---
name: zendesk
description: |
  Zendesk via Apideck's Proxy API + managed Vault auth — Apideck handles auth and proxies HTTP calls to Zendesk's native API. Use when the user wants to call Zendesk (no unified API resource mapping). Routes through Apideck with serviceId "zendesk".
license: Apache-2.0
alwaysApply: false
metadata:
  author: apideck
  version: "1.0.0"
  serviceId: zendesk
  proxyOnly: true
  unifiedApis: []
  authType: oauth2
  tier: "2"
  verified: true
  status: beta
---

# Zendesk (via Apideck Proxy)

Access Zendesk through Apideck's **Proxy API** with managed Vault auth. Apideck stores credentials, refreshes tokens, and forwards your HTTP calls to Zendesk's native API — you keep using Zendesk's own request and response shapes, while Apideck eliminates per-tenant credential plumbing and gives you a single auth integration shared across every Apideck connector.

> **Auth-only / proxy-only connector.** Apideck does not map Zendesk to a unified-API resource model — your code talks Zendesk's own API directly through the Proxy. You still get Vault credential storage, token refresh, retries, and a consistent request envelope.

## Quick facts

- **Apideck serviceId:** `zendesk`
- **Mode:** Proxy-only (no unified API resources)
- **Auth type:** oauth2
- **Status:** beta
- **Gotchas:** [page](https://developers.apideck.com/apis/proxy/zendesk/gotchas)
- **Zendesk docs:** https://developer.zendesk.com/api-reference/
- **Homepage:** https://www.zendesk.com/

## When to use this skill

Activate this skill when the user wants to call Zendesk via Apideck — for example, "call the Zendesk API" or "fetch data from Zendesk". This skill teaches the agent:

1. That Zendesk routes through Apideck's **Proxy API**, not a unified resource API
2. The correct `serviceId` to pass on every call (`zendesk`)
3. How to keep using Zendesk's native request/response shapes while Apideck handles Vault auth

If you need a unified-API surface (one method shape across many vendors), see the connector skills in this catalog whose serviceId is mapped to a unified API.

## Auth

- **Type:** OAuth 2.0
- **Managed by:** Apideck Vault — Apideck handles the full OAuth dance (authorization code flow, token exchange, refresh). Never ask the user for API keys or tokens directly.
- **User setup:** Users authorize via the Vault modal. Connection state progresses `available → added → authorized → callable`.
- **Token refresh:** automatic. Expired tokens are refreshed transparently on the next API call.

## Calling Zendesk via the Proxy API

Send any HTTP request to `https://unify.apideck.com/proxy`. Apideck looks up the user's stored Zendesk credentials by `x-apideck-consumer-id` + `x-apideck-service-id`, injects them on the way out, and returns Zendesk's raw response.

```bash
curl 'https://unify.apideck.com/proxy' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${APIDECK_API_KEY}" \
  -H "x-apideck-app-id: ${APIDECK_APP_ID}" \
  -H "x-apideck-consumer-id: ${CONSUMER_ID}" \
  -H "x-apideck-service-id: zendesk" \
  -H "x-apideck-downstream-url: <target endpoint on Zendesk>" \
  -H "x-apideck-downstream-method: GET"
```

For `POST`/`PATCH`/`PUT`/`DELETE`, change `x-apideck-downstream-method` and pass the body as you would to Zendesk directly. Apideck does not transform the body — it forwards bytes.

See [Zendesk's API docs](https://developer.zendesk.com/api-reference/) for available endpoints.

## See also

- [Zendesk gotchas](https://developers.apideck.com/apis/proxy/zendesk/gotchas)
- [Apideck Proxy API reference](https://developers.apideck.com/apis/proxy/reference)
- [`apideck-rest`](../../skills/apideck-rest/) — REST patterns including the Proxy
- [`apideck-best-practices`](../../skills/apideck-best-practices/) — Vault, error handling, retries
- [`apideck-unified-api`](../../skills/apideck-unified-api/) — when to use unified vs proxy
- [Zendesk official docs](https://developer.zendesk.com/api-reference/)