Approval Requests

Approvals are requests that agents create and assign to other agents, agent groups, or end users for review and decision-making.

For more information, see Understanding approvals and how they work.

JSON format

Approval Requests are represented as JSON objects with the following properties:

Name	Type	Read-only	Mandatory	Description
assignee_group_id	integer	false	false	The id of the group assigned to review the request
assignee_user_id	integer	false	false	The id of the user assigned to respond to the request. Also referred to as the approver
created_at	string	true	false	The ISO 8601 formatted date-time when the approval request was created
created_by_id	integer	true	false	The id of the user who created the approval request
id	string	true	false	Unique identifier for the approval request (ULID format)
message	string	false	false	Details and context for the approval request
origination_type	string	true	false	The origin type of the approval request indicating how it was created. Allowed values are "API_ORIGINATION", "UI_ORIGINATION", "TRIGGER_ORIGINATION", "DATA_IMPORTER_ORIGINATION", "TEMPLATE_ORIGINATION", "ACTION_FLOW_ORIGINATION", or "UNKNOWN_ORIGINATION".
status	string	true	false	Current status of the approval request
subject	string	false	false	Subject line for the approval request
ticket_id	integer	false	false	The id of the ticket this approval request is attached to

List Approval Requests

• GET /api/v2/approval_requests

Lists all approval requests for the current account with optional filtering by status and assignee.

Allowed For

• Admins

Query Parameters

Name	Type	Description
filter[status]	string	Filter by a comma-separated list of one or more approval statuses. Values: active, approved, rejected, withdrawn
filter[assignee_user_id]	string	Filter by a comma-separated list of assigned user ids. Maximum 100 ids
filter[assignee_group_id]	string	Filter by a comma-separated list of assigned group ids. Maximum 100 ids

Filtering Logic

• When multiple values are provided for a filter, or logic is used. For example, filter[status]=active,approved is evaluated as status=active OR status=approved.
• If multiple filters are applied to a single request, AND logic is used. For example, filter[status]=active AND filter[assignee_user_id]=123.
• Each filter parameter supports a maximum 100 values.
• Numeric ids must be valid integers.

Pagination

This endpoint supports cursor-based pagination. Use after_cursor and before_cursor parameters to navigate through results.

Parameters

Name	Type	In	Required	Description
after_cursor	string	Query	false	Cursor for pagination. Fetch records after this cursor
before_cursor	string	Query	false	Cursor for pagination. Fetch records before this cursor
filter[assignee_group_id]	string	Query	false	Filter by a comma-separated list of assigned group ids. Maximum 100 ids.
filter[assignee_user_id]	string	Query	false	Filter by a comma-separated list of assigned user ids. Maximum 100 ids.
filter[status]	string	Query	false	Filter by a comma-separated list of one or more approval statuses. Allowed values are active, approved, rejected, withdrawn. Maximum 100 values.

Code Samples

curl

curl -u {email_address}/token:{api_token} https://{subdomain}.zendesk.com/api/v2/approval_requests \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json"

Go

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
)

func main() {
	url := "https://example.zendesk.com/api/v2/approval_requests?after_cursor=&before_cursor=&filter[assignee_group_id]=&filter[assignee_user_id]=&filter[status]="
	method := "GET"
	req, err := http.NewRequest(method, url, nil)

	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println(err)
		return
	}
	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")
	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Basic <auth-value>") // Base64 encoded "{email_address}/token:{api_token}"

	client := &http.Client {}
	res, err := client.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println(err)
		return
	}
	defer res.Body.Close()

	body, err := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println(err)
		return
	}
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

Java

import com.squareup.okhttp.*;
OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient();
HttpUrl.Builder urlBuilder = HttpUrl.parse("https://example.zendesk.com/api/v2/approval_requests")
		.newBuilder()
		.addQueryParameter("after_cursor", "")
		.addQueryParameter("before_cursor", "")
		.addQueryParameter("filter[assignee_group_id]", "")
		.addQueryParameter("filter[assignee_user_id]", "")
		.addQueryParameter("filter[status]", "");
String userCredentials = "your_email_address" + "/token:" + "your_api_token";
String basicAuth = "Basic " + java.util.Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(userCredentials.getBytes());

Request request = new Request.Builder()
		.url(urlBuilder.build())
		.method("GET", null)
		.addHeader("Content-Type", "application/json")
		.addHeader("Authorization", basicAuth)
		.build();
Response response = client.newCall(request).execute();

