How to Send Help Scout Tickets to Slack with Pipedream

pipedream.com > Workflows > New Workflow

Create a new Pipedream workflow

Go to pipedream.com and sign in. Click 'Workflows' in the left sidebar, then click the blue 'New Workflow' button in the top right. A blank workflow canvas opens with a prompt to select a trigger. You'll build from the trigger down — every subsequent step reacts to what this trigger fires.

1. 1Sign in at pipedream.com
2. 2Click 'Workflows' in the left sidebar
3. 3Click the blue 'New Workflow' button
4. 4Click 'Add a trigger' on the canvas

Trigger panel > Search 'Help Scout' > New Conversation

Add the Help Scout trigger

In the trigger search bar, type 'Help Scout' and select it from the app list. Pipedream will show available trigger types for Help Scout. Select 'New Conversation' — this fires every time a new ticket (conversation) lands in any of your Help Scout mailboxes. This trigger uses Help Scout's webhook API, so delivery is near-instant.

1. 1Type 'Help Scout' in the trigger search bar
2. 2Click the Help Scout app tile
3. 3Select 'New Conversation' from the trigger list

Trigger step > Help Scout Account > Connect new account > OAuth flow

Connect your Help Scout account

Click the 'Help Scout Account' dropdown and select 'Connect a new account'. Pipedream opens an OAuth window that redirects you to Help Scout's authorization page. Log in with your Help Scout credentials and click 'Allow Access'. Pipedream registers a webhook on your Help Scout account automatically — you don't need to do this manually in Help Scout's settings.

1. 1Click the 'Help Scout Account' dropdown
2. 2Select 'Connect a new account'
3. 3Complete the Help Scout OAuth login in the popup window
4. 4Click 'Allow Access' on the Help Scout authorization screen

Trigger step > Test button > Event data panel

Test the trigger and inspect sample data

Click the 'Test' button in the trigger step. Pipedream will either pull a recent Help Scout conversation as sample data or ask you to create a test ticket. Go to your Help Scout inbox and create a simple test conversation — subject 'Test ticket for Pipedream', any customer email. Within 5–10 seconds, the trigger step in Pipedream should light up green and show the event payload. Expand the payload to see fields like subject, customer.email, mailbox.name, and _links.web.href.

1. 1Click the 'Test' button at the bottom of the trigger step
2. 2In Help Scout, create a new conversation with subject 'Test ticket for Pipedream'
3. 3Return to Pipedream and wait for the event to appear
4. 4Click through the event payload to find subject, customer.email, and _links.web.href

Canvas > + button > Run Node.js code

Add a Node.js code step to format the Slack message

Click the '+' button below the trigger step and select 'Run Node.js code'. This is where you'll extract ticket fields and build a clean Slack message string before sending. Using a code step instead of going straight to the Slack action gives you control over message formatting — you can include urgency labels, truncate long subjects, or add conditional text based on mailbox name. Paste the code from the Pro Tip section below into the code editor.

1. 1Click the '+' button below the trigger step
2. 2Select 'Run Node.js code' from the step options
3. 3Paste the formatting code into the editor
4. 4Click 'Test' to run the code step against your sample event

Paste this into the Node.js code step (Step 5) between the trigger and the Slack action. It extracts all key ticket fields, formats the timestamp to a readable date, handles missing customer names gracefully, and returns a structured Slack Block Kit message for richer formatting — including a button that links directly to the ticket.

import { format } from 'date-fns';
export default defineComponent({
  async run({ steps, $ }) {

import { format } from 'date-fns';

export default defineComponent({
  async run({ steps, $ }) {
    const event = steps.trigger.event;

    // Extract fields with safe fallbacks
    const subject = event.subject || 'No subject';
    const email = event.customer?.email || 'No email';
    const firstName = event.customer?.firstName || '';
    const lastName = event.customer?.lastName || '';
    const customerName = [firstName, lastName].filter(Boolean).join(' ') || email;
    const mailbox = event.mailbox?.name || 'Unknown mailbox';
    const conversationId = event.id;
    const ticketUrl = event._links?.web?.href || `https://secure.helpscout.net/conversation/${conversationId}`;
    const assigneeEmail = event.assignee?.email || null;

    // Format timestamp
    let receivedAt = 'Unknown time';
    if (event.createdAt) {
      try {
        receivedAt = format(new Date(event.createdAt), 'MMM d, yyyy h:mm a') + ' UTC';
      } catch (e) {
        receivedAt = event.createdAt;
      }
    }

