> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.open.cx/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Zendesk overview

> Run Zendesk as the surface your agents work in while OpenCX resolves, routes, and grounds every conversation in your Help Center.

OpenCX works alongside your agents inside Zendesk. The AI resolves what it can, escalates what it can't, grounds every answer in your <Tooltip tip="Zendesk's knowledge base product. Holds public and internal articles that support both customers and agents.">Help Center</Tooltip>, and files every handoff straight into the ticket or <Tooltip tip="Zendesk's messaging layer. Included with the Zendesk Suite plan. Powers real-time conversations in the Zendesk Agent Workspace.">Sunshine Conversations</Tooltip> thread your reps already live in — no separate inbox, no context rebuild.

<Tip>
  Setup starts at [**Settings → Integrations**](https://platform.open.cx/settings/integrations) in your OpenCX dashboard.
</Tip>

## What you get

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Tickets your reps pick up with full context" icon="ticket">
    When the AI escalates, OpenCX opens (or appends to) a Zendesk <Tooltip tip="A unit of work in Zendesk. Tracks a single customer issue across comments, assignees, custom fields, and status.">ticket</Tooltip> using your existing triggers, groups, and SLAs. The conversation summary becomes the description, the full transcript lands as the first comment, the source channel is tagged, and any <Tooltip tip="Fields you define in Zendesk beyond the defaults — e.g. Reason, Product Area, Severity.">custom fields</Tooltip> you map are filled before an agent opens the ticket.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="One thread from the first message to resolution" icon="reply">
    Public replies your reps send from Zendesk travel back to the contact on the channel they wrote in — email, SMS, WhatsApp, web widget. Internal notes stay private. No copy-pasting, no "reopen the other tool" detours.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Every answer traced to your own content" icon="book">
    OpenCX syncs your Help Center on a schedule. Edits, new articles, and <Tooltip tip="Articles not yet published, or restricted to specific Zendesk user segments. Used by the AI only in agent-facing surfaces.">internal-only content</Tooltip> propagate without re-training. The AI shows its source so your reps can audit a draft in one click.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Custom fields the AI fills, so your views keep working" icon="list-check">
    Map any Zendesk custom field to a short description of what it represents. On handoff, OpenCX picks the value — dropdowns stay inside your existing options; text fields get structured strings. Your saved views, triggers, and reports work on day one.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Supported channels

Pick the channel you want to wire through Zendesk — each page covers the implementation details for that channel on top of the shared Zendesk setup.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="AI Chat Widget" icon="comments" href="/integrations/zendesk/channels/widget">
    Live chat handoff into the Zendesk Agent Workspace via Sunshine.
  </Card>

  <Card title="AI WhatsApp Support" icon="whatsapp" href="/integrations/zendesk/channels/whatsapp">
    Business WhatsApp threads routed to the Agent Workspace.
  </Card>

  <Card title="AI SMS Support" icon="comment-sms" href="/integrations/zendesk/channels/sms">
    Inbound SMS handed off as live Sunshine conversations.
  </Card>

  <Card title="AI Phone Support" icon="phone" href="/integrations/zendesk/channels/phone">
    Voice conversations with transcript attached for your reps.
  </Card>

  <Card title="AI Email Support" icon="envelope" href="/integrations/zendesk/channels/email">
    Email handoff creates a Zendesk ticket with the thread attached.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Observability

Every conversation OpenCX hands to Zendesk is traceable from the Zendesk side back to the exact OpenCX session. Your reps debug in the tool they're already in; your admins audit without re-running the AI.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Session ID on every ticket" icon="fingerprint">
    OpenCX writes the session UUID into Zendesk's <Tooltip tip="A Zendesk field that stores your own reference ID on a ticket. OpenCX uses it to match later events back to the same conversation.">`external_id`</Tooltip>. Searching or filtering tickets by `external_id` surfaces the exact OpenCX thread — useful when a rep needs to know "which conversation produced this ticket?"
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Back-link to OpenCX inside the first comment" icon="link">
    The first comment on every OpenCX-created ticket includes a **View session in OpenCX** link. One click opens the full transcript, tool calls, AI reasoning, and handoff reason in your OpenCX Inbox — no ticket-ID lookup required.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Tags you can filter views and reports by" icon="tag">
    OpenCX applies a consistent tag set on every ticket: `opencx` always, plus tags for mode (`opencx_autopilot`, `opencx_handedoff`), source channel (`opencx_channel_<name>`), detected sentiment (`opencx_sentiment_<value>`), and conversation language (`opencx_language_<code>`). Build Zendesk views and reports on these without touching OpenCX.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Sunshine conversation metadata" icon="messages">
    For channels routed through Sunshine Conversations, OpenCX attaches `opencx_org_id`, `opencx_contact_id`, and `opencx_session_id` to every conversation's `metadata`. Your reps don't see these directly, but they're reachable via the Conversations API for debugging and analytics.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<Note>
  Want a specific tag or field you don't see here? Mention it during onboarding — tag application is configurable per organization.
</Note>

## Pick your setup path

Most teams run both — Ticketing for email, Sunshine for everything real-time. Start with one and add the other later.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Sunshine Conversations">
    Use <Tooltip tip="Zendesk's real-time messaging layer. Conversations appear in the Agent Workspace as live chats rather than tickets.">Sunshine Conversations</Tooltip> for every real-time channel — web widget, SMS, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and phone handoffs. Conversations land in the Zendesk <Tooltip tip="Zendesk's unified UI where agents work tickets and live messaging side by side.">Agent Workspace</Tooltip> as live chats, not tickets.

    Credentials: Sunshine <Tooltip tip="An ID and secret pair generated in Zendesk's Conversations API admin. The ID is prefixed `app_` — that prefix is how you confirm you created an App key, not an Integration key.">App key</Tooltip>, subdomain, and <Tooltip tip="The Sunshine app your messaging channels are provisioned under. Visible in the Conversations API admin view.">App ID</Tooltip>.

    <Card title="Set up Sunshine Conversations" icon="messages" href="/integrations/zendesk/sunshine-conversations">
      Connect Sunshine for live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, and social.
    </Card>
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Ticketing API — Email">
    Use the Ticketing API for <Tooltip tip="Conversations where the customer expects a reply later rather than in real time. Email is the canonical example.">asynchronous channels</Tooltip> — primarily **email**. OpenCX creates a Zendesk ticket on handoff and syncs your reps' replies back to the contact's inbox.

    Credentials: Zendesk subdomain, admin email, and an <Tooltip tip="A long-lived credential generated in Zendesk Admin Center's Zendesk API section. Bound to the user whose email you provide.">API token</Tooltip>. One webhook URL to paste into Zendesk.

    <Card title="Set up Ticketing API" icon="envelope" href="/integrations/zendesk/ticketing-api">
      Generate the API token, verify, and register the webhook for email handoff.
    </Card>
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

***

## Related Documentation

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Help Center Sync" icon="book" href="/knowledge/sources/zendesk/connect">
    Train the AI on your Help Center articles.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Channels" icon="grid-2" href="/integrations/zendesk/channels/widget">
    Per-channel implementation details on top of the shared setup.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Troubleshooting" icon="wrench" href="/integrations/zendesk/troubleshooting">
    Tickets not creating, replies missing, sync stuck.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>