def METHOD_NAME(self, action_filter='', actions=None, counts=None):
    """
    Return number of counts for a specific action/task or the total count of all tasks/actions
    Parameters
    ----------
    action_filter: str
        Optional filter to return counts only for a specific action
    Returns
    -------
    action_count: int
        number of tasks in the queue
    """
    if action_filter == '':
        return self.action_queue.qsize()
    if actions is None or counts is None:
        actions, counts = self.actions
    try:
        ci = np.argwhere(actions == action_filter)[:, 0][0]
        return counts[ci]
    except IndexError:
        # action is not in actions
        return 0