---
canonical: https://amplience.com/developers/docs/workforce/flows/action-reference/helper-actions/
title: Helper actions
description: Explore the Workforce helper actions for content flows, including utilities for parsing file names, encoding URLs, extracting values from JSON, and manipulating lists to connect and transform data between actions in your flows.
audience: Business User
image: https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/flows-helper-action-attribute-pairs?w=1200&h=630
image_width: 1200
image_height: 630
date_published: 2026-05-18
date_modified: 2026-06-22
---

# Helper actions

Helper actions are lightweight utility actions for connecting, transforming, and manipulating data between the larger actions in your flows. Use them to tasks such as parsing file paths, encoding URLs, extracting values from JSON objects, and building new data structures.

Helper actions do not consume Amplience Credits.

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

## Set Custom Attributes

Allows you to add custom attributes for improved [filtering and searching of review output](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/workforce/flows/review/#filtering-reviews). 

**Inputs:** String 

**Outputs:** None

**How to use:** Specify key-value attribute pairs in your flows - up to a maximum of 10 pairs per flow.

This example shows the **Set Custom Attributes** action being used to configure **Image Type** and **SKU** as custom filters. Once set, these filters appear automatically in the Flows Reviews list.

![Workforce Flows editor showing a flow with the Set Custom Attributes action](https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/flows-helper-action-attribute-pairs?w=1880&fmt=png 'Workforce Flows editor showing a flow with the Set Custom Attributes action')

> **Tip:** The attribute **Name** is case-sensitive, so use consistent capitalization to avoid duplicate filters.

The **Variable** is determined by what you want to create filters for, and must be a string value. In this example, the **Custom Agent** output defines the `imageType` property values that will be used for filtering reviews:

![Workforce Flows editor showing output of the Custom Agent action](https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/flows-helper-set-custom-actions-variables?w=1880&fmt=png 'Workforce Flows editor showing output of the Custom Agent action')

This would show as an additional filter in the Reviews list filters:

![Workforce Flow reviews list showing custom filters](https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/flows-reviews-more-filters?w=1880&fmt=png 'Workforce Flow reviews list showing custom filters')

## Split File Name

Splits a file path into its parts: directory path, base name, and extension.

**Inputs**

| Input | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---:|---|
| `File Path` | string | Yes | The file path or filename to extract parts from (e.g. `documents/product-1.jpg`) |

**Outputs**

| Output | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `Base Name` | string | The name of the file without its extension |
| `Extension` | string | The file extension (e.g. `.pdf`) |
| `Directory Path` | string | The directory path leading to the file (empty if none) |

**Featured in these example flows**

- [Image tagging and Content Hub upload example](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/workforce/flows/examples/image-tagging-upload/)

## Convert from JSON

Converts a JSON string into structured data (objects, arrays, numbers, or text) you can use in your flow.

**Inputs**

| Input | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---:|---|
| `JSON String` | string | Yes | The JSON text to decode (e.g. `{"sku": "123456"}`) |

**Outputs**

| Output | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `JSON Object` | any | The result of decoding the JSON string. This may be an object, array, number, string, or boolean, depending on the input |

## Convert to JSON String

Transforms JSON data into a JSON string representation.

**Inputs**

| Input | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---:|---|
| `Object` | any | No | The object to encode (e.g. `{ product: "shirt" }`) |

**Outputs**

| Output | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `JSON String` | string | The result of transforming the object into a JSON string |

**Featured in these example flows**

- [Webhook trigger example- JIRA](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/workforce/flows/examples/webhook-trigger-example-jira/)

## Get Values from JSON

Extracts specific fields or values from data using JSONPath expressions.

### Configuration

Before using this action, define the values you want to extract. For each value, provide a name and a JSONPath expression that identifies the field to extract from the input data. Each configured value appears as a separate output on the action.

**Inputs**

| Input | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---:|---|
| `Values to Extract` | any | No | The data object or array to extract values from |

**Outputs**

The output fields for this action are determined by the values you define in the action configuration. Each configured value appears as a separate output field using the name you provided.

