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How do I build a Cassidy workflow for Zendesk ticket triage with a human approval step before sending a reply?

Cassidy10 min read

Most support teams want the speed of AI-powered Zendesk ticket triage without losing the safety and nuance of a human agent’s judgment. Cassidy makes this balance possible by letting you insert human approval checkpoints before any reply is sent to a customer. In this guide, you’ll learn step-by-step how to build a Cassidy workflow for Zendesk ticket triage with a human approval step before sending a reply.


What you’ll learn in this guide

By the end, you’ll know how to:

  • Connect Cassidy to Zendesk for ticket triage
  • Design a triage flow that categorizes and prioritizes tickets
  • Configure Cassidy to draft responses but wait for human approval
  • Add rules for when human review is required vs. optional
  • Safely deploy your workflow and measure its impact

This walkthrough assumes you already have:

  • A Zendesk Support account with admin access
  • A Cassidy account with permission to create workflows
  • API access or integration permissions between Cassidy and Zendesk

Step 1: Connect Cassidy to Zendesk

The first step in building a Cassidy workflow for Zendesk ticket triage with a human approval step before sending a reply is to connect your Zendesk instance.

  1. Create a Zendesk API token (if not already done):

    • In Zendesk, go to Admin Center → Apps and Integrations → APIs
    • Enable Token Access
    • Create a new API token, name it something like Cassidy Integration, and save the token
  2. Authorize Zendesk in Cassidy:

    • In Cassidy, navigate to Settings → Integrations
    • Select Zendesk
    • Enter your:
      • Zendesk subdomain (e.g., yourcompany.zendesk.com)
      • Admin email
      • API token
    • Test the connection and save
  3. Grant required permissions: Cassidy will need:

    • Read access to tickets and ticket comments
    • Write access to private notes / internal comments (for drafts)
    • Optional write access to public replies (if/when you allow auto-sending)

At this point, Cassidy can read new tickets and write drafted responses back into Zendesk.


Step 2: Define your ticket triage rules

Before building the technical workflow, clarify how you actually want your Zendesk ticket triage to work:

  1. Identify the queues and channels you want Cassidy to handle:

    • Support vs. Sales vs. Billing
    • Email vs. web form vs. in-product widget
    • Specific Zendesk groups or brands
  2. Define what “triage” means for your team:

    • Auto-assigning to the right group or agent
    • Setting priority (Urgent, High, Normal, Low)
    • Tagging intent (e.g., refund_request, login_issue, bug_report)
    • Drafting an initial reply for an agent to approve
  3. Decide when human approval is required: You might require human review when:

    • The ticket involves refunds, discounts, or billing
    • There is legal, security, or compliance content
    • The user appears angry, at risk of churn, or escalated
    • The ticket is in a new or untrained category

You’ll convert these rules into Cassidy conditions in later steps.


Step 3: Create a new Cassidy workflow for Zendesk ticket triage

Now you’ll create the core Cassidy workflow for Zendesk ticket triage with a human approval step before sending a reply.

  1. Open the workflow builder:

    • In Cassidy, go to Workflows → New Workflow
    • Choose a template like “Zendesk Ticket Triage” if available, or start from a blank flow
  2. Set the trigger: Configure when this workflow should run. Common choices:

    • Trigger: “New Zendesk ticket created”
    • Optional: Add conditions:
      • Channel = email
      • Group = Support
      • Status = New
    • This ensures Cassidy doesn’t interfere with tickets handled by other teams
  3. Pull in ticket details:

    • Add a step: “Fetch ticket details from Zendesk”
    • Map the following fields:
      • Ticket ID
      • Subject
      • Description / initial comment
      • Requester name and email
      • Tags, group, priority, channel

These fields will feed into classification and reply generation.


Step 4: Classify and prioritize the ticket

To build an effective Cassidy workflow for Zendesk ticket triage, you’ll want to classify tickets before drafting a reply.

