Using the Make API call step in an AI agent for messaging (Legacy)

In this article, we’ll walk you through the procedures involved in including and configuring the step in an AI agent for messaging.


What's my plan?






All Suites

Team, Growth, Professional, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus








This article describes functionality that moved into legacy
status on February 2, 2025. On December 10, 2026, this functionality will no longer
be available. For more information, see this announcement.

The Make API call step allows you to configure an API call out to
another system, such as an internal CRM or ERP, or to push conversation details to an
external endpoint, like Amazon Event Bridge or Google Analytics.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the procedures involved in including and configuring the
step in an AI agent for messaging.
For an overview of the Make API call step and its configuration rules, see Understanding AI agent step types: Make API call.
This article includes the following sections:


Adding a Make API call step to your AI agent
Adding API details
Saving variables from the API response
About the step branches




Adding a Make API call step to your AI agent


Adding the Make API call step to your AI agent includes a number of distinct tasks.
The procedures below assume you have already created an AI agent for messaging, and are adding
this step to that AI agent.
Note: If the system being called doesn't respond
within 10 seconds, the call will time out.

To add a Make API call step

In Admin Center, click
AI in the sidebar, then select AI agents > AI agents.
Click the name of the AI agent you want to edit.
Click the Answers tab, then create a new answer or open an existing
answer.
In bot builder, click the Add step icon where you want to insert the step, either at the
end of a branch, or between two existing steps.
In the Configuration panel, click
Make API call.
Enter descriptive information for the step.

Name: A name for the call that makes it easy for your team to
identify.

Description (optional): A short description of the action
taken by the call.

This information will not be visible to customers.

Continue with the procedure described in Adding API details.





Adding API details

Use the API details section to configure the HTTP call you want to make including the
HTTP request method, location of the external resource, and adding headers if
needed. The steps below are a continuation of the procedure in the previous
section.
The API calls you configure here originate from Zendesk public IP addresses. To help
ensure these calls work as expected, make sure you configure your firewall settings
as needed. For more information, see Configuring your firewall for use with Zendesk.
To add the API details

In the Configuration panel, click
API details.
Select a Request method:


GET retrieves an external resource from the API service.
This is the most commonly used method.

POST sends data to create a resource in an external
system. If the resource already exists, the data sent modifies the
resource.

PUT sends data to update a resource.

PATCH sends data to update a resource at an external site. It
is used to apply partial modifications to the resource.

DELETE removes the resource at the external location.



Enter an Endpoint URL. The endpoint URL is the location of the external resource you
are connecting to. The endpoint URL supports the
https://protocol. You can include variables in the URL's path or query string
values. For more information, see Passing variables in an API call.

Optionally, select a connection to authenticate the API call.

Note: You must
create a connection
before using
it in the
Make API call
step.


If needed, enter the key and value for an optional header.
Important: Don't use
headers for authentication. Use API connections instead. Make API call
steps that include authentication-related headers, such as
authorization or x-api-key,
automatically fail. If a Make API call step fails, the
conversation follows the step's API call failed
branch.


Click Make API Call to test the API call. If variables are added to the step's URL or header,
you can include optional test data to your external service to check if the
API call is working as expected. Note this will make an HTTP request to the
configured endpoint URL.




Passing variables in an API call

When you enter an
Endpoint URL for an API call, you can include
variables
in the URL's path or query
string values. This lets you pass data from the conversation to the external
system.
For example, a messaging AI agent can prompt a customer to provide an order number using an
Ask for details step. The AI agent can then use a Make API
call step get the shipping status for the order from your online
store.
You can't use variables in the domain or subdomain of an endpoint URL. The
following table includes examples of valid and invalid
Endpoint URL values.







Valid Endpoint URL


Invalid Endpoint URL






https://myshopify.com/admin/api/orders/order_number.json Retrieve
an order by specifying the order ID from Shopify.



https://domain.com/api/search?input=value
Variables can’t be added to domain/subdomain




https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place?input=city_name
Retrieve a location by keyword searches from Google’s places
API.


https://example.com/api/search?key=value
Variables can’t be added to query string key





If a variable is invalid or empty, the AI agent skips the variable during a conversation.


Note:
Variable values are
not
auto-translated. Keep this in mind if you
use automatic translation in your messaging conversations.






Saving variables from the API response

After configuring details and testing the API call, you can save values from the API call's JSON
response as variables. You can save up to 12 variables in a Make
API call step. Only the first 280 characters of a variable's value are
saved.
To create a variable from the Response data

In the Configuration panel, click
Make API call.
Expand the accordion and identify the data from external system that you want to
turn into a variable.


Tip: Switch to the Response body tab to
view the raw response that has came back from the external
system.



Click
Save.
Give the new variable a name. Variable names must include only lowercase letters, numbers, and
underscores.





