Freshservice is a cloud-based IT help desk and service management platform. The Glean Freshservice connector enables organizations to index and search Solutions Articles, Tickets, and Releases from Freshservice, with permissions and access aligned as closely as possible to the native platform.

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Supported Features and Limitations

Glean’s Freshservice connector allows organizations to search and access both knowledge base (Solutions Articles) and operational (Tickets, Releases) content from their Freshservice instance. The connector is designed to respect user- and group-level document permissions as defined in Freshservice, leveraging the available API endpoints.

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Supported Objects/Entities

  • Solutions Articles (knowledge base)
  • Solution Categories and Folders
  • Tickets
  • Releases
Problems and Changes are mentioned in implementation design docs, but current public documentation and implementation focus on Solutions Articles, Tickets, and Releases.

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Supported API Endpoints/Features

  • Solutions Categories: /solutions/categories
  • Solutions Folders: /solutions/folders
  • Solutions Articles: /solutions/articles
  • Tickets: /tickets
  • Releases: /releases
Associated permissions, group memberships, and user identities are crawled from corresponding endpoints (e.g., agents, requesters, departments, groups).

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Limitations

  • The connector currently respects only the “visible to” permission on Solutions Articles and supports basic permissions for Tickets and Releases. It does not implement the “managed by” permission, as the Freshservice API does not expose granular role-level permissions.
  • Private or restricted tickets assigned to restricted groups are not accessible unless an API key is provided from a relevant group member.
  • Support for Problems and Changes objects may be subject to change and not generally available.
  • Multi-workspace support is limited: organizations with multiple Freshservice workspaces must set up individual data source connections for each workspace, each with an appropriate admin credential.
  • Full crawl detection of deletions may require workarounds, as deletions are not always returned from API listing endpoints.
  • Custom roles with non-standard permissions are not fully supported if role permissions are unavailable from the API.

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Requirements

Connecting Freshservice to Glean requires configuration of appropriate admin credentials, access rights in Freshservice, and basic technical environment setup.

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Technical Requirements

  • Freshservice cloud instance (on-premises deployment is not supported)
  • API access enabled for the Freshservice instance
  • Network access for Glean’s connectors to reach Freshservice APIs
  • Compliance with Freshservice’s API rate limits (these vary by subscription tier, for example, 100–500 requests/minute overall, with sub-limits for tickets)

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Credential Requirements

  • An API key from a Freshservice admin user or a custom role with read/view permissions for all indexed objects (Solutions, Tickets, Releases).
  • The Freshservice domain (the unique organization identifier used in URLs, e.g., “glean” in glean.freshservice.com)
API keys are user-scoped, and permissions in Glean match those of the user whose API key is supplied.

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Permission Requirements

  • Admin, account admin, or workspace admin roles in Freshservice are required for connector setup. If operating in a multi-workspace environment, use at least a workspace admin for the specific workspace instance you wish to index.
  • The API key should be provisioned for a role with view permissions on the scope of all relevant objects (Solutions, Tickets, Releases).
  • Tickets assigned to restricted groups are only accessible if the API key is generated by a member of that restricted group.

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Preliminary Source/System Setup

  • Obtain a Freshservice API key by logging into Freshservice as an admin or workspace admin and generating a new API token.
  • Confirm API access is enabled for the Freshservice instance.
  • For multi-workspace customers: repeat setup per workspace if data from each workspace should be indexed.

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External References

  • Freshservice API documentation: api.freshservice.com/#authentication, api.freshservice.com/v2/
  • Freshservice role and permissions documentation (for additional role clarification): support.freshservice.com/support/solutions/articles/50000005577-understanding-roles-for-agents

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Configuration and Setup Instructions

Setup for the Freshservice connector is managed in Glean’s admin console and primarily requires credential entry and configuration verification.

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Prerequisites

  • Confirm Freshservice instance is cloud-based and API access is enabled
  • You have a Freshservice admin or workspace admin account with permission to generate an API key covering all required object types
  • Obtain the domain prefix for your organization’s Freshservice instance (e.g., glean in glean.freshservice.com)

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Authentication and Credentials

  • In the Glean admin console, add the Freshservice connector as a new data source.
  • Provide:
    • The Freshservice instance domain
    • The API key (entered securely)
  • Glean uses Basic Auth, expressing the API key as base64(apikey:) with an empty password field.
  • Upon credential entry, Glean will validate by performing a test API request (expects HTTP 200 response).

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Step-by-Step Setup

  1. In Freshservice, sign in as an admin or workspace admin.
  2. Navigate to Profile Settings → Generate New API Key. Copy the generated API key.
  3. In the Glean admin console, navigate to Manage Data Sources → Add New Source → Select Freshservice.
  4. Enter:
    • Freshservice Domain (e.g., glean)
    • API Key from Freshservice
  5. (If applicable for multi-workspace environments) Repeat steps 1–4 for each workspace, using the appropriate workspace admin credentials.
  6. Save and initiate the crawl. Glean will begin indexing Solutions Articles, Tickets, and Releases according to available permissions.
  7. If the setup is successful, Glean will display a confirmation and start showing content in search results within the hour. Permissions syncing occurs multiple times per hour.
For detailed assistance, refer to onscreen instructions in the deployment console or reach out to Glean support.

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Permissions & Security

  • Data and Metadata Ingested: Solutions Articles, Tickets, Releases, categories/folders, identities (agents, requesters), and group/departments information. Attachments may be partially supported for articles; ticket attachments require additional API calls.
  • Permission Propagation: Glean maps “visible to” Freshservice permissions (agents, departments, agent/requester groups) to Glean’s identity and group model. The connector does not understand or implement “managed by” permissions. Permissions on tickets are subject to Freshservice API restrictions—private/restricted tickets may not be indexed.
  • Security Notes: All authentication performed over HTTPS. API tokens are stored securely. Required permissions should follow the least-privilege principle consistent with intended indexing scope.
  • Known Restrictions: Multi-workspace Freshservice instances require setup of separate connectors per workspace; unsupported for workspaces not covered by the credentials. Role-based custom permissions beyond “visible to” are not fully supported.
  • Data Privacy: Glean does not expose content to users who are not permitted to access it per the Freshservice permissions model, within the constraints of the available API.