Countdown to 31 December 2026
December 2026 is over. Zendesk migrates Essential agents not yet moved in January 2027 and legacy agents from early February 2027, with some exceptions.
63% of the time since Zendesk’s announcement is gone.
Zendesk names the month, not a day. A planning date, not a confirmed cutoff.
You need to migrate. Let Nova do it, and upgrade while you’re at it.
Give your workflows to Nova, the AI operator in Typewise. It sets up an AI concierge that resolves what it can and hands the rest to your team. Keep Zendesk or replace it, your choice. The migration is free.
Free setup for what your bot does today. Using Typewise afterwards is a normal subscription.
After December, Zendesk migrates Essential agents left behind in January 2027 and legacy agents from early February 2027, with exceptions. Sources: removal notice, removal list, migration guide. Checked 20 October 2026.
Give Nova your workflows. You decide what goes live.
Nova is the AI operator built into Typewise. You tell it in plain language what your support AI should do, and it sets that up as drafts for your team to check. For teams leaving Zendesk’s legacy AI agents, the migration setup is free.
This is what our Zendesk bot does for returns today, and these are the help center articles it links to. Set up the same in Typewise. Refunds over €100 go to a person.
I drafted a Returns Specialist from what you sent, added the articles as knowledge and set refunds over €100 to hand off to your team. Nothing is live yet. Want me to write tests from last week’s return tickets before you publish?
Give Nova your workflows
Describe what your bot does today, or paste its flows and routing rules. Connect Zendesk, and your help center articles become knowledge Nova can use.
Nova prepares your setup
It drafts Specialists with their instructions and handoff conditions, adds your knowledge and configures actions. Everything lands as a draft, so customers see nothing yet.
Your team tests and publishes
Run tests against the drafts, including tests made from real tickets, and adjust what needs it. When you are happy, someone on your team publishes. Nova never publishes on its own.
An upgrade from a bot to a concierge.
Rebuilding the old flows somewhere else gets you back to where you are. Nova sets up something better: an AI concierge that understands the request, checks your systems and resolves it, or brings in your team when a person should decide.
- Describe it, don’t draw it. Specialists run on instructions in plain language. Nobody maintains a flowchart.
- It acts, not only answers. It looks up orders and accounts and takes approved actions in the tools you already use.
- One setup for email, chat and WhatsApp. Set it up once, with channel-specific instructions where you need them.
- People step in where it matters. Anything that needs a person goes to your team with the full conversation.
My order 4471 still hasn’t arrived and I need it before Friday.
- Looked up order 4471Shop
- Checked the shipmentCarrier
- Offered express reshippingNeeds approval
Your parcel is held at the depot. I can send a replacement by express so it arrives Thursday. A colleague confirms the reshipment in a moment.
Keep Zendesk, or leave it. Typewise works either way.
Keep Zendesk
Typewise works on top of it
Typewise connects to Zendesk, looks up ticket and customer details and makes approved updates. When a person is needed, the ticket goes to your agents in Zendesk. Your help center can be its knowledge.
Zendesk integration docs →Or leave it
Use the Typewise Inbox instead
Run your team’s inbox in Typewise too. Tickets that need a person land in the built-in Inbox with the full conversation. Start on top of Zendesk and switch later if you want.
Ticket management →- A plan plus a published rate per resolution. Partial resolutions count half, and tickets handed over without the AI acting cost nothing. Pricing →
- Hosted in Frankfurt and processed in the EU, with zero data retention at the model providers. Trust center →
- After the migration, Nova stays on: ask for a new Specialist or a stricter handoff rule and it drafts the change for you to test and publish. About Nova →
HealGreen moved its support AI from Intercom Fin to Typewise
“The ability to connect our existing systems and databases directly with Typewise was a game-changer. Nova, the AI Operator, made the onboarding incredibly fast, allowing us to go live in days.”
Hendrik Knopp, CEO, HealGreenRead the HealGreen story →Four dates, all from Zendesk.
