How to Connect ElevenLabs Agents to Freshdesk

What the integration does

Connect an ElevenLabs agent to Freshdesk to look up support information and help handle tickets. Decide whether you need tools during a conversation, event-triggered replies, or both:

• Tools : Allows agents to look up support requests and contact information, search the help system, post feedback or internal notes, and create new support requests during the conversation.
• Triggers : Allow agents to automatically respond to new support requests or customer feedback within existing support requests. These responses will be posted as administrator replies (via the Freshdesk Conversations API) or as internal notes (when "shadow mode" is enabled).

Supported features and limits

Connect Freshdesk

1. Get your Freshdesk API key.

In Freshdesk, click on your profile picture (in the upper right corner) → Profile settings . Your API key will be displayed below the password change section. Copy this key.

2. Find your Freshdesk subdomain.

This is the part that appears before the .freshdesk.com extension in your portal URL. For example, if your portal is acme.freshdesk.com, then your subdomain is acme.

3. Connect in ElevenLabs

On the ElevenLabs with Freshdesk integration page, click Connect  and provide the following information:

• API Key : Token obtained from step 1.
• Subdomain : The subdomain is taken from step 2.

ElevenLabs uses HTTP Basic authentication, where your API key acts as your username and the "X" character acts as your password – this is Freshdesk's standard authentication mechanism.

4. Turn on the trigger (optional)

If you want agents to automatically respond to customer activity on support requests, enable the Freshdesk Ticket Event trigger and select:

• Agent : The ElevenLabs AI agent that should handle the incoming conversation.
• Responder : The Freshdesk agent identity that the bot will use to post the response.
• Shadow Mode (optional): When enabled, the agent will create a private note for the employee to review instead of sending a public response.

When you activate this trigger, ElevenLabs will automatically create an automation rule in your Freshdesk account. This rule will send data (POST) to the webhook whenever a new support request is created or a customer submits feedback. If you disable the trigger, this rule will also be deleted. You do not need to perform any manual action in the Freshdesk admin.

Order of automation rules for new support requests: Freshdesk executes Ticket Creation automation rules in top-down order. The system only runs the first rule that matches the conditions of the new support request, then stops. If you already have other Ticket Creation rules that match the same ticket type and are above the ElevenLabs rule, our rule will never be triggered, resulting in the agent being unable to respond to new support requests. If this happens, go to Admin → Workflows → Automations → Ticket Creation and move the rule ElevenLabs agent …above the conflicting rules. (The triggers for responding to support requests are in the Ticket Updates category – where all matching rules apply – so this feature only affects responses to new support requests).

Shadow mode

You can enable "shadow mode" for a trigger in Freshdesk to allow agents to compose responses without sending them directly to the customer. When this mode is enabled, agent responses will be saved as "internal notes" within the support request instead of being public. Only Freshdesk agents can view these internal notes; the person who sent the support request will not receive notifications.

Freshdesk currently does not offer a dedicated API for composing support request responses. Instead, you can use the internal note-taking feature: a staff member can copy the suggested response into the ticket reply editor, edit it, and send it.

Shadow mode only affects how the agent posts responses. If the agent uses tools that can modify the support request (e.g., change the status, add tags, or assign the support request), those changes will still take effect. To avoid unintended changes, you should use a separate branch for the agent that removes tools for editing support requests.

Shadow mode is very useful for evaluating the quality of an agent's work before official deployment. You can review internal notes along with actual customer feedback to compare accuracy and writing style, then turn off Shadow mode when you are completely confident in the output.

Test before allowing public replies

1. Start with shadow mode enabled and a test ticket containing no private customer information.
2. Check that a new ticket and a customer reply each trigger the intended agent.
3. Confirm the response appears as a private note, with the correct ticket context and no invented account details.
4. Try a question that depends on an attachment. Since attachments are not passed to the agent, it should request help rather than claim it read the file.
5. Inspect any status, tag, or assignment changes separately: shadow mode does not block modifying tools.

If new tickets do not trigger a response but replies do, inspect the Ticket Creation rule order before changing other settings. Check existing business rules before moving the ElevenLabs rule, because changing order can affect other ticket workflows.

Review the official Freshdesk integration instructions for current options. For broader tool configuration, see external MCP tools for ElevenLabs and ElevenAgents conversation-control tools.