Working with a helpdesk (Pylon, Zendesk)

If the workspace has Pylon or Zendesk connected, tickets from the helpdesk are mirrored into Clad as regular issues. Nothing changes for your agent: the same issue tools work on them, no helpdesk-specific tools or scopes needed.

• Read and triage — search_issues, get_issue, set_issue_status, set_issue_priority, assign_issue, set_issue_tags all work on mirrored tickets. New customer messages arrive via the helpdesk's webhook within seconds.
• Reply — reply_to_issue delivers the reply into the helpdesk itself, as the workspace's connected support seat. The customer sees it in Pylon or Zendesk (and by email if that's the ticket's channel). The result's delivery field is pylon or zendesk on success.
• Internal notes — reply_to_issue with isInternal: true stays in Clad and is never written to the helpdesk.

Two things to know before replying:

1. The connection must be in Assist mode. In Observe mode Clad never writes to the helpdesk; the tool returns a FORBIDDEN error saying so. An admin switches modes in Settings → Integrations — this is enforced server-side, so there is no way around it from the agent.
2. Sends are idempotent. Retrying the same reply to the same customer message never double-posts; the duplicate returns delivery: pylon_deduplicated / zendesk_deduplicated.

How this relates to Clad's built-in agents

Clad also ships its own agents for helpdesk workspaces, and they run in two places: the Clad app, and the Clad panel embedded inside the Zendesk ticket sidebar / Pylon issue view. The panel is where human agents run code and billing investigations on the ticket they're viewing, turn findings into a suggested reply, approve it, and file tracker tickets — all without leaving the helpdesk. Clad also auto-drafts suggested replies on new customer messages, which teammates approve in Clad or in the panel.

The same workflow is exposed to external agents too — see Investigations, drafts & escalation for running investigations, reviewing and approving drafts, and filing tracker tickets over MCP. Customer messages and approved replies all land in the issue's message thread, so get_issue gives an external agent the same conversation your team sees.

That's the whole model: connect your helpdesk in Clad once (Settings → Integrations, or the guided setup under Agents), connect your agent to this MCP server, and the agent can work the helpdesk queue end to end — triage, investigate, draft, reply, escalate — without a helpdesk API integration of its own.