---
canonical: https://amplience.com/developers/docs/workforce/flows/action-reference/data-access-actions/
title: Data access actions
description: Explore the Workforce data access actions for content flows, including utilities for searching the web, retrieving webpage content, and making HTTP requests to external APIs and services.
audience: Business User
date_published: 2026-08-04
date_modified: 2026-08-10
---

# Data access actions

Data access actions connect your flows to external data sources and services. Use them to search the web, retrieve the contents of a webpage, or send and receive data from any URL or API endpoint.

> **Tip:** These action descriptions cover the most commonly used inputs and outputs. When designing flows, you may also notice additional input and output variables.

## Web Search

Searches the internet for web pages that match a provided query.

Examples of when to use this action:

- **Trend research for a campaign brief.** A flow searches for “autumn/winter denim trends 2026” restricted to a handful of trusted fashion press domains, then feeds the results into a content generation action that drafts a landing page intro. You get relevant copy without a writer spending hours researching.
- **Competitor gap check.** Restrict the Web search to three competitor domains, ask for a product category, and use the results to identify what they’re merchandising that you aren’t.
- **Verify before publish.** Confirm a claim in your draft copy (e.g. a sustainability certification) by verifying against approved sources.

> **Note:** This action is also available as a tool within custom agents - Calling it directly as a flow action lets you control exactly which requests are made and when, instead of leaving it to the LLM to decide.

### Configuration

| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| `Only search these websites` | Restrict searches to specific websites. Accepts a comma-separated list of domains (e.g. `anyafinn.com, acme.com`). Optional |
| `Do not search these websites` | Prevent specific websites from appearing in results. Accepts a comma-separated list of domains (e.g. `anyafinn.com, acme.com`). Optional |

### Inputs

| Input | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---:|---|
| `query` | string | Yes | The question or topic to search for |

### Outputs

| Output | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `results` | array | A list of matching web pages. Each result contains a `name`, `url`, and `description` |

**Example:**

Here's Web Search in use for generating a blog introduction from trusted fashion press domains. The input form establishes the blog topic and passes it to the **Web Search** action which is configured with the fashion domains. The **Custom Agent** then uses that content to generate the blog introduction.

![Workforce run window showing the Web Search action in use](https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/flows-web-search?w=1880&fmt=png 'Workforce run window showing Web Search action in use')

## Get Webpage Content

Extracts content from a webpage.

Examples of when to use this action:

- **Repurposing your own content.** Read a published blog post and generate the social variants, email teaser, and meta description from it - one source of truth, no copy-paste.
- **Localization source.** Get the live copy from your .com page and use it as the input for translated regional versions.
- **Fact checking.** After generating a product description, read the live manufacturer's URL back and check the product details match.

> **Note:** This action is also available as a tool within custom agents - Using it directly as a flow action lets you control exactly which requests are made and when, instead of leaving it to the LLM to decide.

### Inputs

| Input | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---:|---|
| `url` | string | Yes | The address of the webpage to extract content from (e.g. `https://example.com`) |

### Outputs

| Output | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `contentType` | string | The content type of the retrieved page (e.g. `text/html`) |
| `content` | string | The extracted content of the webpage |

**Example:**

Here's Get Webpage Content in use. The input form collects a published page URL (here, a blog post) and passes it to the **Get Webpage Content** action to retrieve the page content. The **Custom Agent** then uses that content to generate the social variants, email teaser, and meta description.

![Workforce run window showing Get Webpage Content action in use](https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/flows-get-web-page?w=1880&fmt=png 'Workforce run window showing Get Webpage Content action in use')

## Make HTTP Request

Connects to a URL to retrieve or send information.

Examples of when to use this action:

- **Notify a human.** POST to a Slack or Teams webhook when a flow finishes or fails. For example, send “12 product descriptions ready for review” direct to the channel instead of nobody noticing.
- **Create a ticket.** POST to Jira or Asana when a human review step rejects an asset, so the fix gets tracked properly.
- **Pull from a PIM or spreadsheet service.** GET a JSON feed of this week’s new arrivals and loop over it to create content for each SKU.
- **Trigger something downstream.** POST to your site’s build or cache-invalidation endpoint after content publishes.
- **Use an internal service.** Call your own translation, brand-compliance or pricing API with an auth header, and use `jsonContent` to read the answer straight into the next step.

> **Info:** This action supports HTTP basic authentication only.

### Inputs

| Input | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---:|---|
| `method` | string | No | The HTTP method to use. One of: `GET`, `POST`, `PUT`, `PATCH`, `DELETE`, `HEAD` |
| `url` | string | Yes | The web address of the data or service to connect to |
| `headers` | array | No | One or more request headers to include. Each header has a `name` (e.g. `Content-Type`) and a `value` (e.g. `application/json`) |
| `body` | string | No | Data to send with the request. Only available when the method is `POST`, `PUT`, or `PATCH` |

### Outputs

| Output | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `status` | number | The HTTP status code returned by the server |
| `headers` | array | The response headers returned by the server. Each header has a `name` and a `value` |
| `content` | string | The response body as text |
| `jsonContent` | any | The parsed JSON response body, if the server returned JSON |

## Related pages

[Adding actions to flows](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/workforce/flows/action-reference/#adding-actions-to-flows)

[Inputs, outputs and ports](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/workforce/flows/action-reference/#inputs-outputs-and-ports)

[Input field variables](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/workforce/flows/action-reference/#input-field-variables)