Nodejs

var axios = require('axios');

var config = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://example.zendesk.com/api/v2/approval_requests',
  headers: {
	'Content-Type': 'application/json',
	'Authorization': 'Basic <auth-value>', // Base64 encoded "{email_address}/token:{api_token}"
  },
  params: {
    'after_cursor': '',
    'before_cursor': '',
    'filter[assignee_group_id]': '',
    'filter[assignee_user_id]': '',
    'filter[status]': '',
  },
};

axios(config)
.then(function (response) {
  console.log(JSON.stringify(response.data));
})
.catch(function (error) {
  console.log(error);
});

Python

import requests
from requests.auth import HTTPBasicAuth

url = "https://example.zendesk.com/api/v2/approval_requests?after_cursor=&before_cursor=&filter[assignee_group_id]=&filter[assignee_user_id]=&filter[status]="
headers = {
	"Content-Type": "application/json",
}
email_address = 'your_email_address'
api_token = 'your_api_token'
# Use basic authentication
auth = HTTPBasicAuth(f'{email_address}/token', api_token)

response = requests.request(
	"GET",
	url,
	auth=auth,
	headers=headers
)

print(response.text)

Ruby

require "net/http"
require "base64"
uri = URI("https://example.zendesk.com/api/v2/approval_requests")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form("after_cursor": "", "before_cursor": "", "filter[assignee_group_id]": "", "filter[assignee_user_id]": "", "filter[status]": "")
request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri, "Content-Type": "application/json")
email = "your_email_address"
api_token = "your_api_token"
credentials = "#{email}/token:#{api_token}"
encoded_credentials = Base64.strict_encode64(credentials)
request["Authorization"] = "Basic #{encoded_credentials}"
response = Net::HTTP.start uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true do |http|
	http.request(request)
end

curl with single filter

curl "https://{subdomain}.zendesk.com/api/v2/approval_requests?filter[status]=active&filter[assignee_user_id]=12345" \
  -v -u {email_address}:{password}

curl with multiple filter values

curl "https://{subdomain}.zendesk.com/api/v2/approval_requests?filter[status]=active,approved&filter[assignee_user_id]=123,456" \
  -v -u {email_address}:{password}

Example response(s)

200 OK

// Status 200 OK

{
  "approval_requests": [
    {
      "assignee_user": {
        "id": 12345,
        "name": "Jane Approver"
      },
      "created_at": "2025-02-26T10:30:00Z",
      "id": "01HX123ABC",
      "message": "Please approve the software license request",
      "origination_type": "API_ORIGINATION",
      "status": "active",
      "subject": "Software License Approval",
      "ticket_id": 101
    },
    {
      "assignee_group": {
        "id": 456,
        "name": "Approval Team"
      },
      "created_at": "2025-02-25T14:15:00Z",
      "id": "01HX123DEF",
      "message": "Please approve the hardware request",
      "origination_type": "UI_ORIGINATION",
      "status": "approved",
      "subject": "Hardware Request",
      "ticket_id": 102
    }
  ],
  "links": {
    "next": null,
    "prev": null
  },
  "meta": {
    "after_cursor": null,
    "before_cursor": null,
    "has_more": false
  }
}

Create Approval Request

• POST /api/v2/approval_requests

Creates an approval request for a ticket.

When manual approval requests are turned off for the account, approval requests can still be created through this API. Approval requests created by the API have a Sent by value of API.

Allowed For

• System users (flowstate)
• Agents

Example body

{
  "assignee_user_id": 456,
  "message": "Please approve this request for a new laptop for the engineering team",
  "subject": "Laptop Purchase Approval",
  "ticket_id": 123
}

Code Samples

Curl

curl --request POST https://example.zendesk.com/api/v2/approval_requests \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
-u {email_address}/token:{api_token} \
--data-raw '{
  "assignee_user_id": 456,
  "message": "Please approve this request for a new laptop for the engineering team",
  "subject": "Laptop Purchase Approval",
  "ticket_id": 123
}'

Go

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"strings"
)

func main() {
	url := "https://example.zendesk.com/api/v2/approval_requests"
	method := "POST"
	payload := strings.NewReader(`{
  "assignee_user_id": 456,
  "message": "Please approve this request for a new laptop for the engineering team",
  "subject": "Laptop Purchase Approval",
  "ticket_id": 123
}`)
	req, err := http.NewRequest(method, url, payload)

