Documentation Deployments Intercom

Deploying to Intercom

Connect your flows to Intercom to automate customer conversations with seamless handoff to human agents.

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Prerequisites

Before deploying to Intercom, ensure you have:

  • Admin access to an Intercom workspace
  • A published flow ready to deploy
  • Permission to install apps in your Intercom workspace

First Time Setup

You must connect your Intercom workspace before creating deployments. This is a one-time setup per workspace.

Connect Your Intercom Workspace

Workspace connections are managed directly in the Flow Editor during deployment creation. You can connect multiple Intercom workspaces, and each workspace can power one deployment at a time.

Connecting a Workspace

During deployment creation, you'll reach a workspace selection step where you can connect a new workspace or select an existing one:

  1. Click "Connect New Workspace" - opens a new tab for OAuth authorization
  2. Review the permissions and click "Authorize access" on Intercom's page
  3. The tab shows "Successfully Connected!" and closes automatically
  4. Back in the wizard, your workspace appears in the list - select it to continue

One Workspace Per Deployment

Each Intercom workspace can only be connected to one active deployment. If you need to deploy multiple flows to the same workspace, you'll need to disconnect the workspace from its current deployment first.

Using Existing Workspaces

When creating subsequent deployments, you can reuse workspaces you've already connected:

  • Available workspaces appear with a radio button and connection date
  • In-use workspaces show a lock icon and which deployment is using them
  • Click "Connect New Workspace" to add another workspace

Create an Intercom Deployment

Once you have a published flow and a connected workspace, creating a deployment is straightforward.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Choose Platform

  • Open your flow in the Flow Editor
  • Click "Deployments" in the toolbar (rocket icon)
  • Select the Intercom platform card

Step 2: Select Workspace

  • Existing workspace: Select a previously connected workspace (shows lock icon if already in use)
  • New workspace: Click "Connect New Workspace" to authorize via OAuth
  • Note: Each workspace can only power one deployment at a time

Step 3 & 4: Configure Deployment

Now configure how your flow will be deployed:

Deployment Name: Give it a descriptive name (e.g., "Production Support Bot")
Version Strategy:
• Latest Version - Auto-updates to newest published version
• Pinned Version - Lock to specific version (requires manual updates)
Bot Admin User: Select which Intercom admin the bot responds as (dropdown auto-loads from your workspace)
Active: Check to enable immediately

Pro Tip: Dedicated Bot Account

Create a teammate in Intercom called "Support Bot" or similar. This makes it clear to customers and your team when the bot is responding vs. a human agent.

Agent Handoff Configuration

Control how conversations are transferred from bot to human agents.

Handoff Strategies

1. Assign to Inbox (Default)

Unassigns the conversation and sends it to the team inbox:

  • Any available agent can pick it up
  • Good for distributing workload
  • No specific agent selected

2. Assign to Specific Admin

Routes the conversation to a particular teammate:

  • Select from dropdown of workspace admins
  • Use for specialized support (e.g., billing issues → billing team member)
  • Conversation appears in that admin's inbox

3. Assign to Specific Team

Assigns to a team for round-robin distribution:

  • Select from dropdown of workspace teams
  • Intercom distributes among available team members
  • Good for departmental routing (Sales, Support, etc.)

4. Tag Only (No Assignment)

Adds tags without changing assignment:

  • Useful for categorization only
  • Doesn't trigger any routing changes
  • Can be combined with other automation rules in Intercom

Handoff Tags

Automatically tag conversations when handed off:

  • Select up to 2 tags from your workspace tags
  • The system automatically adds "ucb-handoff" tag to all handoffs
  • Use for categorization, reporting, or triggering Intercom workflows

Internal Notes

Enable "Add Internal Note" to automatically add a note explaining why the handoff occurred:

  • Visible only to your team (not customers)
  • Provides context for agents picking up the conversation
  • Helps with training and quality assurance

Automatic Handoff Detection

The bot automatically stops responding when a human agent joins the conversation, even without an explicit handoff node. This prevents the bot from interfering with human conversations.

Audience Targeting & Rollouts

Intercom deployments support attribute filtering and percentage rollouts. See the Rollout Strategies guide for general concepts and how the two-stage filtering process works.

Available Variables for Intercom

When creating filter rules, you can use these Intercom-specific variables:

{{@intercom.contact.email}}
Contact's email address
{{@intercom.contact.email_domain}}
Domain part of the contact's email (e.g., "acme.com")
{{@intercom.contact.name}}
Contact's full name
{{@intercom.contact.tags}}
Array of tags assigned to the contact
{{@intercom.contact.CUSTOM_ATTRIBUTE}}
Any custom attribute from your Intercom workspace

Custom Attributes

Replace CUSTOM_ATTRIBUTE with any custom attribute you've set up in your Intercom workspace (e.g., {{@intercom.contact.subscription_plan}}, {{@intercom.contact.account_value}}).

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