Skip to main content

Zendesk as an inbound channel

Zendesk is software for communication between clients and company employees.

To start using Zendesk as an inbound channel:

  1. Configure Zendesk OAuth client.
  2. Create a user with necessary rights and assign it to the bot.
  3. Create a channel in Tovie Platform.
  4. Configure a trigger.
  5. Configure Zendesk manually.
  6. Test the bot.

Configure Zendesk OAuth client​

To connect a bot, register on Zendesk or sign in. Check that your tariff plan allows you to set external profiles for a user. Then, you can configure Zendesk OAuth client:

  1. In Zendesk, click Go to profile settings in the left pane.
  2. Go to the Channels → API section and select the OAuth Clients tab.
  3. Select the necessary client from the All OAuth clients list or create a new one.
  4. Specify the client name in the Unique identifier field and click Save.
  5. Save the secret key that will appear in a new field. Applications use this key for redirection to your client.
  6. Click Save.

Create a role and a user for the bot​

  1. In Zendesk, click Go to profile settings in the left pane.
  2. Go to the Manage → People section.
  3. Click Create role.
  4. Fill out the Name and Description fields for a new role.
  5. In the Tickets and System fields, specify necessary access settings for the role.
  6. Click Add user.
  7. Fill out the Name and Email fields. Select the role you have created for the bot.

Create a channel​

  1. In the Tovie Platform dashboard, click Channels → Inbound → Connect channel.

  2. In the Others section, select Zendesk.

  3. Specify the settings:

    • Name is the channel name.
    • Access token is the private key from the Zendesk OAuth client settings.
    • OAuth client ID is the unique identifier you have received in the Zendesk OAuth client settings.
    • Domain is your Zendesk application subdomain you specified during the registration.
    • User name is the email of the user created for the bot that will send request replies.
    • User password is the password to the account of the user created for the bot.
    • Branch is the project branch you want to deploy into the channel (master by default). You can also select a Git tag or enter a specific commit hash.
    • Deployment is one of the two deployment options:
      • Automatic: when you save the changes into the project.
      • Manual: with the Deploy button in the channel description.
    caution
    You have to deploy a script before starting the bot. At this stage, the system builds the bot, checks the script syntax, and performs tests.

  4. Click Create.

  5. Wait for the pop-up window with the result of the deployment. If it is successful, the chatbot is ready to use.

Configure a trigger​

tip
Triggers are bot notifications about the tickets a client creates. With the help of triggers, the bot reacts to tickets. The trigger must send a JSON file with a ticket ID that will be processed by the bot.

Configure the trigger that will notify the bot about a new ticket or an updated one. The notification will be sent if the ticket does not have the bot_no_answer tag and was created via the Email channel, and if no support agent has replied to the ticket.

  1. In Zendesk, click Go to profile settings in the left pane.
  2. Go to the Business roles → Triggers section.
  3. Click Add trigger.
  4. Fill out the Trigger name and Description fields.
  5. In the Conditions section, add conditions in the Meet ALL of the following conditions group of settings:
    • Channel → Is → Email
    • Agent replies → Less than → 0
    • Tags → Contains none of the following → bot_no_answer
  6. Add conditions in the Meet ANY of the following conditions group of settings:
    • Ticket → Is → Created
    • Ticket → Is → Updated
  7. In the Actions sections, select Notify target.
  8. Specify the target manually or automatically and add the following text into the JSON body field:
{"ticketId": {{ticket.id}}}
  1. Click Create.
tip
For more information on how to configure tickets, see the Zendesk documentation.

Configure Zendesk manually​

If you cannot assign rights to add targets for the bot, you can do it manually. The target will request the Tovie AI server.

  1. In Zendesk, click Go to profile settings in the left pane.
  2. Go to the Settings → Extensions section.
  3. Click Add target and select HTTP target.
  4. Fill out the Title, Url, and Method fields. Then, click Submit.

Test the bot​

In the connected channel, go to the dialog with the bot. Then, send a welcome / an activating phrase stated in your script to the bot. After that, your dialog with the bot starts.