---
title: Actions
description: What `then` can do when a rule's condition holds.
---
> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.page/luizfonseca/super/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

`then` holds what a rule does. It takes the blocks a location takes, with the same settings, and two changes to the request.

```hcl
host "example.com" {
  location "/api" {
    upstream "api:4000" {}

    rule "partners" {
      and {
        header "x-partner-key" {
          exists = true
        }
      }
      then {
        rate_limit {
          requests = 6000
          per      = "1m"
        }
        headers {
          request {
            add = { "x-partner" = "1" }
          }
          response {
            add = { "x-rate-tier" = "partner" }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
```

## Blocks

| Block | In a rule |
| --- | --- |
| [`redirect`](/plugins/redirect), [`respond`](/plugins/respond) | answer the request |
| [`ip_filter`](/plugins/ip-filter), [`rate_limit`](/plugins/rate-limit), [`body_limit`](/plugins/body-limit) | refuse some requests |
| [`bandwidth_limit`](/plugins/bandwidth-limit) | pace responses |
| [`waiting_room`](/plugins/waiting-room) | let visitors in a few at a time |
| [`body_rewrite`](/plugins/body-rewrite) | change the request's body |
| [`openapi`](/plugins/openapi) | only let through what an API's spec describes |
| [`basic_auth`](/plugins/basic-auth), [`jwt`](/plugins/jwt), [`oauth2`](/plugins/oauth2), [`forward_auth`](/plugins/forward-auth) | ask for authentication |
| [`cors`](/plugins/cors), [`compress`](/plugins/compress), [`request_id`](/plugins/request-id) | as in a location |
| `headers { response { ... } }` | change the response's headers |

Each block of a rule is its own: a `rate_limit` in a rule counts that rule's requests only, separately from the location's.

## Changing the request

| Action | Does |
| --- | --- |
| `method { set = "DELETE" }` | changes the method sent to the upstream |
| `headers { request { add = { ... }, remove = [...] } }` | adds (replacing) and removes request headers |
| `traffic_split = "<name>"` | sends the request to a [traffic split](/routing/traffic-split) of its location |
| `mirror = true` / `false` | copies the request to its location's [mirror](/routing/mirror), or keeps it from it, whatever its share |
| `retry = false` | never sends the request to another upstream ([retries](/routing/upstreams#retries)) |

The change applies when the rule matches, so the rules after it see the changed request, and so does the upstream.

```hcl
host "example.com" {
  location "/api" {
    upstream "api:4000" {}

    rule "method override" {
      and {
        method {
          eq = "POST"
        }
        header "x-http-method-override" {
          eq = "DELETE"
        }
      }
      then {
        method {
          set = "DELETE"
        }
        headers {
          request {
            remove = ["x-http-method-override"]
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
```

## Not supported

- `upstream`, `cache`, `rewrite` and `timeouts`: they stay in the location.
- Changing the body of requests or responses.

A `then` with something else, or with nothing, stops the configuration from loading.