Stacks Actions

Stacks Actions

Server actions are reusable business logic units invoked from routes, events, or CLI commands.

Key Paths

• Core package: storage/framework/core/actions/src/
• Application actions: app/Actions/
• Default framework actions: storage/framework/defaults/app/Actions/
• Framework actions (generated): storage/framework/actions/

Creating an Action

// app/Actions/CreateWidget.ts
import { Action } from '@stacksjs/actions'
import { toSnakeCaseKeys } from '@stacksjs/orm'
import { response } from '@stacksjs/router'

export default new Action({
  name: 'Create Widget',
  description: 'Create a widget',
  method: 'POST',
  model: Widget,

  async handle(request: RequestInstance) {
    await request.validate()

    const widget = await Widget.create(toSnakeCaseKeys(request.all()))

    return response.json(widget, 201)
  },
})

Use the Action class, an explicit HTTP method, and response helpers. Store and update actions should set model and call request.validate() before persisting input. Import framework helpers explicitly, following the default actions.

Resource Action Contract

Show, update, and destroy actions must distinguish malformed identifiers, missing records, invalid input, and operational failures:

1. Read resource identifiers from request.getParam('id'), never from the request body.
2. Convert the value to a number and require a safe positive integer. Return 422 when it is malformed.
3. Validate update input with the action model, then normalize persisted keys with toSnakeCaseKeys(request.all()) when the service expects database column names.
4. Core update services return undefined when the row does not exist. Core destroy services return false. They throw only for invalid domain input, conflicts, or real operational failures.
5. Return 404 when show or update returns undefined, or destroy returns false. Never return a successful null, an unconditional 204, or a generic 500 for an absent row.
6. Preserve domain status codes such as 409 for uniqueness conflicts and 422 for relationship or state validation.

Share identifier and not-found response helpers inside a domain instead of copying the contract across every resource. The built-in Commerce actions use Actions/Commerce/commerce-action.ts as the reference implementation.

Auto-Generated API Actions (useApi Trait)

When a model defines useApi, the framework auto-generates REST actions:

defineModel({
  name: 'Product',
  traits: {
    useApi: {
      uri: 'products',
      routes: ['index', 'store', 'show', 'update', 'destroy']
    }
  }
})

This generates:

• GET /api/products → Index action (list all)
• POST /api/products → Store action (create)
• GET /api/products/{id} → Show action (get one)
• PUT /api/products/{id} → Update action
• DELETE /api/products/{id} → Destroy action

Default Framework Actions (80+)

Authentication Actions

• LoginAction — POST /login (validates email + password, returns token + user)
• RegisterAction — POST /register
• LogoutAction — POST /logout (auth required)
• RefreshTokenAction — POST /auth/refresh
• CreateTokenAction — POST /auth/token
• ListTokensAction — GET /auth/tokens (auth required)
• RevokeTokenAction — DELETE /auth/tokens/{id}
• GetMeAction — GET /me (auth required)
• PasskeyRegistrationAction — passkey authentication options

Dashboard Settings Actions (40+)

For each settings category (AI, Analytics, App, Cache, Cloud, Database, DNS, Email, Environment, FileSystems, Hashing, Library, Logging, Notifications, Payment, Ports, Queue, SearchEngine, Security, Services, Storage, Team, UI):

• Get{Category}SettingsAction — read current settings
• Update{Category}SettingsAction — update settings

Commerce Actions

• CRUD actions for: Products, Orders, Customers, Payments, Coupons, GiftCards, Reviews, Shipping, DeliveryRoutes, TaxRates, LicenseKeys, etc.

Content Actions

• CRUD actions for: Posts, Pages, Authors, Categories, Tags, Comments

System Actions

• HealthAction — GET /health (returns status, uptime, memory, PID, Bun version)
• GetUserCountAction — user count for dashboard
• GetSubscriberCountAction — subscriber count
• Deployment CRUD actions
• Job monitoring actions
• Notification actions
• Request analytics actions

Action Handler Pattern

Actions receive the enhanced request object:

async handle(request: EnhancedRequest) {
  const name = request.get('name')         // input value
  const email = request.input('email')     // alias
  const all = request.all()                // all input
  const user = await request.user()        // authenticated user

  return { success: true, data: { ... } }
}

Using Actions in Routes

// String-based (auto-loaded)
route.post('/users', 'Actions/CreateUser')

// In events (app/Events.ts)
{ 'user:registered': ['SendWelcomeEmail'] }  // action name as listener

CLI Commands

• buddy make:action [name] — scaffold a new action

Gotchas

• Application actions go in app/Actions/
• Framework default actions are in storage/framework/defaults/app/Actions/
• The handle() method is required — it receives the request object
• Actions used as event listeners also have a handle(event) method
• The useApi model trait auto-generates CRUD actions + routes
• Actions are resolved dynamically at runtime via string names
• The HealthAction at /health is useful for container health checks
• Login action returns { token: string, user: { id, email, name } }
• All dashboard settings actions read/write from the corresponding config files