AI Actions: Setting up Zendesk actions for your AI Voice Agent

This guide explains how to connect Zendesk to Aircall's AI Voice Agent and enable AI Actions, so your agent can look up contacts, manage tickets, and resolve issues during a live call without transferring to a human.

Available Zendesk actions

Each action below is predefined by Aircall. Its inputs, outputs, and behavior are fixed. Administrators control which actions are enabled and which agents can use them, but cannot change what an action does.

Before you start

Make sure the following is in place before you continue:

• Zendesk integration installed and active. Go to Integrations & API in the Aircall dashboard and confirm Zendesk shows as Active.
• At least one AI Voice Agent created, with a connected number.
• Admin permissions on the Aircall Dashboard.

Step 1: Enable capabilities on your Zendesk integration

AI Actions follow a two-step model. First, enable the capabilities at the integration level to make them available. Then assign them to individual agents. Both steps are required.

Steps

1. Go to Aircall Dashboard > Integrations & API.
2. Open your connected Zendesk integration.
3. Navigate to the AI Actions section.
4. Toggle on the capabilities you want to make available.

Important: All capabilities are off by default. Enabling a capability here does not affect live calls or existing configurations. It only makes the action available for assignment to AI Voice Agents. If a capability is off, it will not appear in the agent setup.

Step 2: Assign actions to an AI Voice Agent

Steps

1. Go to Aircall Dashboard > AI Agents > AI Voice Agents and open the agent you want to configure.
2. Under Functional abilities, click AI actions.
3. Click + Add action.
4. Open the dropdown and select the Zendesk action you want to add.
5. Review the data contract: Preset instructions (what the action does), Intake information (what the agent collects from the caller), and Information available to use (what the agent can reference once the action returns).
6. Click Save action.

Note: If a Zendesk action is missing from the dropdown, it has not been enabled on the integration. Return to Step 1 and toggle it on.

What a Zendesk-powered call looks like

A caller contacts your support line. The AI Voice Agent answers, identifies the caller by phone number, retrieves their open tickets, and either resolves the right one or creates a new one, all without involving a human agent.

Example conversation:

Caller: "Hi, I submitted a ticket a few days ago about a billing issue. I just wanted to check if it's been resolved." 

Agent: "Of course. Let me look that up for you." 

Agent: "I can see you have one open ticket on billing. It looks like it's still being reviewed by our team. Would you like me to add a note, or would you prefer I transfer you to someone who can give you an update?" 

Caller: "Actually, I just sorted it out myself. You can close it." 

Agent: "Done, I've marked that ticket as resolved. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Telling the agent when to use an action

After adding an action, you can provide plain-English instructions about when to invoke it. There are two places to write these rules, and each serves a different purpose.

Additional instructions (inside the action panel) apply to that one action only. Use them to control how the agent gathers inputs, which output fields to focus on, or what to confirm before executing.

Conversation guidelines (below the Actions in use list, visible after saving your first action) apply across every AI Action on the agent. Use them to define triggers, chain actions together, branch on return values, and set fallback or transfer conditions.

Tip: Write rules in Additional instructions when the logic is specific to a single action. Use Conversation guidelines for business logic that spans multiple actions or depends on what an action returns. Putting the same rule in both places makes the agent harder to debug.

Example: chaining Search Contact and List Open Tickets

Because List Open Tickets requires a user identifier, it works best when chained with Search Contact. You can instruct the agent to run both automatically.

Example Conversation guidelines - When the caller asks about an existing ticket or support request: 

1. Use Search Contact to identify the caller by phone number. 

2. If a match is found, use List Open Tickets to retrieve their tickets. 

3. Read back the relevant ticket and ask the caller what they would like to do. 

4. If the caller wants to close the ticket, use Resolve Ticket. 

5. If no match is found, use Create Ticket to log a new request and confirm the details with the caller.

Example: creating a ticket for a new issue

If a caller reports a problem that does not correspond to an existing ticket, the agent can create one on the spot.

Example -  Additional instructions for Create Ticket: Always confirm the issue description with the caller before creating the ticket. Use the phone number from the call silently to pre-fill the contact field.
 

Testing your setup

Test your configuration in two stages before routing live traffic to the agent.

Integration testing

Steps

1. Go to Aircall Dashboard > Integrations & API.
2. Open your connected Zendesk integration and go to the AI Actions Testing tab.
3. Select an action, fill in the parameters, and click Execute to verify the connection and the response from Zendesk.

Test call

Steps

1. Go to Aircall Dashboard > AI Agents > AI Voice Agents and open the agent you want to test.
2. Click Test Call in the right panel to simulate real call behavior end to end.

Important: Test calls consume AI Voice Agent minutes and may create real Zendesk tickets or update real records. Use a sandbox Zendesk environment where possible. Create Ticket and Resolve Ticket are write actions; any records they create or modify during testing will be real.

Cover at least three scenarios:

• A caller with an existing open ticket: the agent should find it and read back the relevant details.
• A caller with no existing ticket: the agent should offer to create one and confirm the details.
• A caller whose ticket is already resolved: the agent should acknowledge and offer further help or close the call gracefully.

Tailoring this to your support workflow

After each change, make a new test call. Small wording changes in your rules can significantly affect agent behavior.

What these actions can and cannot do

Billing

AI Actions are included at no additional cost. Invocations count against your existing AI Voice Agent minutes. There is no per-invocation charge.

FAQs

Do I need to install a separate app from the Zendesk marketplace?

No. Unlike the HubSpot integration, Zendesk AI Actions do not require a separate marketplace app. You enable capabilities directly within your existing Zendesk integration settings in the Aircall dashboard.

Can administrators change what an action does?

No. Each action's behavior, inputs, and outputs are defined by Aircall and cannot be modified. Administrators only control which actions are enabled and which agents can use them.

Are Zendesk AI Actions available on all Aircall plans?

Zendesk AI Actions are included within your existing AI Voice Agent minutes. No additional plan or SKU is required.

Can I use List Open Tickets without running Search Contact first?

List Open Tickets requires a Zendesk user identifier. If the caller's phone number is already matched to a Zendesk user, the agent may be able to use it silently. If no match exists, you will need to identify the caller first using Search Contact. Chaining both actions in Conversation guidelines is the recommended approach.

What happens if the agent creates a ticket but the caller disconnects?

The ticket is created regardless of whether the call ends normally. Review your Conversation guidelines to ensure the agent only invokes Create Ticket once it has collected enough information to file a useful ticket.

Can I enable Zendesk AI Actions on some agents but not others?

Yes. Each agent has its own AI Actions section. You can assign different combinations of capabilities to different agents depending on their purpose.