Overview
Once Intercom is connected to Cevanos, your AI agent can look up a customer's conversations and read the replies on them. It can also search your Help Center, and start, reply in, close and reopen conversations inside the helpdesk your team already uses.
Unlike a Custom Action, you do not define the actions yourself. Cevanos supplies a fixed set of 9: 5 reads and 4 that change something. You choose which of them your agent gets.
The journey at a glance
- 1Find IntercomOpen Integrations, search for Intercom and click Connect.
- 2Connect IntercomSet your region if needed, sign in to Intercom and approve.
- 3Check the Intercom pageSee the Connected status, field mapping, activity and health.
- 4Choose what it can doTick Workspace and This agent, then Save capabilities.
- 5Set up Actions and approvalsCheck what can run and which actions wait for approval.
- 6Try itTest in the Playground with a customer question.
Before you start
You need two things:
- An Intercom account that is allowed to approve the connection.
- Where your Intercom workspace is hosted: us, eu or au. Your Intercom address tells you: app.intercom.com is us, app.eu.intercom.com is eu and app.au.intercom.com is au.
No API key
There is nothing to register and nothing to paste. Intercom uses a sign-in and approve screen.
Step 1
Find Intercom
- 1In the Cevanos dashboard, open your agent and click Integrations in the left sidebar.
- 2Type Intercom in the search box, or look under the Helpdesk section.
- 3Check the badge on the card. Available means it is not connected yet.
Result
You are ready to connect. Click Connect to start the next step.
Step 2
Connect Intercom
Connecting is done once for the whole workspace. The pop-up has two screens, Before you start and Approve access. The sign-in and approval happen on Intercom's own page.
2a. Before you start
- 1Click Connect on the Intercom card. The Connect Intercom pop-up opens.
- 2Region (optional): leave it blank if your Intercom workspace is in the US. Otherwise type eu or au.
- 3Click Connect Intercom.
Nothing is saved yet
Nothing is saved until you approve access, and you can stop anywhere.
2b. Approve access in Intercom
- 1Cevanos sends you to Intercom's own page. Sign in with your email and password if it asks you to.
- 2Approve the access Cevanos asks for.
2c. Connected
- After you approve, Intercom sends you back to Cevanos.
- On the Integrations page, search for Intercom. The badge now says Connected and the card shows Choose what it can do.
If it fails
Check that the region (us, eu or au) matches your Intercom address, and that you signed in with an Intercom account that is allowed to approve the connection. Then click Connect Intercom again.
Result
Intercom is connected for the workspace, but nothing it can do is switched on yet.
Step 3
Check the Intercom page
Click the Intercom card on the Integrations page to open the Intercom page.
- 1Read the header: the status (Connected), the category (Helpdesk) and the Choose what it can do button.
- 2Field mapping lists the fields Cevanos is allowed to read. If a field is not listed, it is never read. On a fresh connection it says “Nothing mapped yet”.
- 3Activity shows the calls the agent has made, kept for 30 days. After connecting it shows one row, “Checked the connection”.
- 4Permissions granted shows what Intercom granted and what Cevanos requested.
- 5Health shows the calls in the last 7 days. Click Test connection to check that Cevanos can still reach Intercom.
Result
You can confirm Intercom is connected. Use Test connection at any time to check that Cevanos can still reach Intercom.
Step 4
Choose what it can do
Click Choose what it can do on the Intercom card or page. A pop-up lists the 9 capabilities. Each row has two checkboxes: Workspace and This agent.
Right after connecting, Workspace is not ticked on any row, and This agent is ticked on every row except “Close a conversation”. Only what is ticked in both columns actually runs.
- 1Workspace: tick it for each capability Intercom is allowed to supply at all. This applies to every agent in the workspace.
- 2This agent: tick it for each capability this agent should use.
- 3Tick or untick under Reads (look something up) and Does (change something).
- 4Click Save capabilities, or Cancel to leave without changes.
Result
The capabilities you ticked in both columns can now run. If you leave Workspace unticked, the next step shows them as stopped by your administrator.
Step 5
Set up Actions and approvals
The Actions page shows what the agent actually has, and lets you decide which changes need a person to approve them first.
- 1In the left sidebar, click Actions. Under Helpdesk, find the Intercom card. It shows how many actions are on, how many are Reads or Does, and how many cannot run.
- 2Click the card. A panel slides in from the right.
- 3Use the filter chips (All, On, Reads, Does, Waits for approval, Cannot run) to narrow the list.
- 4In the box “When this agent does something on Intercom”, choose Run without approval or Wait for approval for the Does actions.
- 5Each action has its own switch. Each Does action also has a dropdown, which defaults to “Waits for approval — Same as the system”.
Right after connecting
Until you tick Workspace and save in the previous step, the card shows “8 cannot run” and each action carries a red “Stopped by your administrator” tag. The tags go away once Workspace is ticked and saved.
Result
You know which Intercom actions can run, which wait for approval, and which are stopped.
Step 6
Try it
- 1Open the Playground for your agent.
- 2Make sure the conversation has a matched customer. The conversation actions need one.
- 3Ask something that should trigger an Intercom action, such as the examples below.
- 4For an action that changes something, check the Pending actions list if you chose Wait for approval.
- 5Back on the Intercom page, the Activity table shows each call and its result.
| Ask | What to check |
|---|---|
| “Where is my conversation?” | The agent looks up the matched customer's conversations, and the call appears in Activity. |
| “Please start a conversation about my broken charger.” | If you chose Wait for approval, the request appears in Pending actions before the conversation is started. |
Result
Your agent works with Intercom conversations for the customer it has matched, within the approvals you set.
Reference
What Intercom can do
Intercom supplies 9 capabilities: 5 reads and 4 that change something. Only searching the Help Center is open to anyone; everything else needs a matched customer.
9 capabilities · 5 reads · 4 that change something
- Anyone can ask
Search the Help Center
intercom.search_articles - Matched customer
Find this customer's conversations
intercom.list_my_conversations - Matched customer
Read one conversation
intercom.get_conversation - Matched customer
Read the replies on a conversation
intercom.get_conversation_parts - Matched customer
Find this customer
intercom.find_contact
- Matched customer
Start a conversation
intercom.create_conversation - Matched customer
Reply in a conversation
intercom.reply_to_conversation - Matched customer
Close a conversation
intercom.close_conversation - Matched customer
Reopen a conversation
intercom.reopen_conversation
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to check |
|---|---|
| Connecting fails | Check that the region (us, eu or au) matches your Intercom address, and that you signed in with an Intercom account that is allowed to approve the connection. Then click Connect Intercom again. |
| Actions say “Stopped by your administrator” or the card shows “cannot run” | Workspace is not ticked. Open Choose what it can do, tick Workspace for the capabilities you want and click Save capabilities. |
| “Close a conversation” is missing | It starts with This agent unticked. Tick both Workspace and This agent for it in Choose what it can do, then save. |
| A conversation action does not run | Conversation actions need a matched customer. Make sure the conversation has one. |
| Cevanos may not be reaching Intercom | Click Test connection on the Intercom page. |
Optional
Disconnect Intercom
- 1Open the Intercom page and scroll to the red Disconnect box. Click Disconnect Intercom.
- 2A pop-up asks “Disconnect Intercom?”. It says how many agents are affected.
- 3Click Yes, disconnect to continue, or Cancel to keep it connected.
- 4The Intercom card goes back to Available with a Connect button. Repeat the Connect step to connect again.
Your data stays
Disconnecting removes Cevanos's access to Intercom immediately. Nothing is deleted in Intercom.
Ready to connect Intercom?
Open your agent's Integrations and click Connect on the Intercom card.