Zendesk Sunshine

Zendesk Sunshine is Zendesk's open, flexible CRM platform for modeling custom business objects and their data alongside standard Zendesk support data. The custom data API lets you define custom object types, store object records, and manage relationships between records, extending the Zendesk data model with information unique to your business.

Power end-to-end data operations for your Zendesk Sunshine API with Nexla. Our bi-directional Zendesk Sunshine connector is purpose-built for Zendesk Sunshine, making it simple to ingest data, sync it across systems, and deliver it anywhere — all with no coding required. Nexla turns API-sourced data into ready-to-use, reusable data products and makes it easy to send data to Zendesk Sunshine or any other destination. With comprehensive monitoring, lineage tracking, and access controls, Nexla keeps your Zendesk Sunshine workflows fast, secure, and fully governed.

Features

Type: API

SourceDestination

• Seamless API Integration: Connect to any endpoint as source or destination without coding, with automatic data product creation
• Visual Composition & Chaining: Build complex integrations using visual templates, chain API calls, and compose workflows with data validation and filtering
• API Proxy: Expose curated slices of your data securely with a secure and customizable API proxy that validates and transforms data on the fly
• Request optimization with intelligent batching, retry, and caching to minimize API calls and costs

Prerequisites

Before creating a Zendesk Sunshine credential, you need two pieces of information: an API token used to authenticate your requests and the base URL for your Zendesk instance. The Zendesk custom data (Sunshine) API is available on Support Enterprise plans and Zendesk Suite Team plans and above.

Nexla sends the API token as a bearer token in the Authorization header of each request, so you must supply an OAuth access token for your Zendesk account. To obtain your credentials, follow these general steps:

1. Sign in to your Zendesk account as an administrator.

2. Open the Admin Center and navigate to Apps and integrations > APIs > Zendesk API.

3. Register an OAuth client and generate an OAuth access token with the scopes required for the custom object types and records you plan to read or write. Copy the access token when it is displayed, as it may not be shown again.

4. Determine your base URL. Zendesk API endpoints follow the pattern https://{subdomain}.zendesk.com/api/v2, where subdomain is the subdomain of your Zendesk account.

5. Store the access token securely, as it grants access to your Zendesk data and should be treated as sensitive information.

For details about authentication, OAuth tokens, and the custom objects endpoints, see the Zendesk custom data API reference and the Zendesk security and authentication documentation.

Authenticate

Credentials required

Field	Required	Secret	Description
API Key	Yes	Yes	API token used to authenticate to the Zendesk Sunshine API.
Base URL	Yes	No	API base URL.

Create a credential in Nexla

1. After selecting the data source/destination type, click the Add Credential tile to open the Add New Credential overlay.

2. Enter a name for the credential in the Credential Name field and a short, meaningful description in the Credential Description field.

3. Enter your Zendesk API token in the API Key field. Nexla sends this value as a bearer token in the Authorization header of every request to the Zendesk Sunshine API, so it must be kept confidential.

4. Enter your Zendesk instance base URL in the Base URL field. This is the root URL for your Zendesk API, in the form https://{subdomain}.zendesk.com/api/v2, where subdomain is the subdomain of your Zendesk account.

   If your API token is compromised, revoke it in the Zendesk Admin Center and generate a new one. The token provides access to your Zendesk custom object data and should be treated as sensitive information.

   For detailed information about authentication and the available endpoints, see the Zendesk custom data API reference.

5. Click the Save button at the bottom of the overlay. The newly added credential will now appear in a tile on the Authenticate screen during data source/destination creation.

Use as a data source

To create a new data flow, navigate to the Integrate section, and click the New Data Flow button. Select the Zendesk Sunshine connector tile, then select the credential that will be used to connect to Zendesk Sunshine, and click Next; or, create a new Zendesk Sunshine credential for use in this flow.

Endpoint templates

Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure data sources to ingest data from common Zendesk Sunshine endpoints. Select the endpoint from which this source will fetch data from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Available endpoint templates are listed in the expandable boxes below.

List Limits

Retrieve limits.

• This endpoint template fetches the configured limits for your Zendesk Sunshine account, such as the maximum number of custom object types and records allowed on your plan.

For detailed information about the response structure and available fields, see the Zendesk custom data API reference.

List Object Types

Retrieve object types.

• This endpoint template retrieves the custom object types defined in your Zendesk Sunshine account, including their keys and schemas.

For detailed information about the response structure and available fields, see the Zendesk custom data API reference.

List Object Records

Retrieve object records.