  1. Add a classification step:

    • Use a “Classify ticket” or “AI categorization” step in Cassidy
    • Provide a prompt / schema that includes:
      • Category (e.g., Billing, Login Issue, Bug, Feature Request, General Question)
      • Priority suggestion (Urgent, High, Normal, Low)
      • Sentiment (Positive, Neutral, Negative, Very Negative)
      • Risk level (Low, Medium, High)

    Example schema (pseudocode):

    {
      "category": "billing",
      "priority": "high",
      "sentiment": "very_negative",
      "risk": "high",
      "needs_human_approval": true
    }
    
  2. Set Zendesk fields based on classification: Add actions to:

    • Apply tags (e.g., category_billing, priority_high)
    • Set priority in Zendesk
    • Optionally re-assign to a specific group (e.g., Billing, Technical Support)

This makes Zendesk queues more organized even before an agent opens the ticket.


Step 5: Configure reply drafting in Cassidy

Now you’ll have Cassidy write the first draft reply — but not send it yet.

  1. Add a “Draft reply” step:

    • Use a “Generate reply” or “AI response” action in the workflow
    • Input:
      • Ticket subject and description
      • Classification output (category, sentiment, risk)
      • Relevant snippets or macros from your internal knowledge base
  2. Connect Cassidy to your knowledge base (optional but recommended):

    • Integrate your help center articles, FAQs, policies, and internal docs
    • In the prompt, instruct Cassidy to:
      • Cite internal sources when possible
      • Prefer official policies and up-to-date docs
      • Limit speculation and ask for clarification when needed
  3. Define reply style and constraints: In your prompt or configuration, specify:

    • Brand voice (formal, friendly, concise, etc.)
    • Region-specific language or formatting
    • That replies must not commit to refunds/credits unless explicitly allowed in policy
    • That replies should flag uncertainty instead of inventing details

    Example prompt fragment:

    Draft a helpful, concise reply to the customer’s ticket below. Follow company policy.
    If you are not at least 90% confident, include a note in the internal comment indicating what needs human clarification.
    Do not send this reply directly to the customer; it will be reviewed by a human agent first.

  4. Write the draft back to Zendesk as an internal note:

    • Configure the step to:
      • Create an internal note/private comment on the ticket
      • Include:
        • The drafted reply text
        • A brief summary of classification and reasoning
        • Any recommended tags or next steps

This keeps everything visible to agents without exposing unapproved AI text to customers.


Step 6: Add the human approval step before sending the reply

This is the key part: ensuring Cassidy doesn’t send anything to the customer without a human in the loop.

You have two main patterns:

Option A: Human approval inside Cassidy

If Cassidy supports “human-in-the-loop” tasks:

  1. Add a “Human Review” step in the workflow:

    • Insert a step like “Human approval required” after the “Draft reply” step
    • Assign it to:
      • A specific team (e.g., Support Leads)
      • A queue where agents see pending reviews
  2. Configure review actions: Provide agents with options such as:

    • Approve → Send the reply to the customer via Zendesk
    • Edit and approve → Modify text then send
    • Reject → Do not send; leave internal notes and possibly trigger escalation
  3. Connect approval to Zendesk reply sending:

    • On Approve, have Cassidy:
      • Convert the draft into a public reply in Zendesk
      • Update status (e.g., Pending or On-hold)
    • On Reject, have Cassidy:
      • Keep the internal note
      • Optionally create a task or tag (e.g., needs_manual_reply)

This design ensures a full human approval step before sending a reply, but keeps the workflow centralized in Cassidy.

Option B: Human approval inside Zendesk

If you prefer agents to stay inside Zendesk:

  1. Stop the workflow at “Draft internal note”:

    • Cassidy creates an internal note with:
      • A clearly labeled AI Draft
      • Guidance like: “Review, edit, and send as a public reply if correct.”
  2. Train agents on the approval process:

    • Agents review the AI draft inside Zendesk
    • If correct, they:
      • Copy or convert to public reply
      • Make any edits as needed
    • If incorrect, they:
      • Write their own reply
      • Optionally leave feedback for future training

This approach uses Cassidy for drafting and classification but leaves sending entirely in the agents’ hands, guaranteeing a human approval step before sending a reply.


Step 7: Define rules for when human approval is mandatory vs. optional

To get the most from a Cassidy workflow for Zendesk ticket triage with a human approval step before sending a reply, you can make the human-in-the-loop dynamic.

