Answers to the questions we are asked most often about the Swifteq MCP Server for Zendesk.
In this Article
What does the MCP Server cost?
What happens when we reach the free allowance?
Do I need a subscription to another Swifteq app?
Which AI assistants can I use?
Can I use an API key instead of signing in?
Does everyone on my team need their own Swifteq account?
Does the MCP Server respect Zendesk permissions?
Can I restrict it to certain groups or brands?
Can I stop the AI assistant making changes for everyone?
Can I make the MCP Server read only for one person?
Can it reply to customers automatically?
Can it create tickets?
Can it link incident tickets to a problem ticket?
Can it merge duplicate tickets?
Can it draft a reply without sending it?
Can it attach files and screenshots to replies?
Can it read attachments and screenshots?
Can it read organizations and users?
Can it find a customer by phone number?
Can it work with macros?
Can it access Zendesk Explore or Help Center traffic?
Can it report on SLAs?
Can it review our Zendesk AI agent's conversations?
Can I connect more than one Zendesk account?
Can I send feedback through my AI assistant?
How do I get help?
What does the MCP Server cost?
Each Zendesk account has 500 free calls per month, shared by everyone using the MCP Server with that Zendesk account. The Team plan is €49 per month for each Swifteq account with unlimited calls and one seat included, plus €9 per month for each extra seat. Annual is €490 per year plus €84 per extra seat, and can be paid by card or by invoice, with your PO number on the invoice if you need one. A seat is for one named person, and the account owner decides who holds one. Refer to MCP Server Pricing and Free Allowance.
What happens when we reach the free allowance?
Once your Zendesk account has used its 500 calls in a month, further requests are refused until the allowance resets on the 1st or one of your Swifteq accounts subscribes, and your AI assistant tells you why. You get a heads-up in your AI assistant from 80% of the allowance. If you have decided to subscribe but are waiting on a purchase order, email support@swifteq.com and we can extend the date for your account.
Do I need a subscription to another Swifteq app?
No. The MCP Server does not require any other Swifteq app. If you are asked about a different subscription, you are probably looking at another Swifteq app, such as Help Center Manager.
Which AI assistants can I use?
Any AI assistant that supports MCP with OAuth. We support Claude (Web, Desktop and Code) and ChatGPT, and Cursor, VS Code and Microsoft Copilot Studio also work. Gemini does not currently work. Refer to Requirements and Supported AI Assistants for the MCP Server.
Can I use an API key instead of signing in?
No. Signing in with OAuth is the only method available today. Long-lived tokens for unattended automation are a frequent request, and we are considering them.
Does everyone on my team need their own Swifteq account?
No, and it is cheaper if they do not. Invite colleagues to your Swifteq account with their own Zendesk login, so their own Zendesk permissions apply. Each person still adds the MCP Server to their own AI assistant. Refer to Inviting Team Members to the MCP Server.
Does the MCP Server respect Zendesk permissions?
Yes. The AI assistant can only see what the connected Zendesk user can see, including Private Groups. For people on their own Zendesk login, that is their own Zendesk user.
Can I restrict it to certain groups or brands?
Not in the MCP Server itself. Use Zendesk permissions instead: put people on their own Zendesk login so their own role applies, or authorize with a Zendesk user that has exactly the access you want.
Can I stop the AI assistant making changes for everyone?
Yes. An account owner can turn off Allow any changes in Zendesk in the Settings tab. It applies to everyone on the account straight away, without anyone reconnecting. Refer to Write Permissions for the MCP Server.
Can I make the MCP Server read only for one person?
Yes. On the Users page, an account owner can restrict what each person is allowed to change: all changes, public replies, publishing articles, changes to users and organizations, changes to macros or merging tickets. You can also invite someone as read only from the start. The person is told which restriction applies when an action is refused, and can narrow their own permissions further, but not widen them. Refer to Write Permissions for the MCP Server.
Can it reply to customers automatically?
No. The MCP Server does not generate replies or run on a schedule. It only acts when you ask your AI assistant. If public replies are allowed, your AI assistant can post a public reply when you ask it to.
Can it create tickets?
Yes. The AI assistant can create a ticket for someone already in Zendesk, for a new person from their email address, or as an internal ticket from you. The first comment is a private internal note unless you ask for a public one, which needs public replies to be allowed. Creating a ticket for an email address that is not in Zendesk yet needs Allow changes to users and organizations. It can also CC people on a new ticket that starts with a public comment, and add or remove CCs on existing tickets. Files can be attached to the first comment. Refer to Replying to Tickets and Updating Help Center Articles with the MCP Server.
Can it link incident tickets to a problem ticket?
Yes. The AI assistant can link tickets that report the same issue to a problem ticket as incidents, unlink them, and list a problem's incidents. When a problem ticket is solved, Zendesk also solves its open incidents and adds the same comment to each, so your AI assistant has to confirm that before it goes ahead. Refer to Replying to Tickets and Updating Help Center Articles with the MCP Server.