• This endpoint template retrieves the custom object records stored in your Zendesk Sunshine account for a given object type.

For detailed information about the response structure and available fields, see the Zendesk custom data API reference.

List Object Type Policies

Retrieve object type policies.

• This endpoint template retrieves the access policies configured for a custom object type, which govern who can read and write its records.

For detailed information about the response structure and available fields, see the Zendesk custom data API reference.

List Relationship Types

Retrieve relationship types.

• This endpoint template retrieves the relationship types defined in your Zendesk Sunshine account, which describe how object records can be linked to one another or to standard Zendesk objects.

For detailed information about the response structure and available fields, see the Zendesk custom data API reference.

List Relationship Records

Retrieve relationship records.

• This endpoint template retrieves the relationship records in your Zendesk Sunshine account, each linking two object records through a defined relationship type.

For detailed information about the response structure and available fields, see the Zendesk custom data API reference.

Once the selected endpoint template has been configured, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu to retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched. Sample data will be displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right, allowing you to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.

Manual configuration

Zendesk Sunshine data sources can also be manually configured to ingest data from any valid Zendesk custom data API endpoint, including endpoints not covered by the pre-built templates, chained API calls, or custom request parameters. Select the Advanced tab at the top of the configuration screen, and follow the instructions in Connect to Any API to configure the API method, endpoint URL, date/time and lookup macros, path to data, metadata, and request headers.

Once all of the relevant settings have been configured, click the Create button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the new Zendesk Sunshine data source. Nexla will now begin ingesting data from the configured endpoint and will organize any data that it finds into one or more Nexsets.

Use as a destination

Click the + icon on the Nexset that will be sent to the Zendesk Sunshine destination, and select the Send to Destination option from the menu. Select the Zendesk Sunshine connector from the list of available destination connectors, then select the credential that will be used to connect to Zendesk Sunshine, and click Next; or, create a new Zendesk Sunshine credential for use in this flow.

Endpoint templates

Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure destinations to send data to common Zendesk Sunshine endpoints. Select the endpoint to which data will be sent from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Then, click on the template in the list below to expand it, and follow the instructions to configure additional endpoint settings.

Create Object Record

Creates a new custom object record.

• This endpoint template sends data as JSON in the request body to create a new custom object record. Each record from your Nexset is sent as a separate API request, and its attributes must match the schema of the target custom object type.

The record structure must match the schema defined for the target custom object type. For detailed information about request body formats and available attributes, see the Zendesk custom data API reference.

Update Object Record

Updates the attributes of an existing custom object record.

• This endpoint template sends data as JSON in the request body to update the attributes of an existing custom object record. Include the ID of the record to be updated so Nexla can target the correct record.

The updated attributes must match the schema defined for the target custom object type. For detailed information about request body formats and available attributes, see the Zendesk custom data API reference.

Delete Object Record

Deletes a specified custom object record.

• This endpoint template deletes a custom object record identified by its ID. Each record from your Nexset should supply the ID of the object record to be deleted.

Deleting a record is irreversible. For detailed information about the request format and required identifiers, see the Zendesk custom data API reference.

Create Relationship Record

Creates a new relationship record between two object records.

• This endpoint template sends data as JSON in the request body to create a relationship record linking two object records through a defined relationship type. Each record from your Nexset is sent as a separate API request.

The relationship type and the source and target records must already exist. For detailed information about request body formats and available attributes, see the Zendesk custom data API reference.

Delete Relationship Record

Deletes a specified relationship record.

• This endpoint template deletes a relationship record identified by its ID. Each record from your Nexset should supply the ID of the relationship record to be deleted.

Deleting a relationship record is irreversible. For detailed information about the request format and required identifiers, see the Zendesk custom data API reference.

Manual configuration

Zendesk Sunshine destinations can also be manually configured to send data to any valid Zendesk custom data API endpoint. Select the Advanced tab at the top of the configuration screen, and follow the instructions in Connect to Any API to configure the API method, data format, endpoint URL, request headers, attribute exclusions, record batching, and response webhooks.

Zendesk Sunshine APIs expect JSON format for most operations. For update and delete operations, include the ID of the object or relationship record to be modified so Nexla can target the correct record.

Save & activate

Once all endpoint settings have been configured, click the Done button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the destination. To send the data to the configured Zendesk Sunshine endpoint, open the destination resource menu, and select Activate.

The Nexset data will not be sent to the Zendesk Sunshine endpoint until the destination is activated. Destinations can be activated immediately or at a later time, providing full control over data movement.