Question
I'm not familiar with the API and don't know how to write code. What can I use to perform requests with the Zendesk REST API
Answer
Disclaimer: Postman is a 3rd party tool and is not supported or maintained by Zendesk. This article is provided for instructional purposes only.
Zendesk recommends using Postman, an app to make requests to APIs, edit parameters, and check responses.
To make an API request in Postman
- Download and install the Postman application. There is no need to sign up. Bypass any sign-up screen.
- Open the application.
- Authenticate your requests in the Authorization tab and select Basic Auth from the drop-down. Add your Zendesk username and password:
Make requests by copying-and-pasting API commands. Replace {{subdomain}}
with your actual subdomain in all requests.
For a more detailed description of how to set up Postman to make API requests, see the article: Exploring Zendesk APIs with Postman.
12 comments
Mohamed Katib
Can API token be used instead of Basic Auth in Postman as I wish to test the tokens. Thanking you in advance
0
Erica Girges
Thanks for posting your question to the Community. You can absolutely use your generated API token to access Zendesk API's. With any request in Postman, you'll just set Authorization as the key in your header then for the value you'll put Basic {email_address}/token:{api_token}. You'll want to ensure your API token is base 64 encoded first.
Hope this helps!
Best,
Erica - Dev Support
0
Mohamed Katib
Hi Erica, thank you for the response. I am unsure what type I should be setting in the Authorization tab in Postman. I tried using API Key but no luck. I also tried to use No Auth and added what yo have suggested to the header, again no luck.
Thank you
Regards
Mohamed
0
Erica Girges
That does sound a little strange. I can go ahead and pull you into a ticket to take a better look. Please look out for that email correspondence from me.
Best,
Erica - Dev Support
0
Norman Nolasco
I had trouble getting this to work as well. The docs aren't quite right.
Postman Settings
Type: Basic Auth
Username: {email}/token
Password: {your_api_token}
4
Mohamed Katib
Hi Norman,
Fantastic, this works perfectly.. nice one.
1
Prasad Patil
Hi Erica Girges
i am new to Postman, want to test Zendesl support API using Postman, i have generated Key in Zendesk but could't move further.
i tried above steps in postman using authorization as API key,but still m getting error:could't authenticate you.
In postamn authorization their are three values. Key,Value,Add to
could you elaboreate more what to enter here & any other setting to be taken care ?
Appreciate your help here,Thanks in advance.
0
Mohamed Katib
Hi Prasad,
The API Key does not seem to work, or I couldn't get it to work with Postman. Norman Nolasco kindly advised me of what to do and it has worked without any issues. You have to change your Authorisation Type to 'Basic Auth', not intuitive and seems incorrect but it works. You'll need an profile set up in Zendesk with a valid email address. I have created an account just for API calls and given it the required role/privileges.
Type: Basic Auth
Username: {email}/token
Password: {your_api_token}
I hope this helps
0
Prasad Patil
Thanks Mohamed Katib.
0
Sara del Rosario
For anyone who is as clueless as me. This is how I made it work:
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First select the Authorisation tab, then select Basic Auth within the Type dropdown list. Now let's fill in the following information under Username and Password.
Username: {email}/token
Password: {your_api_token}
For example:
Username: youremail@domain.com/token
Password: uyviuyvoubpuigq8fvoufybcqoiquhg8t8x5c
5
Ben Wilcox
Thank you, Sara. I've been trying every article I can find and have not found anything that would work until your simple screenshot and instructions. (Zendesk, take note... this is the kind of documentation we need to get this kind of thing kicked off!)
Really appreciate your taking the time to post this.
1
Mitchell Oliver
Thank you Sara – I wouldn't have guessed that in 100 years.
0