptNo))
```

| Setting | Description | Default | Min | Max |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Number of retries | Number of attempts to retry the action | `2` | `1` | `4` |
| Retry interval (seconds) | Base delay used to calculate each retry's wait | `450` | `10` | `900` |

Events & Actions retries are available on paid tiers. The Free tier's single listener does not retry failed deliveries.

See [Availability](https://www.pubnub.com/docs/integrations/event-forwarding/overview.md#availability-by-plan) for the full tier breakdown.

A Webhook delivery succeeds after a `2XX` response, follows a `301` for up to three redirects, and retries other statuses according to the action's retry policy.

For the payload shape and the legacy webhook migration path, see the [legacy webhooks migration guide](https://www.pubnub.com/docs/migration-guides/legacy-webhooks.md).

## Envelope

Every action can optionally wrap the event's data in an envelope, PubNub's own metadata about which listener and action produced the event. Turn on **Is Enveloped** in the action's configuration to add it.

* **Skip the envelope** when your destination only needs the event's own data.
* **Use the envelope** when your destination needs to know which listener or action triggered the event, alongside the event data itself.

Enveloped Events & Actions payloads use schema version `1.0`, `2.0`, or `2.1`; `2.1` is the default when enveloping is enabled. Actions without an envelope use the no-envelope format.

See [Events & Actions payloads](https://www.pubnub.com/docs/integrations/event-forwarding/payloads.md) for the full JSON of every version, for every event type.

## Batching

Amazon S3 and Webhook actions can batch, sending several events in a single request instead of one request per event. Batching reduces the number of requests your destination handles, at the cost of needing to unpack individual events from a batch file or payload on your end.

Set both batching bounds. Whichever bound is reached first sends the batch.

Events & Actions sends a batch when either configured bound is reached first:

| Setting | Description | Default | Min | Max |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Item count bound | Maximum number of events queued per batch | `100` | `1` | `10000` |
| Time bound (seconds) | Maximum time events collect before the batch sends | `5` | `1` | `300` |

An Events & Actions Amazon S3 batch larger than 5 MB uses an [Amazon S3 multipart upload](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/mpuoverview.html), which splits the batch into parts automatically.

For the Webhook action, whether you need batching, and what size to batch at, depends on your endpoint's own request size and throughput limits.

## Next steps

* [Events & Actions](https://www.pubnub.com/docs/integrations/event-forwarding/overview.md). Understand the event, listener, and action model before you configure an action.
* [Event sources](https://www.pubnub.com/docs/integrations/event-forwarding/event-sources.md). See every event type a listener can trigger an action from.
* [Events & Actions payloads](https://www.pubnub.com/docs/integrations/event-forwarding/payloads.md). Look up the exact JSON an action sends for any event type and envelope version.
* [Configure Events & Actions](https://www.pubnub.com/docs/integrations/event-forwarding/configure.md). Create a listener and attach an action to it.

Last updated at: 2026-09-30T07:20:08.000Z