**Featured in these example flows**

- [Automatic alt text example](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/workforce/flows/examples/automatic-alt-text/)

## Build JSON object

Builds a JSON object from a set of properties you define when configuring the action.

### Configuration

Before using this action, define the properties you want to include in the output object. Each property you add becomes an input field on the action, allowing you to populate it with a value or a variable from an earlier action in the flow.

**Inputs**

The input fields for this action are determined by the properties you define in the action configuration. Each configured property appears as a separate input field.

**Outputs**

| Output | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `JSON Object` | object | A JSON object containing the properties and values provided as inputs |

## Transform JSON

Transforms input data using either a [Handlebars](https://handlebarsjs.com/guide/expressions.html) template or a [JSONata](https://docs.jsonata.org/overview) query.

### Configuration

Before using this action, choose the transform language and provide the template or query to apply.

| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| `Transform Language` | The language to use for the transformation. Accepted values: `Handlebars`, `JSONata` (default) |
| `Template` | A Handlebars template to apply to the input data. Only shown when **Transform Language** is set to `Handlebars` |
| `Query` | A JSONata query to apply to the input data. Only shown when **Transform Language** is set to `JSONata` |

### Inputs and outputs

**Inputs**

| Input | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---:|---|
| `Data` | any | No | The JSON data to transform |

**Outputs**

The output field depends on the transform language configured.

| Output | Type | Language | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `Output Text` | string | Handlebars | The transformed output as a text string |
| `Output Data` | any | JSONata | The transformed output as structured data |

> **Note: Combining inputs to Transform JSON**
> The Transform JSON helper accepts a single input. If you need to transform JSON data from multiple inputs, you can first combine them into a single object by using the [Build JSON Object](#build-json-object) helper.

### Example

Transform JSON allows you to take JSON input and transform it into the required structure. This is particularly useful when getting data from another system, in the form of a webhook payload, for example, and easily changing its structure to send to an action. 

In the simplified example shown below, we're building a JSON object from user input, in this case two images, and then transforming it into an image format that can be passed to an action that accepts two images. To do this we're using a JSONata query to combine the two image objects onto a single array:

```json
$each($, function($v) { $v })
```

In the configuration section of the action, set the Transform language, in this case JSONata, but you can also use handlebars.

The input is the JSON to process, in this example the output of the Build JSON object action.

![Configuration and inputs for Transform JSON](https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/transform-json-1?w=1880&fmt=png 'Configuration and inputs for Transform JSON')

Here's an example of the flow running. The output of the Build JSON action is shown, containing the images chosen by the user. But we need this data as an array of images, so we need to transform it.

![The output of the Build JSON object](https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/transform-json-2?w=1880&fmt=png 'The output of the Build JSON object')

After running the Transform JSON action, the JSON is now has the correct structure to send as input to our action.

![After running Transform JSON, the JSON now has the correct structure to pass to image actions](https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/transform-json-3?w=1880&fmt=png 'After running Transform JSON, the JSON now has the correct structure to pass to image actions')

## Encode URL

Encodes a string into a URL-safe format.

**Inputs**

| Input | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---:|---|
| `URL` | string | Yes | The URL to encode |

**Outputs**

| Output | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `Encoded URL` | string | The result of encoding the URL |

## Decode URL

Decodes a URL-encoded string into plain text.

**Inputs**

| Input | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---:|---|
| `URL` | string | Yes | The URL-encoded string to decode |

**Outputs**

| Output | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `Decoded URL` | string | The result of decoding the URL |

## Get Item from List

Identifies and extracts the value for the first, last, or nth item in a list.

**Inputs**

| Input | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---:|---|
| `List` | array | Yes | The list of items to choose from |
| `How to select the Item` | string | Yes | Whether to return the first item, the last item, or an item at a specific position. Accepted values: `first` (default), `last`, `index` |
| `Position` | number | No | The position of the item to extract, starting at `0`. Only required when **How to select the Item** is set to `index` |

**Outputs**

| Output | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `Item` | any | The item found at the requested location |

## 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)