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Zendesk overview

The Zendesk connector lets Glean fetch and index Zendesk content so people can search content their Zendesk permissions allow them to access.

Authentication​

The Zendesk connector uses separate credentials for tools and for indexing. Which credentials you provide depends on whether your deployment uses the New setup or the Previous setup.

Tools​

The New setup Connect step authorizes Zendesk tools through OAuth. Choose one of the following authentication methods:

  • Central: Uses Glean's managed OAuth app. Glean recommends this method because it requires no OAuth client setup in Zendesk.
  • Custom: Uses an OAuth client that your organization creates in Zendesk. Use this method when your organization requires a customer-owned OAuth app.

Individual users also authenticate with Zendesk before they can use Zendesk tools. Zendesk then limits each user's actions to the data that user can access.

Indexing​

Indexing uses a single set of credentials for the whole connector, independent of the tools authorization.

  • New setup: The Set up indexing step collects the crawl selections and QPS, along with either an OAuth authorization or a Zendesk API token and the email address of the account that created the token, depending on your deployment.
  • Previous setup: The connector setup page collects the Zendesk domain, crawl selections, and QPS. Depending on your deployment, you either save these settings and then authorize indexing through central OAuth, or provide a Zendesk API token and the token owner's email address. The form may also expose connector-mode settings.
Use a service account

When indexing uses an API token, create it under a dedicated service account rather than an individual employee's Zendesk user. Indexing stops when the token owner's account is deactivated. See Previous setup: API token issues.

Data storage​

Data stays in the cloud project within your organization's cloud account; it does not leave your environment.

API usage​

Glean uses Zendesk's Apps REST API to ingest data.

Integration features​

  • Content captured: Posts, knowledge-base articles, and tickets, including comments.
  • Permissions: Glean respects Zendesk access controls, so search results include only content the user can access. Opening a result takes the user to Zendesk, which enforces permissions again.
  • Tools: Zendesk tools support read and write actions, grouped separately in the connector's Tools tab. Admins can configure tool availability and access after setup. Glean enables new tools by default.

Objects supported​

The Zendesk connector supports the following objects:

  • Knowledge-base articles, including comments
  • Tickets, including comments
  • Posts and comments

Crawling and updates​

Identity​

  • Users: User information from Zendesk
  • Groups: Groups in Zendesk, including organizations, user segments, and permission_groups

The identity crawl uses two modes:

  • Incremental identity crawls: Capture changes since the last crawl.
  • Full identity crawls: Run periodically so identity data stays current.

Webhook events​

The Zendesk connector creates a single webhook that fires whenever a ticket is created or updated. Comment activity arrives as a ticket update rather than a separate event, so Glean refetches the ticket and its comments.

Rate limits​

  • Queries per second (QPS): The default limit is 12 queries per second; the connector setup requires a minimum of 1.2 QPS so all queues can function properly.
  • For Zendesk's own rate limits, see Zendesk API rate limits.

Update frequency​

Content updates can arrive quickly, depending on the update type and your configuration:

  • People and identity crawls: Run about every hour to pick up group-membership and permission changes.
  • Incremental crawls: Run about every hour and capture changes since the previous incremental or full crawl.
  • Full crawls: Run less frequently than incremental crawls; the exact frequency depends on your configuration.

Glean must crawl, process, and index data before it appears in the product UI. Timing varies with change volume and corpus size. For more information, see Crawling frequency.

How the crawl works​

The Zendesk crawler uses the Zendesk API and standard crawl patterns:

  • Identity crawl: Updates people data, including users, groups, and related information.
  • Content crawls: Full crawls cover the configured scope; incremental crawls capture changes since the last full or incremental crawl.

Known crawl limitations​

  • Glean does not support Departmental Spaces or Team Brand membership.

API endpoints​

The connector uses REST paths such as:

  • api/v2/users.json
  • api/v2/groups.json
  • api/v2/groups/%s/memberships.json
  • api/v2/guide/permission_groups.json
  • api/v2/help_center/user_segments.json
  • api/v2/organizations.json
  • api/v2/organizations/%s/organization_memberships.json
  • api/v2/brands
  • api/v2/community/topics.json
  • api/v2/help_center/incremental/articles.json
  • api/v2/help_center/articles/%s/comments.json
  • api/v2/community/posts.json
  • api/v2/community/posts/%s/comments.json
  • api/v2/ticket_fields.json
  • api/v2/incremental/tickets/cursor.json
  • api/v2/tickets/%s/comments.json
  • api/v2/custom_roles.json
  • api/v2/triggers
  • api/v2/webhooks
  • api/v2/apps/installations.json

Content configuration​

note

If inclusion (allowlist) rules are enabled, Glean indexes only content in the inclusion set. If exclusion (denylist) rules are enabled, Glean removes matching content from the index. If both apply to the same item, Glean does not index it because exclusion wins.

Use inclusion and exclusion rules sparingly so search stays useful. Many organizations use no rules, or only exclusion rules for sensitive content.

Exclusion (denylist) options​

You can exclude the following from the Zendesk crawl:

  • Posts
  • Articles
  • Brand ID

Excluded content does not appear in search, chat, or other Glean experiences.

Contact your Glean representative to configure exclusion rules.

Inclusion (allowlist) options​

You can limit the crawl to the following:

  • Posts
  • Articles
  • Brand ID

Only included content appears in search, chat, and other Glean experiences. Glean does not index content you exclude.

Contact your Glean representative to configure inclusion rules.

See also​

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