Announcing support for custom objects and action labeling in action flows

Announced on | Rollout starts | Rollout ends
May 13, 2026 | May 13, 2026 | May 14, 2026

Zendesk is excited to announce a significant enhancement to action builder that allows admins to leverage custom objects directly within action flows.

This announcement includes the following topics:

What is changing?

Why is Zendesk making this change?

What do I need to do?

What is changing?

Action builder now supports custom objects natively. This means admins can build more sophisticated, automated action flows that leverage custom data within Zendesk. Specifically, this release includes:

Custom object action flow triggers: Action flows can now be initiated based on changes to custom object records, including record creation, updates, and deletion, or when a specific field is modified.

Custom object actions: New Zendesk actions related to custom objects make it possible for action flows to create, update, create or update, delete, and look up custom object records.

Action and trigger labeling: To improve clarity, admins can now add custom labels to any action within action flows.

Together, these enhancements open up more use cases. For example, you can now create action flows initiated by object record updates, such as a product being registered; the action flow could then gather warranty information and sends an email to the customer thanking them for registering. Another new use case is AI-powered workflows, such as returns initiated by the customer that send the return request and product details to an AI assistant to determine whether the request requires approval from a manager.

Why is Zendesk making this change?

As businesses grow, their data becomes more complex. Zendesk wants to empower admins to bridge the gap between their unique data structures in custom objects and automated business logic. Adding custom object actions natively to action builder removes the need for complex workarounds and reliance on webhooks for simple data operations.

Additionally, as workflows increase in complexity, the new labeling feature ensures that your team can easily read, maintain, and troubleshoot your automated workflows at scale.

What do I need to do?

These features are being rolled out to all customers with access to custom objects and action builder. To get started, create or update action flows to incorporate custom object actions and add custom step labels. See Creating action flows to automate processes across Zendesk and external systems.

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.