- 23 June 2026
Zendesk announces the removal
AI agents Essential and the legacy AI agent functionality are going: bot builder, answers and intents, and autoreplies with articles. Customers who bought the AI agents Advanced add-on are not affected.
- 31 August 2026
Development ends
The legacy experience is in maintenance. Zendesk still fixes critical bugs and supports breaking changes, but builds nothing new for it.
- December 2026
Removal
Zendesk’s removal list and its migration guide both give December 2026, without a day. Plan to be done before the month starts.
- January and February 2027
Zendesk migrates what is left
Essential agents you have not migrated are moved for you in January 2027. Legacy agents follow from the beginning of February 2027. Both come “with some exceptions”, which Zendesk does not list.
Zendesk’s pages do not say how the December removal and the January and February migrations fit together, so this page treats December as the date to plan for. Sources: Removal notice for AI agents Essential and legacy functionality, What is being removed, Migrating to the new AI agents experience.
How much work it is depends on what you built.
01On AI agents Essential
There is a migration tool
Zendesk’s tool creates a new AI agent from an Essential agent’s settings, instructions, knowledge sources and channels. Past conversation logs and analytics stay behind, and an agent on both messaging and email becomes two agents, one per channel.
02On bot builder flows
Complex flows need more care
For answer flows with many branches or integrations, Zendesk strongly recommends its AI Expert offering for hands-on help. Either way, someone should check how the new agent handles real requests before it goes live.
- Your costs can change. Zendesk prices the new AI agents on automated resolutions and says the number of them may change once you migrate, and with it your usage and costs. Your existing overage setting stays. What that means depends on your contract, so ask before you switch.
- Only critical fixes until then. Since 31 August 2026 Zendesk fixes critical bugs and supports breaking changes, nothing more. New AI agent features go to the new experience.
Sources: Migrating Essential AI agents with the migration tool, Migrating to the new AI agents experience, Removal notice for AI agents Essential and legacy functionality.
Questions, answered.
Zendesk’s removal list and migration guide give December 2026, without a day. Development already ended on 31 August 2026. Zendesk’s removal notice adds that Essential agents you have not migrated are moved for you in January 2027, and legacy agents from the beginning of February 2027, both with some exceptions. The clock on this page counts to 31 December 2026 as a planning reference. It is not a cutoff Zendesk has confirmed.
AI agents Essential and the legacy AI agent functionality: bot builder, answers and intents, and autoreplies with articles. If you do not migrate autoreplies with articles, Zendesk says that from January 2027 the autoreplies are still sent but without article recommendations. Customers who bought the AI agents Advanced add-on are not affected.
Not always. For Essential agents Zendesk has a migration tool that carries over settings, instructions, knowledge sources and channels. Legacy agents with many or complex answer flows take more work, and Zendesk recommends its AI Expert offering for those. Whichever way you go, check how the new setup handles real requests before it goes live.
They can. Zendesk prices the new AI agents on automated resolutions and says the number of them may change after you migrate, which can change your usage and costs. Your existing overage configuration stays. The amount depends on your contract with Zendesk.
Your choice. Keep Zendesk and Typewise works on top of it: it looks up ticket and customer details, makes approved updates and hands tickets to your team in Zendesk when a person is needed. Or run your inbox in Typewise too, and handed-off tickets land in the built-in Typewise Inbox. You can start on top of Zendesk and change the handoff later.
Nova is the AI operator built into Typewise. You ask it in plain language to create or change Specialists, knowledge, handoff rules and actions, or to write and run tests. Every change it makes is a draft until a person on your team publishes it. Nova does not reply to customers. The AI Agent does that.
You give Nova your current workflows and knowledge, Nova prepares the Typewise setup, and your team tests and publishes it. There is no setup fee for moving what your current bot does today. Anything new, such as integrations you do not have yet, we scope with you on the call. Using Typewise afterwards is a normal subscription: a plan plus a published rate per resolution. If you decide not to go live, you owe nothing for the migration.
Give Nova your workflows.
Book a call to plan your free migration, or start a free trial and try Nova on your own setup. Keep Zendesk or leave it. No credit card.