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About Zendesk

Zendesk is a cloud-based customer service and engagement platform designed to help businesses manage and enhance their interactions with customers across various channels.

Key features include:

  • Omnichannel Support: Zendesk consolidates customer interactions from email, live chat, voice, social media, and messaging apps into a unified ticketing system, enabling support teams to efficiently manage and resolve inquiries from multiple channels.

  • AI-Powered Automation: The platform includes AI agents and automation tools that assist in routing tickets, providing instant responses, and handling repetitive tasks, thereby improving efficiency and response times.

  • Self-Service Options: Zendesk offers features like knowledge bases, community forums, and an AI-powered Answer Bot, empowering customers to find solutions independently and reducing the volume of support tickets.

  • Analytics and Reporting: With Zendesk Explore, businesses can access real-time dashboards and detailed reports to monitor performance metrics, customer satisfaction, and team productivity, facilitating data-driven decision-making.

  • Customizable Workflows: The platform allows for the creation of custom workflows, triggers, and automations to tailor the support process to specific business needs, ensuring consistency and efficiency in customer service operations.

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Authentication Options

Below are possible authentication options you can choose:

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Generate a Zendesk API Key

  1. Log in to your Zendesk account.

  2. Click on your Zendesk app icon in the top-right corner and select Admin Center.

  3. In the Admin Center, click Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Zendesk API and click Get Started.

  4. Under the Settings tab, enable token access, then click Add API token.

  5. You’ll now see your Zendesk API token—copy and store it safely.

  6. Combine your Zendesk email address and API token using the following format:

    email_address/token:zendesk_token

    Then, encode it in Base64. You can do this in a couple of ways:

    • Run the following command in your terminal (Linux/macOS): 
      echo -n 'email_address/token:zendesk_token' | base64
    • Use an online Base64 encoder.

  7. The encoded result will serve as your Zendesk API key.

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Integrate Zendesk into xpander.ai

  1. Go to the Apps section in the sidebar of your xpander.ai dashboard.
  2. Select Zendesk from the available integrations.
  3. Click Enable.
  4. Enter an Interface name, e.g., “xpander-zendesk”.
  5. Select API Key as the authentication mode.
  6. Select Integration User as the authentication scope.
  7. Paste the Base64-encoded token into the provided field.
  8. Choose Basic as the Auth Type.
  9. Under Interface specific settings, enter your Zendesk domain name (e.g., https://xpander-23038.zendesk.com).
  10. Save the configuration.

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Integration of Zendesk into AI Agent

Once you’ve configured your Zendesk account with the authentication option(s) described above, you can integrate it into your AI agent with xpander.ai:

  1. Go to the + sign located in the top right of the graph visualization of your xpander.ai agent.
  2. Select Apps.
  3. Choose Zendesk with the same Interface name you configured in the previous section (e.g., xpander-zendesk).
  4. Select the available Zendesk operations that suit your use case.

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Expose Zendesk as MCP Server

Alternatively, you can also expose your Zendesk account as an MCP server. To do so:

  1. Go to the Apps section in the sidebar of your xpander.ai dashboard.
  2. Select Zendesk with the same Interface name you configured in the previous section (e.g., xpander-zendesk).
  3. Click MCP Configuration.
  4. Enter the MCP configuration into the appropriate settings of the client app you want to use (e.g., Cursor, Windsurf, Claude Desktop, etc.).

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AI Agent Zendesk Prompt Library

Below are possible prompts or use cases you can try after integrating Zendesk into your xpander AI agent:

Can you please create a ticket for {issue_description} under {org_name}?

What's the status of ticket #{ticket_id}?

Can you close all solved tickets for {org_name}?

Can you update user {user_id} to have a new phone number {phone_number}?