---
title: Compound Action Data Bank
excerpt: ''
deprecated: false
hidden: false
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  description: ''
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---
When you're building your Compound Action, you can reference additional variables which will be provided by Moveworks when the Compound action executes. This is the Compound Action Data Bank.

# `meta_info`

You can access the `meta_info` key from any part of the Compound Action. It's structure takes the following form.

```Text JSON
{			
	"meta_info": {
		"user": { ... }
  }
}
```

## `meta_info.user`

We can access the user attributes of the current user (the one who invoked the plugin) with the following notation **`meta_info.user.{{attribute}}`**. [View all of the available user attributes here.](/docs/user-attribute-reference)

```yaml
steps:
  - action:
      action_name: some_action
      output_key: some_action_resp
      input_args:
        name: meta_info.user.first_name
  - return:
      output_mapper:
        name: meta_info.user.first_name
        role: meta_info.user.role
        department: meta_info.user.department
        some_attr: meta_info.user.custom_data.some_attr
```

# `data`

You can access the `data` key from any part of the Compound Action. It's structure takes the following form.

```json json
{			
	"data": {
    ...input_variable_names,
    ...output_keys
  }
}
```

## `data.{{input_variable_name}}`

Your Compound Action's [Input Variables](/docs/input-variables-and-slots) are inserted at the top level of the `data` key. So for example, if you defined 2 input variables (name & age)...

![](https://files.readme.io/e3cfe731bce3c8a45b2afa561a0fe825ec37260ccdf2ffd0cf6c07ef96e683fd-image.png)

You could reference it in your Compound Action as `data.name` and `data.age`

```yaml yaml
- return:
    output_mapper:
      name: data.name
      age: data.age
```

## `data.{{output_key}}`

Expressions "save" their data to an output key so you can reference them later. Some expressions that utilize output keys include

1. [Actions](/docs/actions) (Built-in, HTTP, etc.)
2. For expressions
3. Raise expressions

These keys can be accessed using the notation **`data.{{output_key}}`**, facilitating data flow and handling within the compound action.

### `action` Example

In this example, we pass data through the output key from one action to the next. 

```yaml
steps:
  - action:
      action_name: get_user_device
      output_key: device
      input_args:
        user_email: meta_info.user.email_addr
  - action:
      action_name: clean_recycle_bin_on_device
      output_key: remote_action_result
      input_args:
        device_id: data.device.asset_uuid # data.device is the output key of the first action
```

### `for` Example

When you use a `for` expression, the output keys of all steps within that `for` expression are inserted into the `for` expression's `output_key` as a list of dictionaries.

For example, if you had the following compound action...

```yaml
steps:
	- action:
  		action_name: get_open_outages
      output_key: outage_tickets
      # Assume response structure is [ {"ticket_id": "OUT-123", ...}, {"ticket_id": "OUT-456", ...}, ... ]
  - for:
  		each: ticket
      index: index
      in: data.outage_tickets
      output_key: outage_ticket_process_results
      steps:
        - action:
            action_name: get_incident_manager_for_outage
            input_args:
            	outage_id: ticket.system_id
            output_key: incident_manager_profile
            # Assume response structure is { "id": "7bd99d76-d5a6-4ed9-bea5-7f513bf35c6a", "status": "INACTIVE" }
        - action:
        		action_name: update_incident_manager_profile
            input_args:
            	manager_id: data.outage_ticket_process_results[index].incident_manager_profile.id
              status: "ON_CALL"
            output_key: updated_manager_profile            

```

The resulting data bank under `data` will look like this:

```Text JSON
{
  "data": {
    "outage_tickets": [ {"ticket_id": "OUT-123", ...}, {"ticket_id": "OUT-456", ...}, ... ]
    "outage_ticket_process_results": [
      {
        // Process results for "OUT-123"
        "incident_manager_profile": { "id": "7bd99d76-d5a6-4ed9-bea5-7f513bf35c6a", "status": "INACTIVE" },
        "updated_manager_profile":  { "id": "7bd99d76-d5a6-4ed9-bea5-7f513bf35c6a", "status": "ON_CALL" }
      },
      {
        // Process results for "OUT-456"
        "incident_manager_profile": { "id": "839b82da-38f2-41f4-91ec-db70de7c3c56", "status": "INACTIVE" },
        "updated_manager_profile":  { "id": "839b82da-38f2-41f4-91ec-db70de7c3c56", "status": "ON_CALL" }
      }
  	]
  },
  ...
} 
```