Can it merge duplicate tickets?
Yes, once an account owner turns on Allow merging tickets, which is off by default. The AI assistant finds likely duplicates from the same customer, shows you which tickets it would merge into which and waits for your yes, then merges them with an internal note on each. It only merges tickets from the same requester, and a merge cannot be undone in Zendesk. Refer to Replying to Tickets and Updating Help Center Articles with the MCP Server.
Can it draft a reply without sending it?
Zendesk does not support draft ticket comments. Ask your AI assistant to add the proposed reply as an internal note, for an agent to review and send.
Can it attach files and screenshots to replies?
Yes. The AI assistant can attach files to public replies, internal notes and new tickets, and place images such as screenshots inside the text. Files already in Zendesk, for example one a customer sent on another ticket, can be attached from any AI assistant. Files on your computer need an AI assistant that can run commands, such as Claude Code. Refer to Replying to Tickets and Updating Help Center Articles with the MCP Server.
Can it read attachments and screenshots?
Yes. The AI assistant can list the attachments on each message and download them, up to 20 MB. Images are returned in a form that AI assistants that support images can read.
Can it read organizations and users?
Yes. The AI assistant can look up organizations and users, including their custom fields and external IDs, and can include each ticket's organization and requester when it searches tickets. It can find them by tag too, for example the end users tagged vip. If an account owner allows it, it can also add people to organizations, for example to move a ticket to the right organization. Refer to MCP Server Tools and Limits.
Can it find a customer by phone number?
Yes, when the number is stored as a tag on the user, for example for contacts synced from another system. Ask for the customer with that mobile number and the AI assistant searches the user tags. It can also match the last digits of the number, for when the tag has a prefix such as mobile_ or the number was saved without the country code. The phone number field on a user's profile cannot be searched yet, but it is shown with every user the AI assistant finds.
Can it work with macros?
Yes. The AI assistant can find macros by what they say, including their reply text and translations, read what they do and how often they were used, and preview or apply a macro on a ticket. Applying a macro adds its reply as an internal note unless the macro is set to reply publicly, which needs public replies to be allowed. Once an account owner turns on Allow changes to macros, it can also create macros, reword or change them, and deactivate or reactivate them. It cannot delete macros. Refer to MCP Server Tools and Limits.
Can it access Zendesk Explore or Help Center traffic?
No. Zendesk does not provide Explore data or Help Center article views through its API. But the AI assistant can report the ticket metrics most support dashboards use, such as first reply time, resolution time, reopens, replies per ticket and one-touch rate, from Zendesk's own ticket metrics. It can also count tickets split by status, group, channel, a drop-down field, CSAT rating, week or month in one request, including your CSAT score, and report SLA achievement from your Zendesk SLA policies. The figures can differ slightly from Explore, which updates later. Refer to MCP Server Tools and Limits. For Help Center traffic and article views, you can use Swifteq Help Center Analytics.
Can it report on SLAs?
Yes, from your Zendesk SLA policies. The AI assistant can report SLA achievement for a period: the achieved and breached targets and the percentage achieved for each SLA metric, such as first reply time and next reply time, split by group, agent, priority, week or month, with the breached tickets listed. Each target counts once, so a ticket with three customer follow-ups has three next reply targets. It can also list the open tickets that have breached a target or are about to, most urgent first, and show the SLA targets of any ticket. The figures cover the tickets your Zendesk login can see. Zendesk stops returning SLA details for tickets that are closed and not updated for about 120 days, so keep each month's figures when the month closes. Refer to Known Limitations of the MCP Server.
Can it review our Zendesk AI agent's conversations?
Yes, read only, for Zendesk AI agents on messaging and email. The AI assistant can list the messaging tickets your AI agent resolved alone or escalated to a person, and the ones Zendesk counted as automated resolutions. In each conversation it sees which messages the AI agent wrote, and whether and when a person took over, so it can check whether the customer really got an answer. For example: List last week's tickets our AI agent resolved alone, and flag any where the customer didn't actually get an answer. Tickets an agent took over from the AI agent, and email AI agent tickets, are recognized one ticket at a time but cannot be searched. Refer to Known Limitations of the MCP Server.
Can I connect more than one Zendesk account?
Each Swifteq account connects to one Zendesk account. If you have several brands in one Zendesk account, the MCP Server can work with all of them.
Can I send feedback through my AI assistant?
Yes. Ask your AI assistant to send Swifteq feedback, for example "Send Swifteq feedback that I'd like to schedule ticket follow-ups." It may also offer to send feedback when it cannot do something you asked. It always shows you what it will send and sends it only after you agree, and it is asked to leave out ticket content and personal data. Nobody replies to feedback, so for help please contact Swifteq support. Refer to Using the MCP Server.
How do I get help?
Contact Swifteq support using the Live Chat or email support@swifteq.com. Include which AI assistant you use, the exact error message or a screenshot, and when it happened. We work through issues by email rather than calls, and the exact error message is usually the fastest way to a fix.