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Assist Mode runs on tickets your reps opened directly in Zendesk — not tickets OpenCX created on handoff. The AI reads the ticket, drafts a suggested reply grounded in your Help Center, and posts it as an . Your rep sees the draft, edits or discards it, and sends the public reply themselves.
Assist Mode does not reply to the customer. It only posts suggestions for your reps. Customers never see a bot.

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When Assist runs

1

A rep creates or updates a ticket in Zendesk

The ticket was opened directly in Zendesk — from the agent UI, email forwarding outside OpenCX, a macro, or any Zendesk-native flow.
2

The Zendesk trigger fires the OpenCX webhook

Same webhook and trigger you registered for Ticketing API. OpenCX distinguishes Assist tickets from handoff tickets automatically.
3

OpenCX drafts a suggestion

The AI reads the ticket’s public comments, pulls context from your , and writes a draft reply.
4

The suggestion posts as an internal note

An HTML-formatted private comment appears on the ticket with the draft, a link back to the OpenCX training view for that answer, and a short footer. Your rep accepts, edits, or ignores.

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What the suggestion looks like

The internal note contains:
  • The draft reply, formatted as the customer would read it.
  • A link to the for this answer, so you can improve the source article in one click.
  • A short footer noting the AI wrote it.
Only your rep sees the note. The customer sees nothing until your rep sends a public reply.

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When Assist stays quiet

Assist deliberately skips tickets in certain cases so your reps aren’t spammed with low-value suggestions.
Configure topics to exclude in . Tickets matching an excluded topic get the tag opencx_skipped_assist_mode_because_of_the_topic_in_no_assist_list and no suggestion is posted.
When you have respond-only-with-potential-answers enabled, Assist stays quiet if the AI can’t source the answer from your knowledge base. Tag applied: opencx_skipped_not_helpful_answer.
Closed, solved, or already-pending tickets with specific conditions don’t get suggestions. Assist targets tickets where a reply is the next step.
Each suggestion is tracked for 48 hours. If Zendesk re-fires the webhook for the same comment (retries, rep edits), OpenCX does not post a duplicate note.

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Set up Assist

Assist Mode runs on the same integration you set up for Ticketing API. No separate credentials. To enable:
1

Complete Ticketing API setup

If you haven’t yet, follow Ticketing API — same webhook and trigger.
2

Configure Assist Mode topics

Go to Settings → Autopilot and configure your no-assist topic list.
3

Enable Assist on the organization

In Settings → Integrations → Zendesk Ticketing, toggle Assist Mode on.
Start with Assist in for a week. Once your reps trust the suggestions, loosen the threshold.

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Good to know

All outbound replies on Assist tickets come from your rep clicking send. OpenCX only writes internal notes.
Your existing macros still work. OpenCX posts its own note; reps can apply a macro on top or instead. Zendesk’s own AI suggestions (if enabled) appear separately — the two don’t conflict.
Every time a rep rejects or heavily edits a draft, use the training link in the note to update the source article or topic. The next suggestion on a similar ticket improves.

Ticketing API

The autopilot flow that creates tickets on handoff — Assist runs on the same webhook.

Help Center Sync

Ground Assist suggestions in your own articles.

Channels

Per-channel implementation details for Widget, WhatsApp, SMS, Phone, and Email.

Troubleshooting

Assist stayed quiet, duplicate notes, training link broken.