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Introduction

The Gurubase Zendesk App brings AI-powered assistance directly into your Zendesk Support workspace. Support teams shouldn’t have to jump between tickets, help center articles, docs, and logs just to craft a reliable answer. Gurubase works directly inside Zendesk to speed up resolution while keeping responses source-backed. It provides three powerful features to help support agents work more efficiently:
  1. Chat Sidebar - Chat with your Guru AI directly in the ticket sidebar to get instant answers
  2. Ticket Editor - Rewrite and improve your ticket responses with AI assistance
  3. Knowledge Base Editor - Browse and improve your help center articles with AI
This integration deploys Gurubase as an AI assistant within Zendesk. If you want to use Zendesk tickets and articles as data sources for your Guru, see the Zendesk Ingestion guide instead.

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Why Use Gurubase for Zendesk

Gurubase AI Copilot helps your support team resolve tickets faster with verifiable, hallucination-free responses:
  • Draft ticket replies directly in Zendesk - No context switching between tools
  • AI Trust Score + source references - Every answer includes confidence scoring and citations to your knowledge base
  • Follow-up question suggestions - Close issues faster with AI-suggested next steps
  • Tone adjustment - Rephrase responses for the right tone and copy directly into the Zendesk editor
  • Visual playbooks with Mermaid - Guided troubleshooting with flowcharts and diagrams
Want to see Gurubase in action? Book a demo to learn how Gurubase can help your team resolve Zendesk tickets faster.

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Better Answers with Zendesk Data Ingestion

Support teams often face the same questions repeatedly - and the answers are already in your existing tickets and help center articles. By combining the Gurubase Zendesk App with Zendesk Ingestion, you can train your Guru on your historical support data for more accurate, context-aware responses. How it works:
  1. Ingest your Zendesk data - Connect Gurubase to your Zendesk instance to import past tickets and help center articles as data sources
  2. AI learns from your history - Gurubase indexes ticket conversations, resolutions, and knowledge base content
  3. Get better answers - The Zendesk app now provides answers grounded in your actual support history and documentation
What gets indexed:
  • Past ticket conversations and resolutions
  • Help center articles and documentation
  • Comments and attachments (including images and text files)
  • Customer interactions and agent responses

Set Up Zendesk Ingestion

Learn how to connect and sync your Zendesk tickets and articles

Configure Backfill Jobs

Automatically sync new content on a schedule
For maximum effectiveness, set up Zendesk ingestion before installing the Zendesk app. This ensures your Guru has access to your historical data from day one.

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Prerequisites

Before installing the Zendesk app, you’ll need:
  1. A Gurubase account with at least one Guru created
  2. A Gurubase API key (access token)
  3. Admin access to your Zendesk Support instance

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Installation

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Step 1: Download the App Package

The Gurubase Zendesk app is distributed as a private app. Contact us to get access to the app package and schedule a demo.

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Step 2: Upload to Zendesk

  1. Go to your Zendesk Admin Center
  2. Navigate to Apps and Integrations → Apps → Zendesk Support Apps
  3. Click Upload private app
  4. Select the Gurubase app package (.zip file)
  5. Click Upload

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Step 3: Configure the App

After uploading, you’ll be prompted to configure the app settings:
SettingDescription
Access TokenYour Gurubase API key. Get this from your Gurubase dashboard under API Keys.
Guru SlugThe unique identifier for your Guru. Found in your Guru’s URL (e.g., my-guru from app.gurubase.io/g/my-guru). Used for Chat and Ticket Editor.
Base URLThe Gurubase API base URL. Default is https://api.gurubase.io. For self-hosted instances, use your custom URL.
KB Editor Guru SlugThe Guru slug specifically for the Knowledge Base Editor. Can be the same or different from the main Guru Slug.
The Base URL should be just the domain without a trailing slash or /api/ path. The app automatically appends the correct API paths.

