Which token from Zendesk I need to use for my external API?

Question

I am developing a ticket sidebar app that needs to communicate with my endpoint. Since zendesk has a couple of tokens available (settings, OAuth..) which is the best for this case?

Answer 1

This depends on how you authenticate to your external API. Zendesk supports basic authentication and OAuth flow using authorization token.

Here is an example for authentication using pre-generated access token: first, store the token in manifest.json file

{
  ...
  "parameters": [
    {
      "name": "token",
      "type": "password",
      "required": true,
      "secure": true
    }
  ]
}

Then, set the authorization header: headers: {"Authorization": "Bearer {{setting.token}}"}, and add a secure: true property to the request options:

var options = {
  url: 'https://www.example.com/api/v2/endpoint.json',
  headers: {"Authorization": "Bearer {{setting.token}}"},
  secure: true,
  type: 'GET',
  contentType: 'application/json'
};
var client = ZAFClient.init();
client.request(options).then(...);

For OAuth authorization flow (recommended), zendesk will handle the flow for you. All you need is enter the client details in manifest file. See https://developer.zendesk.com/documentation/apps/app-developer-guide/using-the-apps-framework/#using-oauth