Creating a custom CRM integration with the AI Agents API

The custom CRM integration feature lets you securely connect your organization's data and business systems with your AI agent. By integrating a custom CRM, you can enhance your bot’s capabilities with real-time, personalized customer data from your own platforms and workflows.

What you need

• A Zendesk account with admin access.
• The AI agents - Advanced add-on enabled for your account.

Note: Custom CRM is needed in AI Agents that don't use built-in messaging integration for chat automation or Zendesk support for ticket automation, and it is meant for non Zendesk customers.

Note: This guide does not cover initial bot training or configuration. For production use, make sure your bot is fully configured before assigning a CRM integration.

Step 1: Create and configure your custom CRM integration

1. In AI agents - Advanced, click Custom CRMs in the sidebar.

2. Click Create custom CRM in the top-right corner.

3. Enter a name for your custom CRM integration.

   The integration is added to the list of CRMs.

4. Click the integration you just created and to open the Overview page.

5. Under Webhook secret, click Regenerate.

   A webhook secret generates a signature that is included in the headers of webhook requests. This signature allows your application to verify that each request is authentic.

   Copy this secret and store it in a secure location. This is a read-only secret that gives access to the API for only this AI agent. This token is used for any communication between your integration and this AI agent. The access token should be unique for every AI agent that is going to install this integration.

6. In Webhook URL, enter a URL starting with "https". For more information, see Webhook.

7. (optional) Add custom headers to webhook requests to support additional authentication or to include other custom fields as needed.

8. Click Save.

Step 2: Assign the custom CRM integration to a bot

Once your integration is created:

1. In the AI Agent – Advanced, click Settings in the sidebar, then select CRM integration.

2. Click Select your CRM and select the custom CRM integration you created above.

   The integration is assigned to your AI agent and waiting to have new conversations.

3. Click Regenerate to create an access token.

   The access token is required to authenticate the bot with your custom CRM and will be displayed only once when it is generated. Be sure to copy and store it in a secure location. If you lose the token, you’ll need to regenerate it. Regenerating a token invalidates the previous token.

Step 3: Test and refine your integration

• After saving your configuration, test the integration to make sure data flows correctly between your bot and your CRM.
• Make sure your access token is working and events are received at your webhook endpoint.