diff --git a/docs/graphql/manual/api-reference/schema-metadata-api/actions.rst b/docs/graphql/manual/api-reference/schema-metadata-api/actions.rst
index 901431f8df926..7b840002e9a30 100644
--- a/docs/graphql/manual/api-reference/schema-metadata-api/actions.rst
+++ b/docs/graphql/manual/api-reference/schema-metadata-api/actions.rst
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ ActionDefinition
      - Schema
      - Description
    * - arguments
-     - true
+     - false
      - Array of InputArgument_
      - Input arguments
    * - output_type
diff --git a/server/src-lib/Hasura/RQL/DDL/Metadata/Types.hs b/server/src-lib/Hasura/RQL/DDL/Metadata/Types.hs
index 00126a45ff68f..9f503b1363cfe 100644
--- a/server/src-lib/Hasura/RQL/DDL/Metadata/Types.hs
+++ b/server/src-lib/Hasura/RQL/DDL/Metadata/Types.hs
@@ -487,12 +487,11 @@ replaceMetadataToOrdJSON ( ReplaceMetadata
         actionDefinitionToOrdJSON (ActionDefinition args outputType kind headers frwrdClientHdrs handler) =
           AO.object $ [ ("kind", AO.toOrdered kind)
                       , ("handler", AO.toOrdered handler)
-                      , ("arguments", AO.array $ map argDefinitionToOrdJSON args)
                       , ("output_type", AO.toOrdered outputType)
                       ]
           <> [("forward_client_headers", AO.toOrdered frwrdClientHdrs) | frwrdClientHdrs]
           <> catMaybes [ listToMaybeOrdPair "headers" AO.toOrdered headers
-                       ]
+                       , listToMaybeOrdPair "arguments" argDefinitionToOrdJSON args]
           where
             argDefinitionToOrdJSON :: ArgumentDefinition -> AO.Value
             argDefinitionToOrdJSON (ArgumentDefinition argName ty descM) =
diff --git a/server/src-lib/Hasura/RQL/Types/Action.hs b/server/src-lib/Hasura/RQL/Types/Action.hs
index 019082e0aa379..82c268a332435 100644
--- a/server/src-lib/Hasura/RQL/Types/Action.hs
+++ b/server/src-lib/Hasura/RQL/Types/Action.hs
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ $(J.deriveToJSON (J.aesonDrop 3 J.snakeCase) ''ActionDefinition)
 instance (J.FromJSON a) => J.FromJSON (ActionDefinition a) where
   parseJSON = J.withObject "ActionDefinition" $ \o ->
     ActionDefinition
-      <$> o J..:  "arguments"
+      <$> o J..:? "arguments" J..!= []
       <*> o J..:  "output_type"
       <*> o J..:? "kind" J..!= ActionSynchronous -- Synchronous is default action kind
       <*> o J..:? "headers" J..!= []