Managing side effects via actions on branches
The following information applies specifically to webhooks, functions with external calls, and notifications that are applied via actions on branches. Side-effects applied through other means will behave as defined by those consumers.
Webhooks
By default, if your action type has webhooks configured, the webhooks will not execute when the action is applied on a branch. This behavior is to prevent accidentally writing to external systems while in a testing environment.
In such cases, you will see a toast notification indicating this behavior.
However, there are some cases where testing a webhook on a branch is desirable, for instance when hitting a READ endpoint.
To override the default behavior, configure the action type's Security and submission criteria tab in Ontology Manager to enable webhook executions on branches.
If webhooks on branches are enabled, the webhook will run exactly as it would on Main. By consequence, if the webhook is configured to hit an external production environment, it will continue to do that even if the action is executed on a branch.
Functions with external calls
By default, if your action type is function-backed, and the function makes an external call, the action will fail entirely when executed on a branch. This behavior is to prevent accidentally writing to external systems while in a testing environment.
In such cases, you will see a toast notification indicating failure, with an explanation of the behavior.
However, testing on branches is sometimes necessary, for example, when calling READ endpoints. You can override this restriction by enabling functions with external calls on branches in the action type's Security and submission criteria tab in Ontology Manager.
If functions with external calls on branches are enabled, the function will make the same external calls as it would on Main. By consequence, if the function is configured to hit an external production environment, it will continue to do that even if the action is executed on a branch.
Notifications
By default, if your action type has notifications configured, the notifications will not be sent when the action is executed on a branch. This behavior is to prevent accidentally notifying recipients while in a testing environment.
In such cases, you will see a toast notification indicating this behavior.
However, there are some cases where testing notifications on a branch is desirable.
To override the default behavior, you can enable notifications on branches in the action type’s Security and submission criteria tab in Ontology Manager.
Additionally, you can specify the notification recipients when the action runs on a branch:
- Branch owner: Send all notifications to the branch owner.
- Default recipients: Notify the recipients configured on the original notification(s).
