Zendesk MCP

Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Zendesk Support — connect AI agents in Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop, watsonx Orchestrate, and IBM Code Engine to 14 ticket tools (create, search, assign, close, comments, metrics). Install: npx @markusvankempen/zendesk-mcp-server · pip install zendesk-mcp-server-py

zendesk · mcp · cursor · github-copilot · claude · ai-agents · customer-support · helpdesk · watsonx-orchestrate · typescript · python

Generic Zendesk integration for AI agents via the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Ships TypeScript and Python server implementations plus deployment examples for IDEs, IBM Code Engine, and watsonx Orchestrate.

Author: Markus van Kempen
Email: markus.van.kempen@gmail.com · mvk@ca.ibm.com
Website: markusvankempen.github.io
No bug too small, no syntax too weird.

Overview

Zendesk MCP exposes 14 support-ticket operations as MCP tools so AI agents in Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop, watsonx Orchestrate, and IBM Code Engine can manage tickets through natural language.

The core design solves requester attribution: tickets are created with the real customer as requester (not the API service account), so Zendesk email replies route correctly.

graph TB
    subgraph clients [MCP Clients]
        Cursor[Cursor / VS Code]
        WxO[watsonx Orchestrate]
        CE[Code Engine / Remote]
    end

    subgraph servers [Servers]
        TS["TypeScript npm"]
        PY["Python FastMCP"]
    end

    ZD[Zendesk REST API v2]

    Cursor -->|stdio| TS
    WxO -->|stdio| PY
    CE -->|SSE| TS
    CE -->|SSE| PY
    TS --> ZD
    PY --> ZD

📖 Documentation hub → docs/ · MCP config examples → examples/mcp/ · Public vs private repo → docs/PUBLIC_REPO.md · Contributing → CONTRIBUTING.md · Security → docs/SECURITY.md

Related MCP server: zendesk-mcp

Documentation reference

Complete index of every markdown file in this repository.

Root

Core documentation (docs/)

Package READMEs (packages/)

Deployment READMEs (deployments/)

Quick navigation by topic

Repository layout

zendesk-mcp/
├── docs/                         # Documentation hub
│   ├── README.md                 # Start here
│   ├── ide/                      # IDE setup guides (local + remote)
│   ├── reference/                # ARCHITECTURE, TOOLS, FILES
│   ├── guides/                   # SCENARIOS
│   └── deployments/              # Deployment index
├── packages/
│   ├── zendesk-mcp-server/       # TypeScript MCP server (npm)
│   └── zendesk-mcp-server-py/    # Python MCP server (FastMCP)
├── deployments/
│   ├── vscode-extension/         # VS Code / Cursor / Open VSX extension
│   ├── code-engine/              # IBM Code Engine (SSE) + mcp-client JSON
│   └── watsonx-orchestrate/      # WxO toolkit + 4 role agents
└── .github/workflows/            # CI + npm/marketplace publish

Quick start (TypeScript / npm)

export ZENDESK_SUBDOMAIN=your-subdomain
export ZENDESK_EMAIL=agent@example.com
export ZENDESK_API_TOKEN=your_token

npx @markusvankempen/zendesk-mcp-server

One-click install: Cursor · VS Code — then set your ZENDESK_* credentials in MCP settings.

Copy-paste setup: Bob · Antigravity (no install deeplink yet — use examples/mcp/):

Add to your IDE config — copy from examples/mcp/:

Or use the VS Code extension — it stores your API token in OS keychain and writes MCP config automatically. See deployments/vscode-extension/README.md.

Before pushing to GitHub, run npm run check:secrets — see docs/SECURITY.md.

Quick start (Python)

pip install zendesk-mcp-server-py

export ZENDESK_SUBDOMAIN=your-subdomain
export ZENDESK_EMAIL=agent@example.com
export ZENDESK_API_TOKEN=your_token

zendesk-mcp-server-py

MCP tools (14)

→ Full tool reference with parameters & examples

Deployments

watsonx Orchestrate — role agents

cd deployments/watsonx-orchestrate
./deploy_and_test.sh                              # full deploy + E2E
RUN_LIVE=1 ./run_agent_scenarios.sh               # 17 role scenarios

Requester attribution (key design)

sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
    actor User
    participant WxO as WxO Agent
    participant MCP as MCP Server
    participant ZD as Zendesk

    User->>WxO: "Create a ticket — account locked"
    Note over WxO: wxo_email_id available
    WxO->>MCP: create_ticket(requester_email=wxo_email_id)
    MCP->>ZD: Find/create user + create ticket
    ZD-->>MCP: ticket_id=42, requester=real customer
    MCP-->>WxO: JSON result
    WxO-->>User: "Ticket #42 created"

Connection credentials (ZENDESK_*) authenticate the API. User identity (wxo_email_id) is mapped by the agent into tool arguments — the MCP server never sees WxO session context directly.

→ Full scenarios documentation

Development

npm install
npm run build          # TypeScript server + VS Code extension
npm run build:server   # TypeScript server only
npm run build:extension

Credentials

Never commit .env files or API tokens.

Reference implementation

Extracted and generalized from WxO-ToolBox/vsc/test_tools/zendesk_mcp_server. See docs/reference/FILES.md for lineage mapping.

→ All documentation · task.md (original requirements)

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md and CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md.

License

Apache License 2.0

Links

• npm: @markusvankempen/zendesk-mcp-server

• PyPI: zendesk-mcp-server-py

• GitHub (docs): markusvankempen/zendesk-mcp

• MCP examples: examples/mcp/

More from the author

Part of the open-source toolkit at markusvankempen.github.io — alongside WxO Agent MCP, Maximo MCP Server, Code Engine MCP Server, and WxO Builder MCP Server.

Topics & keywords

zendesk · zendesk-api · zendesk-mcp · zendesk-support · zendesk-tickets · mcp · mcp-server · model-context-protocol · cursor · claude · claude-desktop · github-copilot · vscode · vscode-extension · open-vsx · ai-agent · ai-agents · tool-calling · function-calling · llm-tools · customer-support · customer-service · helpdesk · help-desk · service-desk · support-tickets · ticketing · crm · watsonx · watsonx-orchestrate · ibm-cloud · ibm-code-engine · typescript · python · fastmcp · stdio · sse · npx · npm-package · automation

Author: Markus van Kempen
Email: markus.van.kempen@gmail.com · mvk@ca.ibm.com
Website: markusvankempen.github.io
No bug too small, no syntax too weird.

Public distribution repo — server source is not included. Install via npx -y @markusvankempen/zendesk-mcp-server or pip install zendesk-mcp-server-py. See docs/PUBLIC_REPO.md for the private dev workflow.