How to Send Help Scout Ticket Assignments to Slack with Pipedream

pipedream.com > Workflows > New Workflow

Create a new Pipedream workflow

Log in at pipedream.com and click the blue 'New Workflow' button in the top-left sidebar. Give it a clear name like 'Help Scout → Slack Ticket Assignment'. You'll land on the workflow canvas with a single empty trigger block at the top. Everything you build flows from this trigger block downward.

1. 1Go to pipedream.com and sign in
2. 2Click 'New Workflow' in the left sidebar
3. 3Enter the name 'Help Scout → Slack Ticket Assignment'
4. 4Click 'Create'

Workflow Canvas > Add a trigger > Help Scout > New Conversation Assigned

Add the Help Scout webhook trigger

Click the 'Add a trigger' block and search for 'Help Scout' in the app list. Select the 'New Conversation Assigned' event — this fires every time a ticket's assignee changes. Pipedream will generate a unique webhook URL for your Help Scout app. Copy that URL; you'll paste it into Help Scout in the next step.

1. 1Click 'Add a trigger'
2. 2Type 'Help Scout' in the search bar
3. 3Select 'Help Scout' from the results
4. 4Choose the 'New Conversation Assigned' event
5. 5Connect your Help Scout account via Connected Accounts and click 'Save and continue'

Help Scout > Settings > General > Webhooks > Add Webhook

Register the webhook in Help Scout

In a separate tab, go to your Help Scout account and navigate to Settings > General > Webhooks. Paste the Pipedream webhook URL into the URL field. Under 'Events', check only 'Conversation Assigned'. Give it a label like 'Pipedream Assignment Notifier'. Save the webhook.

1. 1Open Help Scout in a new tab
2. 2Go to Settings > General > Webhooks
3. 3Click 'Add Webhook'
4. 4Paste the Pipedream URL into the 'URL' field
5. 5Check 'Conversation Assigned' under Events
6. 6Click 'Save'

Workflow Canvas > Trigger > Event tab

Test the trigger with a real assignment

Back in Pipedream, click 'Send Test Event' or manually assign a ticket in Help Scout to yourself. Within 2–3 seconds, Pipedream will capture the payload. Click on the event in the trigger panel to expand it. You should see fields like conversation.id, assignee.id, assignee.email, subject, and mailbox.name. These are the fields you'll map in the next steps.

1. 1Assign a test ticket to yourself in Help Scout
2. 2Switch back to Pipedream
3. 3Click the 'Event' tab on the trigger block
4. 4Expand the payload to verify fields are present

Workflow Canvas > + > Helpers > Filter

Add a filter step to skip reassignments (optional but recommended)

Click the '+' button below the trigger to add a new step. Choose 'Filter' (under Helpers) or use a Node.js Code step. This step checks whether the ticket was previously assigned to someone else — if it was, you may not want to send a duplicate ping. Use the previousAssignee field from the Help Scout payload to make this call. If previousAssignee is null, it's a fresh assignment.

1. 1Click the '+' button below the trigger block
2. 2Select 'Filter' from the Helpers section
3. 3Set the condition: steps.trigger.event.body.previousAssignee === null
4. 4Set the filter to 'Continue if true'
5. 5Click 'Test'

Workflow Canvas > + > Add a step > Run Node.js code

Look up the assignee's Slack user ID

Help Scout gives you the assignee's email address. Slack needs a user ID (like U04XYZABC) to send a direct message. Add a Node.js Code step that calls the Slack API's users.lookupByEmail method using the assignee's email from the Help Scout payload. This resolves the email to a Slack user ID you can use in the next step.

1. 1Click '+' below the filter step
2. 2Select 'Run Node.js code'
3. 3Paste the lookup code (see Pro Tip section)
4. 4Add your Slack Connected Account token as an environment variable or use $.auth
5. 5Click 'Test step'

Workflow Canvas > + > Run Node.js code

Build the Slack message with Block Kit

Add another Node.js Code step. This step constructs the Slack Block Kit message payload. Include the ticket subject, the direct link to the Help Scout conversation (formatted as https://secure.helpscout.net/conversation/{id}), the customer's name, and the mailbox name. Using Block Kit instead of plain text lets you add a clickable 'View Ticket' button directly in the message.

1. 1Click '+' below the Slack lookup step
2. 2Select 'Run Node.js code'
3. 3Construct the Block Kit payload referencing trigger event fields
4. 4Export the payload object from the step

Workflow Canvas > + > Slack > Send a Direct Message

Send the Slack direct message

Add a Slack step and choose the 'Send a Direct Message' action. Connect your Slack bot's Connected Account. Set the 'User ID' field to the output from your lookup step (steps.lookup_slack_user.$return_value). Set the 'Blocks' field to the Block Kit payload from the previous step. Leave 'Text' as a plain-text fallback like 'New ticket assigned: {subject}'.