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Step 4: Install the App

  1. Review the settings and click Install
  2. The app will now appear in your Zendesk Support workspace

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Features

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Chat Sidebar

The Chat Sidebar appears in the ticket sidebar when viewing tickets. It provides four tabs to help agents find information quickly:
Gurubase Chat Sidebar in Zendesk

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Chat Tab

The main chat interface for asking questions to your Guru AI.
  • Ask questions about the current ticket or any topic
  • Get instant, source-backed answers from your knowledge base
  • View AI Trust Score and source references for every response
  • Copy responses directly into ticket replies
  • Attach images and log files for context-aware answers
How to use:
  1. Open any ticket in Zendesk
  2. Find the Gurubase app in the right sidebar
  3. Type your question and press Enter
  4. The AI will respond with citations to your knowledge base

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History Tab

View and search your previous conversations with the AI assistant.
Chat History tab
  • Organized by time - Questions grouped by Today, Last Week, and Older
  • Search functionality - Find specific past conversations
  • Quick resume - Click any conversation to continue where you left off
  • Source references - See which sources were used in previous answers

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Suggested Content Tab

Automatically surfaces relevant content from your knowledge base based on the current ticket context.
Suggested Content tab
  • Context-aware - Uses semantic search based on ticket subject and description
  • Quick access - Click to open relevant articles, docs, or previous tickets

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Playbooks Tab

Access visual troubleshooting guides and step-by-step playbooks with Mermaid diagram support.
Playbooks tab
  • Visual flowcharts - Mermaid diagrams for guided troubleshooting
  • Interactive navigation - Zoom, pan, and explore complex workflows
  • Labeled organization - Playbooks are automatically loaded based on labels
To add playbooks, create Text data sources in your Gurubase dashboard with:
  1. Subtype: Select “Mermaid”
  2. Label: Add the playbooks label
These will automatically appear in the Playbooks tab as interactive visual flowcharts.

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Ticket Editor

The Ticket Editor helps agents craft better responses by rewriting and improving their draft replies using AI.
Gurubase Ticket Editor
Available Actions:
ActionDescription
ExpandExpands your text with more details and context while maintaining the original meaning
Make more friendlyMakes your text more friendly and engaging
Make more formalMakes your text more formal and professional
CustomApply your own custom instructions to transform the text, e.g. “Rewrite this text in a professional, helpful tone while keeping the same meaning and information.”
How to use:
  1. Write your draft response in the ticket comment box
  2. Click on the Gurubase Ticket Editor icon
  3. Select a transformation action (Expand, Make more friendly, Make more formal) or enter custom instructions
  4. Review the diff view showing original vs. improved text
  5. Click Save to apply changes or Discard to keep the original
Ticket Editor diff view

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Knowledge Base Editor

The Knowledge Base Editor allows you to browse, search, and improve your Zendesk help center articles using AI.
Gurubase Knowledge Base Editor
Features:
  • Article Browser - Browse all your help center articles with search and label filtering
  • AI Improvement - Improve articles with preset or custom prompts
  • Diff View - Compare original and improved content side-by-side
  • Direct Editing - Edit the improved content before saving
  • Label Suggestions - Get AI-suggested labels for your articles
  • PDF Export - Download articles as PDF documents
How to use:
  1. Click on the Gurubase icon in the Zendesk navigation bar
  2. Browse or search for articles in the left sidebar
  3. Click an article to view its content
  4. Click Improve with AI and select a preset or enter custom instructions
KB Editor Improve with AI dropdown
  1. Review the changes in the Improved or Diff View tabs
  2. Edit labels in the suggestions panel if needed
  3. Click Save Changes to update the article in Zendesk
KB Editor diff view

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Configuring KB Editor Presets

To customize the rewrite options available in the “Improve with AI” dropdown, configure KB Editor Presets in your Gurubase dashboard:
  1. Go to your Guru’s Settings page
  2. Navigate to Advanced → KB Editor Presets
  3. Add presets with a title and prompt for each rewrite option
KB Editor Presets configuration
Each preset appears as a quick action button in the Knowledge Base Editor, allowing agents to apply common improvements with a single click.

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Configuration for Self-Hosted

For self-hosted Gurubase instances, update the Base URL setting to point to your instance:
  1. Go to Zendesk Admin Center → Apps and Integrations → Apps → Zendesk Support Apps
  2. Find the Gurubase app and click the settings icon
  3. Update the Base URL to your self-hosted instance URL (e.g., https://gurubase.yourcompany.com)
  4. Save the changes
Ensure your self-hosted instance is accessible from the Zendesk servers. You may need to configure network/firewall rules accordingly.

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Next Steps

Book a Demo

See Gurubase in action and get started

Zendesk Ingestion

Use Zendesk tickets and articles as data sources

API Reference

Explore our API documentation