	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println(err)
		return
	}
	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")
	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Basic <auth-value>") // Base64 encoded "{email_address}/token:{api_token}"

	client := &http.Client {}
	res, err := client.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println(err)
		return
	}
	defer res.Body.Close()

	body, err := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println(err)
		return
	}
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

Java

import com.squareup.okhttp.*;
OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient();
HttpUrl.Builder urlBuilder = HttpUrl.parse("https://example.zendesk.com/api/v2/approval_requests")
		.newBuilder();
RequestBody body = RequestBody.create(MediaType.parse("application/json"),
		"""
{
  \"assignee_user_id\": 456,
  \"message\": \"Please approve this request for a new laptop for the engineering team\",
  \"subject\": \"Laptop Purchase Approval\",
  \"ticket_id\": 123
}""");
String userCredentials = "your_email_address" + "/token:" + "your_api_token";
String basicAuth = "Basic " + java.util.Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(userCredentials.getBytes());

Request request = new Request.Builder()
		.url(urlBuilder.build())
		.method("POST", body)
		.addHeader("Content-Type", "application/json")
		.addHeader("Authorization", basicAuth)
		.build();
Response response = client.newCall(request).execute();

Nodejs

var axios = require('axios');
var data = JSON.stringify({
  "assignee_user_id": 456,
  "message": "Please approve this request for a new laptop for the engineering team",
  "subject": "Laptop Purchase Approval",
  "ticket_id": 123
});

var config = {
  method: 'POST',
  url: 'https://example.zendesk.com/api/v2/approval_requests',
  headers: {
	'Content-Type': 'application/json',
	'Authorization': 'Basic <auth-value>', // Base64 encoded "{email_address}/token:{api_token}"
  },
  data : data,
};

axios(config)
.then(function (response) {
  console.log(JSON.stringify(response.data));
})
.catch(function (error) {
  console.log(error);
});

Python

import requests
import json
from requests.auth import HTTPBasicAuth

url = "https://example.zendesk.com/api/v2/approval_requests"

payload = json.loads("""{
  "assignee_user_id": 456,
  "message": "Please approve this request for a new laptop for the engineering team",
  "subject": "Laptop Purchase Approval",
  "ticket_id": 123
}""")
headers = {
	"Content-Type": "application/json",
}
email_address = 'your_email_address'
api_token = 'your_api_token'
# Use basic authentication
auth = HTTPBasicAuth(f'{email_address}/token', api_token)

response = requests.request(
	"POST",
	url,
	auth=auth,
	headers=headers,
	json=payload
)

print(response.text)

Ruby

require "net/http"
require "base64"
uri = URI("https://example.zendesk.com/api/v2/approval_requests")
request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri, "Content-Type": "application/json")
request.body = %q({
  "assignee_user_id": 456,
  "message": "Please approve this request for a new laptop for the engineering team",
  "subject": "Laptop Purchase Approval",
  "ticket_id": 123
})
email = "your_email_address"
api_token = "your_api_token"
credentials = "#{email}/token:#{api_token}"
encoded_credentials = Base64.strict_encode64(credentials)
request["Authorization"] = "Basic #{encoded_credentials}"
response = Net::HTTP.start uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true do |http|
	http.request(request)
end

curl (assign to group)

curl https://{subdomain}.zendesk.com/api/v2/approval_requests \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST \
  -d '{"message": "approval description", "subject": "approval subject", "assignee_group_id": 789, "ticket_id": 123}' \
  -v -u {email_address}/token:{api_token}

Example response(s)

201 Created

// Status 201 Created

{
  "approval_request": {
    "assignee_group_id": null,
    "assignee_user_id": 456,
    "created_at": "2026-01-23T19:02:36Z",
    "created_by_id": 789,
    "id": "01KFP3S9EVXF9CKAYY080NV98C",
    "message": "Please approve this request for a new laptop for the engineering team",
    "origination_type": "API_ORIGINATION",
    "status": "active",
    "subject": "Laptop Purchase Approval",
    "ticket_id": 123
  }
}

422 Unprocessable Entity

// Status 422 Unprocessable Entity

{
  "errors": [
    {
      "code": "ApprovalRequestCreationFailed",
      "title": "Approval request couldn't be sent because one active, approved, or denied request already exists"
    }
  ]
}