By default, anyone in your Zapier account can create a custom action. Admin-only custom action creation is an account-level restriction that limits creation to account admins. Users who are not admins can still use the custom actions that already exist in your account.
Custom actions call an app's API directly, which means the person who builds one decides what data moves and where it goes. This restriction lets you keep that decision with a smaller group. By the end of this article, you'll understand what the restriction changes, how to request it, and how it differs from app access settings.
BetaCustom Actions is in open beta. It's available for use, but still in active development and may change.
How it works
Zapier enables the restriction for your account. It is not a setting you can turn on yourself, and it is not tied to a plan, so any account can request it.
When the restriction is active:
- Account owners, super admins, and admins can create custom actions.
- Other users cannot create new custom actions. In the Custom Actions library, the Create button is disabled for them, with the tooltip Account admin access required.
- Custom actions that already exist continue to work. Users can still add them to their Zaps and run them.
The restriction also changes what users who are not admins can do with existing custom actions. They can preview an action, copy its link, and open it in read-only mode. They cannot edit, duplicate, or delete it, even if they created it. If they own the action, they can still transfer it with Change Owner. For the default rules, when the restriction is not active, review: manage your custom actions.
Request the restriction
To request the restriction for your account, contact Zapier Support, your Customer Success Manager, or your Technical Account Manager.
When to use it
- Regulated industries: Your organization must record who can send data to an external API, and needs that list kept short.
- Central review: You want a named group to review each custom action before your teams depend on it.
- Consistency: Your teams build similar actions for the same app, and you want one reviewed version instead of several.
How it compares to app access settings
Both controls govern what your teams can automate, but they answer different questions. You can use them together.
| Admin-only custom action creation | App access settings | |
|---|---|---|
| What it controls | Who can create and change a custom action | Which apps your account can use |
| What it applies to | Custom actions only | Zaps and Agents, including custom actions |
| Plan requirement | None | Enterprise |
| How to turn it on | Request it from Zapier | Configure it yourself |
An app access policy still applies to custom actions when this restriction is active. If an app is prohibited, a custom action that extends it is unavailable to every user the policy applies to, including admins without an exception, until the app is permitted again.
A financial services company keeps a short list of approved APIs. Any Zapier user can build a custom action, so two teams build their own action against the same internal billing API, with different fields and different error handling. Neither is reviewed.
With admin-only creation, the automation team builds one billing action, tests it, and publishes it. Both teams find it in the Custom Actions library and add it to their Zaps. The company has one reviewed action to maintain instead of two unreviewed ones.
Next steps
Now that you understand what admin-only custom action creation changes, you can decide whether to request it and how it fits with your other governance settings.
- Learn how to manage your custom actions, including who can edit and transfer them
- Review app access policies in Zapier to control which apps your teams can use
- Check user roles and permissions to compare what each role can do in your account