    // Build Slack Block Kit payload
    const blocks = [
      {
        type: 'section',
        text: {
          type: 'mrkdwn',
          text: `🎫 *New Help Scout Ticket*\n*From:* ${customerName} (${email})\n*Subject:* ${subject}\n*Mailbox:* ${mailbox}\n*Received:* ${receivedAt}${
            assigneeEmail ? `\n*Assigned to:* ${assigneeEmail}` : ''
          }`
        }
      },
      {
        type: 'actions',
        elements: [
          {
            type: 'button',
            text: { type: 'plain_text', text: 'View Ticket in Help Scout' },
            url: ticketUrl,
            style: 'primary'
          }
        ]
      },
      { type: 'divider' }
    ];

    return {
      blocks,
      fallbackText: `New ticket from ${customerName}: ${subject}`,
      ticketUrl,
      customerName,
      subject
    };
  }
});

Canvas > + button > Search 'Slack' > Send Message to a Channel

Add the Slack action step

Click the '+' button below the code step and search for 'Slack'. Select the Slack app, then choose the action 'Send Message to a Channel'. This action posts a message to any public or private Slack channel your connected bot has access to. You'll map the message text from the previous code step's output.

1. 1Click the '+' below the Node.js code step
2. 2Type 'Slack' in the action search bar
3. 3Click the Slack app tile
4. 4Select 'Send Message to a Channel'

Slack step > Slack Account > Connect new account > Slack OAuth

Connect your Slack workspace

Click the 'Slack Account' dropdown and select 'Connect a new account'. Pipedream opens a Slack OAuth window. Select the correct workspace from the dropdown in the top right of the Slack OAuth screen, then click 'Allow'. Pipedream installs a bot into your workspace. The bot — not you personally — will post messages, so Slack will show the sender as 'Pipedream' unless you customize the bot name.

1. 1Click 'Slack Account' dropdown in the Slack step
2. 2Select 'Connect a new account'
3. 3In the Slack OAuth window, select the correct workspace
4. 4Click 'Allow' to grant posting permissions

Slack step > Channel dropdown > Message Text field > Expression editor

Configure the channel and message text

In the 'Channel' field, select the Slack channel where ticket notifications should go — for example, #support-alerts or #help-scout-tickets. In the 'Message Text' field, click the expression toggle (the {curly brace} icon) and reference the output from your code step: steps.format_message.$return_value.formattedMessage. This pulls the formatted string built in Step 5 rather than raw JSON from the trigger.

1. 1Click the 'Channel' dropdown and select your target channel
2. 2Click into the 'Message Text' field
3. 3Click the '{' expression toggle on the right side of the field
4. 4Type or select steps.format_message.$return_value.formattedMessage

Workflow canvas > Test button (top bar)

Test the full workflow end to end

Click 'Test' at the top of the Pipedream workflow canvas to run all steps against the sample event from Step 4. Watch each step turn green in sequence — trigger, code, Slack action. Then check your Slack channel: the test message should arrive within 5 seconds. Verify the message shows the ticket subject, customer email, mailbox name, and clickable Help Scout link.

1. 1Click the 'Test' button in the top bar of the workflow canvas
2. 2Watch each step indicator turn green
3. 3Open Slack and check your target channel
4. 4Click the Help Scout link in the Slack message to confirm it opens the correct ticket

Workflow canvas > Deploy button (top right)

Deploy the workflow

Click the 'Deploy' button in the top right of the canvas. The workflow status changes from 'Development' to 'Active'. From this point, every new Help Scout conversation will trigger the workflow automatically — no manual action needed. Pipedream's infrastructure handles the webhook listener 24/7. You'll see each run logged under the workflow's 'Event History' tab.

1. 1Click the blue 'Deploy' button in the top right
2. 2Confirm the deployment in the dialog if prompted
3. 3Check that the workflow status badge changes to 'Active'

Help Scout > New Conversation > pipedream.com > Workflows > [Your Workflow] > Event History

Create a live test ticket in Help Scout

Go to your Help Scout inbox and create a real new conversation from a non-test email address. Wait 10–15 seconds, then check Slack. The notification should arrive in your configured channel. Check the Pipedream Event History tab to confirm a successful run is logged with green status on all steps. If anything is red, click the failed step to see the error output.

1. 1Open Help Scout and create a new conversation with a realistic subject
2. 2Wait 10–15 seconds
3. 3Check your Slack channel for the notification
4. 4Open Pipedream Event History and confirm the run shows all green steps