# Zendesk

> Connect Zendesk to train your agent on your help center, past tickets, and macros — then automate ticket responses, triage, and more.

## What you can do

* Train your agent on your Zendesk Help Center articles, macros, and past tickets
* Automatically reply to customer tickets or draft responses for your team
* Tag, assign, close, and update tickets
* Look up customer and organization information
* Connect [Zendesk Messenger](https://docs.eesel.ai/connect-your-tools/helpdesks/zendesk-messenger) for live chat

## Connecting Zendesk

You have two connection options:

### OAuth (recommended)

Connect your full Zendesk account for access to tickets, macros, and all actions.

1. Go to **Integrations > Zendesk**
2. Select **OAuth**
3. Click **Connect** and authorize eesel AI in your Zendesk account
4. Grant the requested permissions

### Quick Start

Enter your Zendesk Help Center URL and your agent starts learning from your published articles. No authentication needed — but you won't have access to tickets, macros, or actions.

1. Go to **Integrations > Zendesk**
2. Select **Quick Start**
3. Enter your help center URL (e.g., `https://yourcompany.zendesk.com/hc`)
4. Click **Connect**

## Training your agent

### Available knowledge sources

| Source          | Description                                       | Requires             |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | -------------------- |
| **Help Center** | Your published support articles                   | Quick Start or OAuth |
| **Macros**      | Shared and personal macros — filter by group      | OAuth                |
| **Tickets**     | Past resolved tickets — filter by status and date | OAuth                |

### Tips for training

* **Start with your Help Center** — it's the quickest win and covers most common questions
* **Add past tickets** to teach your agent your team's voice and handling style
* **Filter tickets by status** — focus on "Solved" and "Closed" tickets for the best training data
* **Import macros** if your team relies on canned responses for consistency

## Triggers

| Trigger                             | Description                                             | Best for                  |
| ----------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------- |
| **Any Customer Message**            | Fires on any new or updated ticket                      | Full AI Agent automation  |
| **First Customer Message**          | Fires only on the first message, before any agent reply | AI Triage                 |
| **Support Request Closed/Resolved** | Fires when a ticket is marked closed or resolved        | Post-resolution follow-up |
| **Agent Requests AI Help**          | Fires when @eesel is mentioned in an internal note      | On-demand AI Copilot      |

## Actions

### Responding to customers

| Action                  | Description                                                                                                                |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Leave Public Reply**  | Send a customer-visible reply. Supports [Human in the Loop](https://docs.eesel.ai/configure-your-agent/human-in-the-loop). |
| **Leave Draft Reply**   | Create a draft for your team to review — never sends automatically                                                         |
| **Leave Internal Note** | Add a note only your team can see                                                                                          |

### Ticket management

| Action              | Description                                  |
| ------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| **Tag Ticket**      | Add tags for categorization                  |
| **Create Ticket**   | Create a new ticket                          |
| **Assign Ticket**   | Assign to a specific agent                   |
| **Assign to Group** | Route to a team queue (e.g., "Billing Team") |
| **Close Ticket**    | Mark ticket as resolved                      |
| **Update Ticket**   | Change status, priority, or custom fields    |

### Information lookup

| Action                         | Description                                    |
| ------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------- |
| **Read Ticket**                | Read the full ticket with conversation history |
| **Search Tickets**             | Search using Zendesk query syntax              |
| **List Tickets**               | List tickets with optional filters             |
| **Get User by Email**          | Look up a Zendesk user by their email          |
| **Get Organization for Email** | Retrieve organization context for a user       |
| **Get Ticket Fields**          | Read the values of ticket custom fields        |

### Zendesk Messenger

For Zendesk Messaging Widget actions, see the [Zendesk Messenger](https://docs.eesel.ai/connect-your-tools/helpdesks/zendesk-messenger) integration guide.

## Tips and best practices

**Start with draft replies.** Configure "Leave Draft Reply" as your first action. Review responses for a few days before switching to "Leave Public Reply."

**Use the triage trigger for routing.** Set up a separate triage agent using the "First Customer Message" trigger with Tag and Assign actions to organize your queue.

**Connect past tickets for better quality.** Agents trained on past tickets sound significantly more natural and consistent with your team's style.

**Set up escalation.** Configure "Assign Ticket" or "Assign to Group" actions and write clear escalation rules in your [instructions](https://docs.eesel.ai/configure-your-agent/instructions).

## Troubleshooting

**Help Center not syncing?**

* Make sure your Help Center URL is correct and publicly accessible
* Check that articles are published, not drafts

**OAuth connection failing?**

* Ensure you have admin permissions in Zendesk
* Try disconnecting and reconnecting

**Agent not responding to tickets?**

* Verify the trigger is enabled in Settings > Triggers
* Check that the trigger type matches your use case

## FAQ

<details>

<summary>Can my agent reply and leave an internal note at the same time?</summary>

Yes. Configure both "Leave Public Reply" and "Leave Internal Note" as actions. In your instructions, tell the agent when to use each one. For example: "Always reply to the customer and leave an internal note summarizing the resolution."

</details>

<details>

<summary>Can I control which tickets the agent responds to?</summary>

Yes. You can configure trigger conditions to filter tickets, or use AI Triage to tag tickets first and have the agent only respond to specific tags.

</details>

<details>

<summary>Does it work with Zendesk Messaging?</summary>

Yes. See the [Zendesk Messenger](https://docs.eesel.ai/connect-your-tools/helpdesks/zendesk-messenger) guide for setup instructions.

</details>