Actions let you trigger remote operations on an integration, such as starting or stopping a task remotely. CDF tracks each action's status as the extractor picks it up and completes it. You can create actions, list or retrieve their status, and cancel pending ones.
An action is a request for an integration to do something outside its normal task loop. The extractor picks up pending actions, attempts to run them, and reports the outcome to CDF. This lets you manage extractors remotely without network access to where they run.
The actions available for an integration can be extractor-specific (through custom actions) or inherently provided (e.g. Start action, Stop action, Fetch Logs action) and reported by the extractor, though most extractors support starting and stopping a given task. Extractors can also define their own custom actions beyond these.
You can cancel an action only while it's pending, running, or already cancel-pending. After the extractor reports completion, the outcome is final.