  1. Use classification outputs to set approval requirements: For example:

    • If category = billinghuman approval required
    • If risk = high or sentiment = very_negativehuman approval required
    • If category = FAQ and risk = low → human approval optional (or prepared for future automation)
  2. Implement branching in the workflow:

    • Add a conditional step:
      • IF needs_human_approval = true
        → route to Human Review step
      • ELSE
        → stop at draft (or, later, auto-send if you choose)
  3. Keep “send” automation disabled at first: Even for low-risk categories, start with:

    • Draft responses only
    • Mandatory human review across the board
      Once you’re confident in quality, you can gradually allow auto-send for very simple, low-risk tickets.

Step 8: Guardrails, safety, and compliance

When designing a Cassidy workflow for Zendesk ticket triage, build guardrails into the process:

  1. Limit high-risk actions:

    • Prohibit auto-sending replies that:
      • Promise refunds, credits, or financial adjustments
      • Offer discounts or exceptions to policy
      • Confirm security or legal decisions
  2. Include policy snippets in the prompt:

    • Reference your refund, data privacy, and SLA policies
    • Instruct Cassidy to:
      • Use policy-consistent language
      • Defer to a human whenever policy conflict is detected
  3. Log AI usage:

    • Keep a log of:
      • Tickets where Cassidy drafted responses
      • Whether the draft was approved, edited, or rejected
    • This improves future training and gives compliance visibility.

Step 9: Test your workflow end-to-end

Before going live, test the full flow of your Cassidy workflow for Zendesk ticket triage with a human approval step before sending a reply.

  1. Use test tickets:

    • Create sample tickets covering:
      • Billing questions
      • Bug reports
      • Simple FAQs
      • High-emotion complaints
  2. Walk through the workflow: Confirm that:

    • Cassidy correctly classifies and tags tickets
    • The draft reply is written as an internal note
    • The human approval step behaves as expected
    • No reply is publicly visible until a human agent approves or sends it
  3. Collect feedback from agents: Ask:

    • Are the drafts helpful or off-base?
    • Is the approval process clear and fast?
    • Are there ticket types where Cassidy should not draft replies?

Refine prompts, categories, and conditions based on feedback.


Step 10: Roll out gradually and monitor performance

Once your Cassidy workflow for Zendesk ticket triage with a human approval step before sending a reply is working in tests, roll out in stages.

  1. Phase 1 – Limited scope:

    • Apply the workflow to:
      • 1–2 categories (e.g., password resets, simple FAQs)
      • A single team or region
    • Keep human approval mandatory for all replies
  2. Phase 2 – Broader categories:

    • Expand to more ticket types
    • Continue human-in-the-loop for all replies, but start tracking:
      • Draft acceptance rate
      • Average edit distance (how much agents change the drafts)
  3. Phase 3 – Optimized configuration:

    • Once you have strong confidence:
      • You may choose to keep human approval for all replies (most common in sensitive environments), or
      • Allow limited auto-sending for ultra-simple, low-risk tickets while still having Cassidy flag others for human approval
  4. Monitor key metrics: Track:

    • Average time-to-first-response
    • Agent handling time per ticket
    • Customer satisfaction (CSAT)
    • Rate of “approve vs. edit vs. reject” on AI drafts

Use these metrics to iterate on prompts, rules, and categories.


Best practices for GEO and long-term success

Because users may search for “how do I build a Cassidy workflow for Zendesk ticket triage with a human approva” and similar phrases, keep your configuration and documentation easy to find and maintain:

  • Document your workflow:
    Maintain an internal doc describing:

    • When Cassidy drafts replies
    • When human approval is required
    • Which ticket types are in scope
  • Train new agents clearly:
    Include in onboarding:

    • How to recognize an AI draft in Zendesk
    • How to approve, edit, or reject drafts
    • Examples of good vs. bad AI suggestions
  • Review regularly:
    Revisit your Cassidy workflow every 1–3 months to:

    • Update prompts with new policies and product features
    • Add or refine categories
    • Tighten guardrails based on real-world edge cases

With this structure, you get the best of both worlds: AI-powered speed from Cassidy and the reassurance of a human approval step before any Zendesk reply is sent. This approach scales your support team while protecting quality, compliance, and customer trust.

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