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Zendesk is one of Duckie’s most popular integrations, enabling AI-powered responses directly in your Zendesk tickets.

Capabilities

CapabilitySupported
Knowledge Source✓ Sync help center articles
Deployment Trigger✓ Respond to tickets automatically
Tool Actions✓ Update tickets, add tags, change status

Setup

Prerequisites

  • Zendesk Admin or Agent account
  • API token enabled in your Zendesk instance

Step 1: Get Your API Token

  1. Go to Zendesk Admin Center
  2. Navigate to Apps & Integrations → Zendesk API → API Tokens
  3. Click Add API Token
  4. Give it a name (e.g., “Duckie Integration”)
  5. Copy the token immediately (you won’t see it again)

Step 2: Connect in Duckie

  1. Go to Settings → Connections in Duckie
  2. Find Zendesk and click Connect
  3. Enter your details:
    • Subdomain: Your Zendesk subdomain (e.g., yourcompany from yourcompany.zendesk.com)
    • Email: Your Zendesk admin email
    • API Token: The token you created
  4. Click Connect

Using as a Knowledge Source

Once connected, you can sync your Zendesk Help Center articles:
  1. Go to Train → Knowledge
  2. Click Add Source
  3. Select Zendesk
  4. Choose which help center categories to sync
  5. Click Start Sync
Articles are automatically re-synced when they change.

Using as a Deployment Trigger

Deploy an agent to respond to Zendesk tickets:
  1. Go to Deploy
  2. Click Create Deployment
  3. Select your agent
  4. Choose Zendesk as the trigger
  5. Configure which events trigger the agent:
    • New ticket — When a ticket is created
    • Customer reply — When the customer responds
    • Internal note — When an agent adds a note (for internal assistants)

Event Filters

Filter which tickets Duckie responds to:
  • Channel: Only tickets from specific channels (email, chat, etc.)
  • Tags: Only tickets with specific tags
  • Group: Only tickets assigned to specific groups

Available Tools

When Zendesk is connected, your agents can use these tools:
ToolDescription
zendesk_get_ticketRetrieve ticket details
zendesk_update_ticketUpdate ticket status, priority, or fields
zendesk_add_tagsAdd tags to a ticket
zendesk_add_internal_noteAdd a private note
zendesk_get_userGet customer information

Best Practices

Start with Shadow Mode

Deploy in shadow mode first to review responses before they go live:
  1. Set deployment mode to Shadow
  2. Monitor the Runs page to review what Duckie would have sent
  3. When confident, switch to Live mode

Use Tags for Routing

Create Zendesk tags to route different ticket types:
  • Tag billing tickets → route to billing-trained agent
  • Tag technical tickets → route to technical-trained agent

Leverage Help Center

Ensure your Zendesk Help Center is up-to-date — Duckie will use these articles to answer customer questions accurately.

Troubleshooting

”Authentication failed”

  • Verify your subdomain is correct (just company, not company.zendesk.com)
  • Ensure the API token is still active
  • Check that the email matches an active Zendesk user

”Webhook not receiving events”

  • Verify the webhook is enabled in Zendesk
  • Check that your Zendesk plan supports webhooks
  • Confirm the target URL is correct in Zendesk settings

”Missing ticket data”

  • Ensure your API token has sufficient permissions
  • Check that the ticket exists and hasn’t been deleted