Custom Actions & Community: Make Arc Your Own
Create your own AI actions with custom prompts, browse 250 predefined actions in 10 languages, or discover community-created workflows — here's how to customize Arc.
Arc comes loaded with powerful built-in features, but the real magic happens when you make it your own. With Custom Actions and the Community Actions marketplace, you can tailor Arc to do exactly what you need — in any app, on any screen.
What Are Custom Actions?
Custom Actions are user-defined AI actions that appear in your sidebar alongside the built-in ones. You define a name and a prompt, and Arc runs that prompt against whatever is on your screen when you tap it.
Think of them as personalized shortcuts for tasks you do repeatedly.
Examples of Custom Actions
- “Translate to Spanish” — Prompt: “Translate the following text to Spanish”
- “Explain Like I’m 5” — Prompt: “Explain this content in simple terms that a child could understand”
- “Find the Key Argument” — Prompt: “Identify and summarize the main argument being made in this text”
- “Generate Email Subject” — Prompt: “Write a concise email subject line for this content”
- “Code Review” — Prompt: “Review this code for potential bugs, performance issues, and best practices”
The prompt runs against the text content currently on your screen, so the same action works differently depending on what you’re reading.
How to Create a Custom Action
- Open Arc → go to Custom Actions
- Tap Create
- Enter a name (this appears in your sidebar)
- Write your prompt — this is the instruction sent to the AI along with your screen content
- Save
Your new action immediately appears in the sidebar, ready to use in any app. You can edit, delete, or reorder your actions anytime. Long-press to drag and rearrange.
250 Predefined Actions in 10 Languages
Not sure where to start? Arc ships with 250 predefined system actions — 25 actions in each of 10 languages:
- English
- Spanish
- German
- French
- Portuguese (Brazil)
- Portuguese (Portugal)
- Korean
- Japanese
- Indonesian
- Arabic
These actions cover common workflows and are ready to enable from the app. Browse them and add the ones that fit your daily routine.
The Community Actions Marketplace
Beyond the built-in actions, Arc has a growing community of users who create and share their own actions. The Community Actions marketplace lets you:
- Browse actions across 16 categories
- Search for specific workflows
- Filter by language and category
- Upvote actions you find useful
- View details before adding to your sidebar
The 16 Categories
Actions are organized into categories to help you find what you need:
Productivity, Accessibility, Writing, Analysis, Translation, Communication, Entertainment, Education, Development, Research, Summarization, Organization, Creativity, Automation, Health, and Other.
Whether you’re a student, developer, writer, or business professional, there are actions designed for your workflow.
Publishing Your Own Actions
Created an action that others might find useful? You can publish it to the community:
- Go to Custom Actions
- Select the action you want to share
- Tap Publish
- Arc automatically categorizes and tags your action using AI
- It becomes discoverable by other Arc users
Published actions can receive upvotes from the community, so the best ones rise to the top.
Combining Actions with Other Features
Custom Actions become even more powerful when you combine them with Arc’s other features:
- Custom Action + AI Chat — Run a custom action, then ask follow-up questions about the result
- Custom Action + Save — Run an action and save the result to your library
- Custom Action + Flashcards — Use a custom action to reformat content, then create flashcards from it
Tips for Writing Effective Prompts
- Be specific — “Summarize the key takeaways for a product manager” works better than “Summarize this”
- Include format instructions — “List the action items as bullet points” gives structured output
- Add context — “Assuming the reader is a software engineer…” helps the AI tailor its response
- Keep it reusable — Write prompts that work across different types of content, not just one specific article
Custom Actions and the Community marketplace turn Arc from a set of fixed tools into a flexible AI platform that grows with you. Start with the predefined actions, create your own as you discover patterns in your workflow, and share the best ones with the community.