Using restricted help center content in AI agent responses

<body>
<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">To use restricted help center content in your AI agent, it's essential that you understand what constitutes restricted content, where you can use it in an AI agent, and the settings across Zendesk you need to consider and configure.</p>
<div class="article-banners">
<div id="docs-wmp-link">
<a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5411234991258-plan" rel="noopener" target="_blank">What's my plan?</a>
</div>

<div class="article-banner" id="suite_all">
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<strong>All Suites</strong>
</td>
<td>Team, Growth, Professional, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>

<div class="article-banner" id="support_all">
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<strong>Support</strong>
</td>
<td>Team, Professional, or Enterprise</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>

</div>

<div class="body">

<p class="p">To use restricted help center content in your AI agent, it's essential that you
understand what constitutes restricted content, where you can use it in an AI agent, and
the settings across Zendesk you need to consider and configure.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">In this article, we’ll explain these concepts and tasks and direct you to
Zendesk resources that can help you incorporate restricted help center content into your
AI agent. You may find that not all of the suggestions in this article apply to your
configuration; just use the information that applies to your use case.</p>
<p class="p">This article includes the following topics:</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="restricted_content-bots__ul_jxv_5cr_vcc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_f4y_3br_vcc">About restricted content</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_xld_jbr_vcc">Authenticating end users</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_f4y_3br_vcc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">About restricted content</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">There are two ways you can restrict content in your help center:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_f4y_3br_vcc__ul_yf3_nbr_vcc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Using the </strong><strong class="ph b"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408825656474-Configuring-Guide-settings#topic_psl_kyf_gjb" target="_blank">Require sign-in option</a></strong>, which
restricts all content in the help center to authenticated and signed-in end
users.<ul class="ul" id="topic_f4y_3br_vcc__ul_rdn_g1f_g2c">
<li class="li">AI-generated answers will be available only for end users who are signed
in to your help center.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Setting view permissions</strong> (on Suite Growth plans and above) to restrict
access to specific <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408824005914" target="_blank">articles</a>. Access to <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6136330813722" target="_blank">categories and sections</a> is based on
article settings.<ul class="ul" id="topic_f4y_3br_vcc__ul_mgb_31f_g2c">
<li class="li">Restricted articles are used in AI-generated answers only for end users
whose user segment(s) match the article’s view permissions.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">When you apply restrictions to one of these elements, they apply to all
elements below it in the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408846795674#topic_ol5_3fd_43" target="_blank">help center hierarchy</a>:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_f4y_3br_vcc__ul_zf3_nbr_vcc">
<li class="li">When <strong class="ph b">Require sign-in</strong> is selected in Knowledge admin security settings,
the entire help center is restricted; all categories, sections, and articles are
also restricted and require users to sign in for access. </li>
<li class="li">When an article is restricted, all comments in that article are
also restricted, and users must sign in for access.
</li>
<li class="li">When all articles in a section are restricted, that section only
appears to signed-in users.
</li>
<li class="li">When all sections in a category are restricted, that category only appears to
signed-in users.</li>
</ul>
<div class="p">
<div class="note" id="topic_f4y_3br_vcc__note_lxf_k3p_xjc">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> You cannot test AI agent answers that rely on restricted
content in the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357758879130#topic_k2d_l4l_khc" target="_blank">test widget</a>.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_xld_jbr_vcc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Authenticating end users</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">End users may be able to view restricted content in a help center using a simple
sign-in procedure. However, to view restricted content through an AI agent, you need
to take additional steps to be authenticated by Zendesk.</p>
<p class="p">To view restricted help center content in an AI agent on a messaging channel:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_xld_jbr_vcc__ul_g25_ybr_vcc">
<li class="li">The end user must already exist as a user in your Zendesk
account.
</li>
<li class="li">The end user must be <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4411666638746" target="_blank">authenticated via messaging JWT</a>,
including <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4411666638746#topic_cqt_xzx_1bc" target="_blank">mapping them to user records</a>.</li>
<li class="li">The <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408893887002" target="_blank">external ID</a> passed via the JWT
authentication must be associated with the user in Zendesk via the external ID field.<div class="p">
<div class="note" id="topic_xld_jbr_vcc__note_qlj_st1_zgc">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Optionally, you can <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9495852479770" target="_blank">turn on help center
authentication</a> to automatically associate user identities
with end users logged in to the help center.</div>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">To view restricted help center content in an AI agent on an email or web form
channel:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_xld_jbr_vcc__ul_j51_tt1_zgc">
<li class="li">The end user must be part of a <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408837707290" target="_blank">user segment</a> that has viewing
permissions for the article.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<script id="docs-schema-markup" type="application/ld+json">{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "TechArticle",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8087943201306",
"url": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8087943201306",
"headline": "Using restricted help center content in AI agent responses",
"description": "You learn how to use restricted help center content in AI agent responses by configuring sign-in, view permissions, and end-user authentication for messaging, email, or web form channels.",
"articleSection": "Configuring generative replies in AI agents",
"datePublished": "2024-09-25T17:20:18+00:00",
"dateModified": "2026-07-15T12:48:44.959971+00:00",
"inLanguage": "en",
"mainEntityOfPage": {
"@type": "WebPage",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8087943201306"
},
"author": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Zendesk",
"@id": "https://www.zendesk.com"
},
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Zendesk",
"@id": "https://www.zendesk.com"
},
"isPartOf": {
"@type": "WebSite",
"name": "Zendesk Help",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/"
},
"about": {
"@type": "SoftwareApplication",
"name": "Zendesk",
"@id": "https://www.zendesk.com",
"softwareAddOn": {
"@type": "SoftwareApplication",
"name": "AI agents",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/sections/8988994355994"
}
}
}</script>
</body>