Passing array variables in an API call

You can pass array variables using
Make API call
and providing a URL
to the external system. The external system must have an API endpoint. An API
endpoint is a URL where the API receives requests and sends responses, allowing two
systems to interact. Responses are rendered in the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)
format, as shown in the following
example.
{
"info": {
"count": 50,
"pages": 2,
"next": "https://mycompany.com/api/orders?page=2",
"prev": null
},
"results": [
{
"id": 1052,
"name": "Alexander Cummings",
“address”: “123 MyStreet”,
"Item": "belt",
"price": "15.00",
"image": "https://mycompany.com/api/orders/avatar/1.jpeg",
…


Only the first items in the array variable are displayed in Admin Center to help
visualize what data is returned. For example, in the above JSON output,
id,
name,
address,
item,
price, and
imageare
all displayed. This data is typically passed to a carousel, however the carousel can
display only up to 10 items.

Note: Only the first 280
characters of a property value appear in the response.


Nested JSON arrays can also be saved as array variables. For example, given
the following JSON output,
lastnameand
firstnamecan be saved as separate array
variables.
"name":
{
"lastname": "Cummings”,
"firstname": “Alexander"
},


You cannot edit the array or array values within the carousel configuration
in Admin Center. If you need to change any data, you must delete the array in Admin
Center and create a new one.
If the returned variable is null, the item is not displayed in the carousel. For example, in the
following scenario, suppose the value of the variable
{{customer.order}} is empty. For card 1, the card will be
rendered with a partial title of "Order number". For card 2, the resulting title is
empty so card 2 will not be rendered.
Card 1
Title: Order number {{customer.order}}
Description: Here's your order {{product.description}}

Card 2
Title: {{customer.order}}
Description: Here's your order {{product.description}}



Example

In this example, an array variable is created using an API endpoint that returns an array of
orders. The orders array is specified by the "results" property in the following API
response snippet.

{
"info": {
"count": 5,
"pages": 1
},
"results": [
{
"createdAt": "July 10, 2023",
"name": "Connie Stokes",
"Shippingaddress": "123 Street, City, State",
"order": {
"Status": "Ordered",
"Image": "https://images.pexels.com/photos/1484808/pexels-photo-1484808.jpeg"
},
"Quantity": 1,
"Price": 45,
"Item": "Shirt",
"id": "1"
},
…

This example uses Make API call to create the array variable and then uses a
dynamic carousel to display the results to an end user.

To create the array



In the Configuration panel, click
Make API call.
Enter
orders
for the name.
In the Configuration panel, click
API details.
Click the Request method dropdown and select GET.
Enter the URL for the Endpoint URL.
For Authentication, select your authentication method. For more information, see Creating connections to integrate with external
services.

Click
Make API call.
Click
Save
next to results.


From the Value dropdown, select Order and then Image. Use the default
variable name (image).

Click Add item and repeat the step above to create items for Order Status and
Item. You can add up to 12 items (or key-value
pairs).


Click
Save.



To create the dynamic carousel

In bot builder, click Add step under API call successful and
select Add carousel.
In the Configuration panel, click Convert to dynamic message.
In the Array dropdown, click results. This is the array that
you created above.
For title, click the plus sign and select results.item. You can
enter up to 128 characters for the title and description.

For Button link, click the plus sign and select
results.image.
For Button text, click the plus sign and select
results.status.
For Image link, click the plus sign and select
results.image.
Click Done.



Here's an example dynamic carousel.






About the step branches

The Make API call step is a branching step. Adding this step splits the AI agent responses
depending on whether the API request was successfully executed.
The AI agent will move down the failure branch in the following cases:
The API returns a 400 or 500 response code.
One of the saved variables is missing or has a null
value.


The AI agent will move down the success branch in all other cases.


If you use the Make API call step, you acknowledge that the external
system that you connect with is a Non-Zendesk Service (as defined in the Zendesk Customer Agreement). Zendesk
does not operate or control the Non-Zendesk Services enabled through the use of
the bot builder extensions feature and Zendesk is not responsible for the legal
or regulatory compliance obligations of you or the Non-Zendesk Services.



{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "TechArticle",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4572971586586",
"url": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4572971586586",
"headline": "Using the Make API call step in an AI agent for messaging (Legacy)",
"description": "You can configure an AI agent to make API calls to external systems, handle responses, and use the data within messaging conversations, with detailed steps for setup and variable management provided.",
"articleSection": "Using bot builder to create answers (Legacy)",
"datePublished": "2022-05-02T18:29:36+00:00",
"dateModified": "2026-05-12T16:34:16.628983+00:00",
"inLanguage": "en-US",
"mainEntityOfPage": {
"@type": "WebPage",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4572971586586"