1. 1Click '+' below the message builder step
2. 2Search for 'Slack' and select it
3. 3Choose 'Send a Direct Message'
4. 4Connect your Slack bot account via Connected Accounts
5. 5Set 'User ID' to steps.lookup_slack_user.$return_value
6. 6Set 'Blocks' to steps.build_message.$return_value.blocks
7. 7Set 'Text' to the plain-text fallback

Workflow Canvas > + > Run Node.js code

Add error handling for failed lookups

Add a final Node.js Code step with a try/catch that checks whether the Slack user ID lookup returned a value. If the lookup failed — email mismatch, deactivated account — post a fallback message to a designated #support-ops Slack channel so the assignment doesn't go completely unnoticed. This step only runs when the Slack user ID is null.

1. 1Click '+' below the Send DM step
2. 2Select 'Run Node.js code'
3. 3Add a conditional check: if (!steps.lookup_slack_user.$return_value)
4. 4Use $.send.http or the Slack step to post to your fallback channel
5. 5Click 'Test step'

Workflow Canvas > Deploy > Logs tab

Deploy and monitor the workflow

Click 'Deploy' in the top-right corner of the workflow canvas. Pipedream switches the workflow from test mode to live. Assign a real ticket in Help Scout and verify the DM arrives in Slack within 5 seconds. Open the workflow's 'Logs' tab and confirm each step shows a green checkmark. Set up an email alert under Settings > Notifications for workflow errors.

1. 1Click the blue 'Deploy' button in the top right
2. 2Assign a live Help Scout ticket to a team member
3. 3Open the 'Logs' tab and watch the run appear
4. 4Confirm all steps show green status
5. 5Go to Settings > Notifications and enable error email alerts

This code handles the Slack user ID lookup AND builds a Block Kit message payload in a single step. Paste it into a Node.js Code step placed between the filter step and the Slack 'Send a Direct Message' step. It includes error handling for missing email matches and exports both the Slack user ID and the message blocks as separate values.

import axios from 'axios';
export default defineComponent({
  props: {

import axios from 'axios';

export default defineComponent({
  props: {
    slack: {
      type: 'app',
      app: 'slack',
    },
  },
  async run({ steps, $ }) {
    const event = steps.trigger.event.body;
    const assigneeEmail = event?.assignee?.email;
    const assigneeFirstName = event?.assignee?.firstName ?? 'there';
    const conversationId = event?.conversation?.id;
    const subject = event?.conversation?.subject ?? '(No subject)';
    const customerFirst = event?.conversation?.createdBy?.firstName ?? 'Unknown customer';
    const mailboxName = event?.mailbox?.name ?? 'Unknown mailbox';
    const ticketUrl = `https://secure.helpscout.net/conversation/${conversationId}`;

    if (!assigneeEmail) {
      throw new Error('No assignee email found in Help Scout payload. Check webhook field path.');
    }

    // Resolve Slack user ID from email
    let slackUserId = null;
    try {
      const lookupRes = await axios.get('https://slack.com/api/users.lookupByEmail', {
        headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${this.slack.$auth.oauth_access_token}` },
        params: { email: assigneeEmail },
      });

      if (lookupRes.data.ok) {
        slackUserId = lookupRes.data.user.id;
      } else {
        console.log(`Slack lookup failed for ${assigneeEmail}: ${lookupRes.data.error}`);
      }
    } catch (err) {
      console.error('Slack API call failed:', err.message);
    }

    // Build Block Kit message
    const blocks = [
      {
        type: 'header',
        text: { type: 'plain_text', text: '📬 New ticket assigned to you', emoji: true },
      },
      {
        type: 'section',
        fields: [
          { type: 'mrkdwn', text: `*Subject:*\n${subject}` },
          { type: 'mrkdwn', text: `*From:*\n${customerFirst}` },
          { type: 'mrkdwn', text: `*Mailbox:*\n${mailboxName}` },
        ],
      },
      {
        type: 'actions',
        elements: [
          {
            type: 'button',
            text: { type: 'plain_text', text: 'View Ticket', emoji: true },
            url: ticketUrl,
            style: 'primary',
          },
        ],
      },
    ];

    return {
      slackUserId,
      blocks,
      fallbackText: `Hey ${assigneeFirstName}, you have a new Help Scout ticket: "${subject}" from ${customerFirst}. View it here: ${ticketUrl}`,
    };
  },
});