Connecting external content sources to an AI agent to power AI-generated answers (Legacy)

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">After youcreate an AI agent, you can configure the content sources it uses to create AI-generated answers to customer questions.</p>
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<div class="note attention" id="ess_knowledge_sources__note_jrk_fgn_3hc">
<span class="attentiontitle"></span> <span class="ph">This article describes functionality that moved into
legacy status on July 31, 2025. On December 10, 2026, this functionality will no
longer be available. For more information, see <a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10487730059034" target="_blank">this announcement</a>.</span>
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<p class="p">After you <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408824263578" target="_blank">create an AI agent</a>, you can configure the
content sources it uses to create AI-generated answers to customer questions. </p>
<p class="p">You must be an admin to configure content sources for an AI agent. </p>
<p class="p">This article contains the following topics: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="ess_knowledge_sources__ul_w1q_ygn_3hc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_cx3_rgn_3hc">About content sources</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_arz_5gn_3hc">Viewing all connected content sources</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_l1v_wgn_3hc">Connecting an external content source</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_rzt_xgn_3hc">Disconnecting an external content source</a></li>
</ul>
<p class="p">Related article: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="ess_knowledge_sources__ul_d1g_bhn_3hc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9543022336794" target="_blank">Configuring an AI agent's brand and
channels</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_cx3_rgn_3hc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">About content sources</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Content sources are the information your AI agent uses to generate answers to
questions from your customers. Adding content sources to your AI agent lets it
generate answers to help customers without requiring you to script every response. </p>
<p class="p">Your Zendesk help center is your default content source. It’s automatically connected
to your AI agent when you select a brand while creating your AI agent. You can
change which help center your AI agent is connected to (this is done by <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9543022336794#topic_lnq_mbt_dgc" target="_blank">changing the AI agent’s brand</a>), but your
AI agent must always have exactly one connected Zendesk help center. An AI agent
cannot be connected to multiple Zendesk help centers at the same time. </p>
<p class="p">You can also connect additional, external content sources to your AI agent. This is
helpful if the information you want to power your AI agent’s generative answers is
already contained in a different platform besides your Zendesk help center. </p>
<p class="p">You can connect the following different types of external content sources to an AI
agent: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_cx3_rgn_3hc__ul_z1x_jhn_3hc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Web crawler</strong>: A web crawler connects external website content to your AI
agent. You must first <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4593564000410" target="_blank">set up a web crawler</a> in Knowledge
admin before you can connect it to your AI agent. An AI agent can be connected
to multiple web crawlers at the same time. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Confluence</strong>: A Confluence connection connects a Confluence space to your
AI agent. You must first <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9796599390874" target="_blank">set up a Confluence connection</a> in
Knowledge admin before you can connect it to your AI agent. An AI agent can be
connected to multiple Confluence spaces at the same time. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">External records</strong>: The Federated Search API connects external records to
your AI agent. You must first <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408830243482#topic_n5q_nvc_x4b" target="_blank">configure Federated Search API calls</a>
before your AI agent can use these external records. </li>
</ul>
<p class="p">You can connect multiple types of content sources to a single AI agent. For example,
an AI agent can be connected to a Zendesk help center and one or more web crawlers
and Confluence spaces at the same time. </p>
<p class="p">The web crawler refreshes content every 30 minutes. Confluence connections refresh
content every 24 hours, but you can <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9796584600218#topic_x2c_xlb_xgc" target="_blank">manually refresh Confluence content</a> if
needed. External records ingested through the Federated Search API refresh based on
your configuration.</p>
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</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_arz_5gn_3hc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Viewing all connected content sources</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">In your AI agent’s settings, you can view all the content sources currently connected
to it. The AI agent will use these sources to generate answers to customer
questions. </p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To view all connected content sources</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_arz_5gn_3hc__ol_qgf_xhn_3hc">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_arz_5gn_3hc__d9e1351" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/icon_ai.png">
<strong class="ph b">AI</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">AI agents &gt; AI agents</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click the name of the AI agent you want to update. </li>
<li class="li">Click the <strong class="ph b">Settings</strong> tab. </li>
<li class="li">Click the <strong class="ph b">Brand and channels</strong> section to expand it.<p class="p">Under Brand, the
help center of the brand selected in the dropdown is used as the AI
agent’s default content source.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_arz_5gn_3hc__image_tj3_h3n_3hc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/aiae_brands_and_channels_brand_dropdown.png" width="450"></p>
Below that, the External
content sources section shows all external content sources connected to your
AI agent.<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_arz_5gn_3hc__image_nqm_33n_3hc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/aiae_brands_and_channels_external_content_sources.png" width="600"></p>
</li>
</ol>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_l1v_wgn_3hc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Connecting an external content source</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can connect an external content source to an AI agent so it uses the information
from that source when generating answers to customer questions. </p>
<p class="p">The available types of external content sources are web crawlers, Confluence spaces,
and external records ingested through the Federated Search API. Before you can add
an external content source to your AI agent, you must have already <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4593564000410" target="_blank">set up a web crawler</a>, <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9796599390874#topic_ftg_xjt_wgc" target="_blank">set up a Confluence connection</a>, or <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408830243482#topic_n5q_nvc_x4b" target="_blank">configured a Federated Search API
call</a>.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To add an external content source source</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_l1v_wgn_3hc__ol_wgk_k3n_3hc">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_arz_5gn_3hc">In the list of content
sources</a>, click <strong class="ph b">Edit sources</strong>.<p class="p">A new dialog
opens.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_l1v_wgn_3hc__image_its_t3n_3hc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/aiae_external_content_sources_select.png" width="450"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Select one or more external content sources you want to connect your AI
agent to.<p class="p">If you don’t see the source you want, click either <strong class="ph b">Manage
crawlers</strong> or <strong class="ph b">Manage Confluence</strong> to be taken to Knowledge
admin to <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4593564000410" target="_blank">set up a new web crawler</a> or
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9796599390874#topic_ftg_xjt_wgc" target="_blank">set up a new Confluence
connection</a>. Or, <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408830243482#topic_n5q_nvc_x4b" target="_blank">configure a Federated Search API
call</a>.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.<p class="p">The selected sources are added to your list of external
content sources.</p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p class="p">Updates to the AI agent’s connected content sources won’t be presented to customers
until you <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/7232810932250" target="_blank">publish the AI agent</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_rzt_xgn_3hc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Disconnecting an external content source</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can disconnect an external content source from an AI agent to prevent it from
using the information in that source when generating answers to customer
questions.</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="note" id="topic_rzt_xgn_3hc__note_un3_cjn_3hc">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> You can’t disconnect a Zendesk help center. An AI agent
must always be connected to one Zendesk help center. </div>
</div>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To disconnect an external content source</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_rzt_xgn_3hc__ol_acz_cjn_3hc">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_arz_5gn_3hc">In the list of content
sources</a>, click <strong class="ph b">Edit sources</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Deselect the external content source you want to disconnect from your AI
agent.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p class="p">Updates to the AI agent’s connected content sources won’t be presented to customers
until you <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/7232810932250" target="_blank">publish the AI agent</a>.</p>
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