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Introduction

The Zendesk integration connects Rootly with your Zendesk Support account bidirectionally. Rootly can create and update tickets through workflow actions, and Zendesk can send ticket events to Rootly as alerts. You can also install the Rootly app from the Zendesk Marketplace to manage incidents directly from the Zendesk agent interface. With the Zendesk integration, you can:
  • Automatically create Zendesk tickets when incidents are declared or reach a certain state
  • Update ticket subject, priority, status, and custom fields as incidents evolve
  • Link Zendesk tickets to Jira issues via a dedicated workflow action
  • Receive Zendesk ticket events as Rootly alerts to trigger on-call workflows
  • Create Rootly incidents and view active incidents directly from within Zendesk (Marketplace app)

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Before You Begin

Before setting up the integration, make sure you have:
  • A Rootly account with admin permission to manage integrations
  • A Zendesk Support account with admin access
  • Your Zendesk subdomain (the part before .zendesk.com)
We recommend installing with a dedicated Zendesk service account so the integration does not break if an individual user leaves your organization.

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Installation

Open the Zendesk integration in Rootly

Navigate to the integrations page in Rootly and select Zendesk.

Enter your subdomain and authorize

Enter your Zendesk Subdomain (e.g. yourcompany for yourcompany.zendesk.com) and click Connect. You will be redirected to Zendesk to authorize the integration.
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Rootly requests the following OAuth scopes:
ScopePurpose
users:readRead user profile information
tickets:writeCreate and update tickets
webhooks:writeRegister a webhook to receive ticket events
triggers:writeCreate triggers to send events to Rootly
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Once authorized, Rootly automatically registers a webhook and trigger in your Zendesk account to deliver ticket events.
After installation, the Create a Zendesk Ticket, Update a Zendesk Ticket, and Create a Zendesk-Jira Link workflow actions are available in your Genius workflows. Zendesk ticket events will also appear as alerts in Rootly.

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Workflow Actions

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Create a Zendesk Ticket

This action creates a new ticket in Zendesk.
FieldDescriptionRequired
NameDisplay name for this workflow action
TypeTicket type: problem, incident, question, or taskYes
SubjectTicket subject line. Defaults to {{ incident.title }}. Supports LiquidYes
CommentTicket body. Supports Liquid. Defaults to "Updated from rootly.com" if blank
PriorityTicket priority. Auto mirrors the incident severity
StatusTicket status. Auto mirrors the incident status
TagsComma-separated tags. Only applied on creation, not updates. Supports Liquid
Custom Fields MappingJSON array of custom field objects. Supports Liquid
Ticket PayloadAdvanced JSON merged into the Zendesk ticket payload. Supports Liquid
Tags are only applied on ticket creation. They are not updated when using the Update a Zendesk Ticket action.
Priority mapping (Auto)
Rootly SeverityZendesk Priority
CriticalUrgent
HighHigh
MediumNormal
LowLow
Status mapping (Auto)
Rootly StatusZendesk Status
StartedOpen
MitigatedSolved
ResolvedSolved
Available statuses: New, Open, Pending, Hold, Solved, Closed.

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Update a Zendesk Ticket

This action updates an existing Zendesk ticket.
When a Create a Zendesk Ticket action runs, Rootly stores the resulting ticket ID on the incident record. Reference it in subsequent update actions using Liquid variables.
FieldDescriptionRequired
NameDisplay name for this workflow action
Ticket IDZendesk ticket ID to update. Supports LiquidYes
SubjectUpdated ticket subject. Supports Liquid
PriorityUpdated priority
StatusUpdated ticket status
Custom Fields MappingUpdated custom field values as JSON
Ticket PayloadAdvanced JSON merged into the Zendesk ticket update payload
This action links a Zendesk ticket to a Jira issue using the Zendesk-Jira integration.
FieldDescriptionRequired
NameDisplay name for this workflow action
Jira Issue IDNumeric ID of the Jira issue. Supports LiquidYes
Jira Issue KeyKey of the Jira issue (e.g. ENG-123). Supports LiquidYes
Zendesk Ticket IDZendesk ticket ID to link. Supports LiquidYes

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Inbound Events (Zendesk → Rootly)

When the integration is installed, Rootly registers a webhook and trigger in Zendesk to receive ticket events. Each event creates a Rootly alert with the following fields:
Rootly Alert FieldZendesk Source
Summary[New ticket] {ticket.title}
External IDticket.id
Alert labels:
LabelZendesk Field
idticket.id
typeticket.type
priorityticket.priority
accountticket.account.name

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Zendesk Marketplace App

The Rootly app for Zendesk brings Rootly directly into the Zendesk agent interface. With the Marketplace app, agents can:
  • Create Rootly incidents directly from a Zendesk ticket
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  • View, search, and attach recent Rootly incidents in Zendesk
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  • View active or related Rootly incidents and attach them to the Zendesk ticket
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Troubleshooting

Verify that the authorized Zendesk account has permission to create tickets. If the type is incident, check that your Zendesk plan supports incident-type tickets. Confirm the subject field is not empty.
Tags are only set during ticket creation. To manage tags on existing tickets, use the Ticket Payload field to send a tags update directly in the Zendesk API format.
Confirm the webhook and trigger were registered successfully during installation. In Zendesk, check Settings > Webhooks and Business Rules > Triggers to verify Rootly entries exist and are active.

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Uninstall

To remove the Zendesk integration, open the integrations panel in Rootly and select Configure > Delete. Rootly will remove the registered webhook and trigger from your Zendesk account on deletion.