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Zendesk Authentication Guide

How to authenticate Zendesk for use with Tines

Daniel Stoeski avatar
Written by Daniel Stoeski
Updated over 7 months ago

Zendesk is a comprehensive customer service and engagement platform designed to empower businesses to deliver exceptional support experiences. With its suite of powerful tools and features, Zendesk enables companies to streamline customer interactions, boost efficiency, and foster customer satisfaction.

This guide covers 2 options for authentication:

OAuth

  1. Log in to your Zendesk account

  2. Click on the application tray and click "Admin Centre"


  3. Click "Apps and Integrations"


  4. Click "Zendesk API" under "APIs"

  5. Click "OAuth Clients" and then click "Add OAuth client"


  6. Name your client, give it a description, add a logo and then click "Save"



  7. Click "OK"


  8. Copy your "Unique identifier" and "Secret" to a text editor


Create a Zendesk resource and credentials in Tines

You will need to create:

  • One Resource: "Zendesk username"

  • Two Credentials:

    • Text type: Zendesk password

    • HTTP Request type: Zendesk OAuth

Resource

  1. Login to your Tines tenant

  2. Navigate to the team that will be using the API and click "Resource"

  3. Click "+ New Resource"

  4. Input the values for the Zendesk resource

    1. Name: Zendesk username

    2. Description: Optional

    3. Builder: Your Zendesk username

  5. Optional

    1. Access: What other teams can also use the resource

  6. Click "Save resource"

Text type

  1. Navigate to the team that will be using the API and click "Credentials"

  2. Click "+ New Credential" and select "Text"

  3. Input the values for the Zendesk credential

    1. Name: Zendesk password

    2. Description: Optional

    3. Value: Your Zendesk password

  4. Optional

    1. Domains: Ensure this credential can only be used when making HTTP requests to specific domains.

    2. Access: What other teams can also use the API

  5. Click "Save"

HTTP Request type

  1. Click "+ New Credential" and select "HTTP Request"

  2. Input the values for the Zendesk credential

    1. Name: Zendesk

    2. Description: Optional

    3. URL: https://<subdomain>.zendesk.com/oauth/tokens

    4. Content-Type: JSON

    5. Method: post

    6. Payload: Copy the below object and paste into the "Plain code" section:

      1. Replace <Unique identifier> with your "Unique identifier" and organizations:write read with the client's scopes

      {
      "grant_type": "password",
      "client_id": "<Unique identifier>",
      "client_secret": "<<secret>>",
      "username": "<<RESOURCE.zendesk_username>>",
      "password": "<<CREDENTIAL.zendesk_password>>",
      "scope": "organizations:write read"
      }

    7. Secret: Your "Secret"

    8. Click "Run options", navigate to the access_token key and double-click on the key:

    9. Location of token from response: Paste the path to the token in the value pill, zendesk_oauth.body.access_token

  3. Optional

    1. Domains: Ensure this credential can only be used when making HTTP requests to specific domains

    2. Access: What other teams can also use the API

  4. Click "Save"

Your credential should look like the following:

Basic Authentication

First, get a Zendesk API token

  1. Login to your Zendesk account

  2. Click on the application tray and click "Admin Centre"


  3. Click "Apps and Integrations"


  4. Click "Zendesk API" under "APIs"


  5. Enable "Password access" and "Token access", and click "Add API token"



  6. Name your token, copy your token to a text editor and click "Save"


Lastly, create a Zendesk credential in Tines

  1. Login to your Tines tenant

  2. Navigate to the team that will be using the API and click "Credentials"

  3. Click "+ New Credential" and select "Text"

  4. Input the values for the Zendesk credential

    1. Name: Zendesk

    2. Description: Optional

    3. Value: Your API token

  5. Optional

    1. Domains: Ensure this credential can only be used when making HTTP requests to specific domains.

    2. Access: What other teams can also use the API

  6. Click "Save"

For more on creating credentials in Tines, click here.

You can find a selection of Zendesk stories in the story library

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