# Zendesk knowledge base

Connect your Zendesk Guide over OAuth as an authenticated knowledge source, so the agent can sync help center articles that sit behind a customer login and keep them current.

**Path:** Agent Studio → Knowledge → Sources → **+ Add Source** → **Help Center** → **Zendesk**

The Zendesk connector syncs your **Zendesk Guide** help center articles into the agent's [Knowledge](/user-guides/knowledge-base/) over Zendesk's API, with no crawling. You authorize it with **OAuth**: Foldspace redirects you to Zendesk to sign in and approve **read-only** access to your help center, so there's no API token to copy or store. You can revoke that access at any time from Zendesk. Because it signs in rather than crawls, it supports **gated knowledge bases**, which are commonly kept behind a customer login.

This is the Zendesk **knowledge** connection. It's separate from the Zendesk **support handoff**, which lives in Integrations. See [Zendesk](/user-guides/integrations-zendesk/).

## Before you start

- A Zendesk account with **Guide** enabled and published articles.
- Permission to approve an OAuth authorization for your Zendesk instance, or someone who can approve it while you set the source up.

## Connect

From the knowledge article list, click **+ Add Source**, choose **Help Center**, then pick **Zendesk**. The connector opens a three-step wizard: **Connect → Sections → Details**. The **Current configuration** panel on the right tracks your choices as you go.

### 1. Connect

Enter your Zendesk **subdomain**, the `acme` in `acme.zendesk.com`. This is the **account** you sign in on. Then, if you run more than one brand:

- **Sync a specific brand's help center** (optional). If your Zendesk hosts several brands, turn this on and name **that brand's subdomain** in the **Brand Subdomain** field. You sign in on the account subdomain, but the articles live on the brand's, so this points the sync at the right help center and only that brand's articles sync into this source. Leave it off if you run a single brand.

  For example, you might sign in on the account `acme` (`acme.zendesk.com`) but sync the help center for a brand hosted at `acme-eu.zendesk.com` by entering `acme-eu` as the brand subdomain. The **Current configuration** panel then shows **Zendesk Account** `acme.zendesk.com` and **Help Center** `acme-eu.zendesk.com`, so you can confirm the split before continuing.

When you continue, Foldspace sends you to Zendesk to **sign in and approve read access** to your help center. Foldspace only requests **read** access to your help center articles, and you can revoke it at any time from Zendesk.

### 2. Sections

After authorizing, choose which help center **sections** to bring in. Sections are grouped by their Zendesk **category**, and **everything starts selected**, so uncheck whatever you don't want to sync rather than building the list up. Use the **search** box to find a section by name, or **Unselect All** to start from an empty list. The **Selected sections** count, and the **Sections** total in the configuration panel, updates as you go.

Narrow the selection to the sections relevant to your agent so it doesn't retrieve from content it shouldn't surface. Published articles sync, including those gated behind a customer login; drafts and unpublished articles stay out.

### 3. Details

Set the remaining source details, including a unique **source name** so you can tell this connector apart from others in the source list, and whether to enable **weekly auto-resync** to keep articles current. Finish to start the first sync.

## After connecting

The source appears in the left sidebar under **Websites / Help centers**, and its articles populate the main article list with their **Synced** date. Confirm the expected articles pulled in before you rely on the agent to answer from them. See [Validating & improving](/user-guides/knowledge-validation/).

To refresh manually at any time, re-sync the source from its row. With **weekly auto-resync** enabled, edits your support team makes in Zendesk Guide flow in automatically once a week. To disconnect, revoke Foldspace's access from your Zendesk admin settings.

## Related

- [Adding knowledge sources](/user-guides/knowledge-sources/): all source types and how they sync.
- [Intercom knowledge base](/user-guides/knowledge-intercom/): the equivalent connector for Intercom Help Center.
- [Zendesk](/user-guides/integrations-zendesk/): using Zendesk for support handoff.