Zendesk
Connect Zendesk to manage support tickets, users, organizations, macros, views, triggers, and the help center.
You paste three things: your Zendesk subdomain, the email address of the admin who owns the token, and the API token string Zendesk shows once when you create it in Admin Center.
- Setup time
- 5 min
- Auth
- API credentials
- API base URL
- https://YOUR-SUBDOMAIN.zendesk.com/api/v2
- Rate limits
- Account-wide limits are plan-based, around 200 requests per minute on Suite Team and higher on larger plans, up to 2,500 per minute with the High Volume API add-on. Over-limit calls return 429 with a Retry-After header.
Before you begin
- A Zendesk Support or Suite account.
- The Administrator role. Agents and end users cannot create API tokens.
- "Allow API token access" turned on for the account. Any admin can switch it off.
- Do this before 27 October 2026. Zendesk stops issuing new API tokens on that date and deactivates all existing tokens on 30 April 2027.
Get your credentials
Open the API pages in Admin Center
Sign in as an admin and open Admin Center at https://<your-subdomain>.zendesk.com/admin. In the left sidebar click Apps and integrations, then APIs.
Turn on Allow API token access
On the API configuration tab, tick Allow API token access and click Save.
Zendesk API
Control how applications authenticate against this account's API.
Tokens are created on the next tab, API tokens.
Add an API token
Open the API tokens tab and click Add API token. Type PopMCP in Description.
Zendesk API
Control how applications authenticate against this account's API.
| Token | Description | Created | Last used | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ****v3Xe | Reporting exportCreated by dana@acme.com | Mar 4, 2026 | Aug 12, 2026 | Active |
| ****7bQ1 | Legacy syncCreated by ops@acme.com | Jan 9, 2026 | Never | Deactivated |
An account holds up to 256 tokens. The row menu offers Edit, Deactivate and Delete.
Copy the token before you close the dialog
Click Copy to take the full token string, then click Save to close the dialog.
Zendesk API
Control how applications authenticate against this account's API.
Copy first, then Save. Reopening the token later shows a truncated version only.
Paste subdomain, email and token into PopMCP
Enter the Zendesk subdomain (the acme in https://acme.zendesk.com), the email of the admin who created the token, and the token itself. The email must be the token owner's.
Connect in PopMCP
Open your workspace, choose Zendesk in the marketplace, and fill in the connect dialog:
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Zendesk subdomaintext | The first part of your Zendesk URL: https://<your-company>.zendesk.com. You can paste the full URL and we'll extract the subdomain. This is the account the MCP is locked to. |
| Agent or admin emailtext | The email of a Zendesk agent or admin. It's used as the API username (sent as {email}/token), so it must match the account the API token belongs to. |
| API tokensecret | Admin Center → Apps and integrations → APIs → Zendesk API → API tokens → Add API token. You must also turn ON "Allow API token access" on that page (it's off by default). The token is shown only once. Stored encrypted.Encrypted with AES-256-GCM on save and never shown again. |
PopMCP verifies the credential against Zendesk immediately. On success the connection flips to Verified and its MCP tools are provisioned.
Verify it worked
The Zendesk connection shows Connected in PopMCP and the Zendesk tools appear. Listing recent tickets or searching users returns rows from your own help desk.
Troubleshooting
The API configuration page asks you to accept terms
Why: Nobody has used the API on this account before.
Fix: Tick the terms box and click Get started, then set Allow API token access and Save.
401 "Couldn't authenticate you"
Why: API token access is off, the email does not belong to the token's account, or the token was copied incompletely.
Fix: Tick Allow API token access on the API configuration tab and Save, confirm the email is the admin who created the token, and re-create the token if you are unsure it was copied whole.
The connection worked, then broke about a month later
Why: From 28 July 2026 Zendesk automatically deactivates API tokens that go 30 days without use.
Fix: Create a fresh API token and update the PopMCP connection. Plan a move to OAuth before the April 2027 cutoff.
The Add API token button is missing or disabled
Why: You are not an administrator, the account is at the 256-token limit, or the account is past Zendesk's 27 October 2026 token-creation cutoff.
Fix: Sign in as an admin, delete an unused token to free a slot, and check Zendesk's API token removal announcement for your account's phase.
429 Too Many Requests
Why: The account-wide per-minute rate limit was exceeded.
Fix: Slow the tool calls down and respect the Retry-After header, or add the High Volume API add-on.