Announcing the removal of AI agents - Essential and legacy functionality: Important dates and migration guidance

Announced on | Development ends | Removal on
June 23, 2026 | August 31, 2026 | December 10, 2026

This announcement applies to customers currently using AI agents - Essential or legacy AI agent functionality, such as bot builder and autoreplies with articles. This announcement does not apply to customers who previously purchased the AI agents - Advanced add-on.

We announced on March 30, 2026 expanded access to our most advanced AI agent capabilities for all Zendesk customers. As part of this, we will be removing the existing AI agents - Essential experience and legacy AI agent functionality (including bot builder, answers, and intents) in favor of advanced functionality included in the upgraded AI agent experience.

This transition ensures every customer can fully benefit from our more powerful AI agent experience, built to support more complex automation and a more consistent customer experience.

This announcement answers the following questions:

What’s changing?

Why is Zendesk making this change?

What do I need to do?

What’s changing?

AI agents - Essential and legacy AI agent functionality are being removed. You will need to migrate to the upgraded AI agent experience, which includes agentic capabilities that were previously available only through the AI agents - Advanced add-on.

Please carefully review the following key dates:

Beginning August 31, 2026, the legacy experience enters maintenance mode. Zendesk will stop technical development except for critical bug fixes and supporting breaking changes.

On December 10, 2026, AI agents - Essential and legacy functionality will be removed. Any AI agents left on this technology will no longer function.

It is recommended that all customers currently using AI agents - Essential or legacy AI agent functionality migrate to the upgraded AI agent experience before August 31, 2026 to avoid disruption. Step-by-step migration documentation is linked in the What do I need to do? section of this announcement to support each configuration type.

Please note that as you begin benefiting from these changes, you may see changes in the number of automated resolutions (ARs) as you begin using upgraded capabilities. Because pricing is tied to outcomes, changes in the number of automated resolutions may impact your overall usage and associated costs. Your existing AR overage configuration will continue to be respected.

Why is Zendesk making this change?

We’re making this change to ensure all customers can begin benefiting from the full power of our latest AI innovations. After adopting the upgraded AI agent experience, you’ll be able to automate more complex requests, resolve issues faster across channels, and scale support with expanded access to agentic capabilities, ultimately helping you deliver more resolutions with less effort.

What do I need to do?

You must migrate your essential or legacy AI agents to the upgraded AI agent experience before December 10, 2026. However, we strongly recommend that you migrate even sooner—before August 31, 2026—to avoid any potential disruption.

We’ve created tailored migration guidance for each type of legacy functionality to ensure you have clear, step-by-step instructions based on your specific setup. This can be leveraged to begin migrating your experience today.

Looking for additional support? Zendesk Professional Services support is available to guide and assist your migration, helping ensure a smooth transition to the upgraded AI agent experience with minimal disruption. Contact your account team to learn more. If you do not have a dedicated account team, reach out to ssam@zendesk.com or start a conversation with our messaging widget.

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.