Announcing active responder set only for significant end user events in Sunshine Conversations

Announced on | Rollout starts | Rollout ends
December 11, 2025 | January 5, 2026 | January 12, 2026

Zendesk is excited to announce an update to how Sunshine Conversations determines a conversation’s active responder. With this change, the system will only assign an active responder for events that require a response from a bot or agent—specifically those initiated by end users or certain significant webhook triggers.

This announcement includes the following topics:

What is changing?

Why is Zendesk making this change?

What do I need to do?

What is changing?

Zendesk is updating how Sunshine Conversations assigns an active responder when certain events occur within a conversation.

Previously, whenever an event occurred in a Sunshine Conversations conversation without an active responder (meaning, when activeSwitchboardIntegration was undefined), the system would automatically compute and assign a default responder. This assignment would happen for all types of events—including those initiated by the business, such as business messages, and for events that do not require a specific responder, like typing activities.

With this update, Sunshine Conversations will only compute and assign an active responder for events that are likely to require a direct response from a bot or agent—typically those initiated by end users or certain significant webhook triggers. After the change, the active responder will only be computed for the following webhook events:

conversation:create

conversation:referral

conversation:postback

conversation:message, when the author.type is user

passthrough:messaging

passthrough:apple:interactive

passthrough:apple:extension

All other events - for example, conversation:message when the author.type is business - will no longer trigger the computation of an active responder. If a conversation doesn’t currently have an active responder, these events will leave it unassigned. For events that are dispatched in a conversation without an active responder, all switchboard integrations will be treated as standby for the conversation, and will follow the Event delivery rules.

Zendesk anticipates that this change will have minimal impact, as most accounts follow the default configuration and do not rely on active responders for non-switchboard or business-initiated events. Only those accounts that have customized their switchboard setup and built integrations that depend on an active responder being assigned for such events may be affected, but this scenario is considered unlikely.

Why is Zendesk making this change?

With the introduction of per-channel responders, automatically assigning a default responder in response to business-initiated events can disrupt customer workflows. For example, by assigning the wrong bot to a conversation. By updating the system to compute switchboard assignment only for significant events initiated by the end user, Zendesk ensures that per-channel behavior is applied accurately and active responder assignment remains consistent.

This update also resolves a longstanding issue where sending closing messages from the business after a ticket was closed would trigger unnecessary switchboard reassignment and unintentionally reactivate a conversation.

What do I need to do?

For most customers, this change will be seamless and requires no action. Existing conversations and integrations will continue to work as before. Only customers relying on the assignment of an active responder for business-initiated or non-switchboard events may see an impact, though such cases are very rare. If you believe your account may be affected and need more time to adjust, Zendesk can accommodate requests to delay the rollout.

This update makes Sunshine Conversations more predictable and efficient by ensuring that active responder logic applies only to relevant conversation events.

If you have feedback or questions related to this announcement, visit our community forum where we collect and manage customer product feedback. For general assistance with your Zendesk products, contact Zendesk Customer Support.