Intercom core workflow b

Intercom Conversations & Messaging

Overview

Manage the full conversation lifecycle: create, reply (as admin or contact), assign to teams, close, snooze, and tag. Conversations contain threaded "parts" including messages, notes, and assignments.

This SKILL.md gives you the high-level workflow and the essential skeleton. The complete step-by-step code for all seven operations lives in references/implementation.md; realistic end-to-end scenarios are in references/examples.md.

Prerequisites

• Completed intercom-install-auth setup (provides the INTERCOM_ACCESS_TOKEN)
• Admin ID (from client.admins.list())
• Contact IDs for conversation participants

Authentication

All calls authenticate with a bearer access token supplied to the SDK client — see intercom-install-auth for how to obtain and store it. Read it from the environment, never hard-code it:

import { IntercomClient } from "intercom-client";

const client = new IntercomClient({
  token: process.env.INTERCOM_ACCESS_TOKEN!,
});

The raw run_assignment_rules endpoint (Step 3) uses the same token as an Authorization: Bearer header.

Instructions

The workflow is seven operations against client.conversations.*. Reach for the one you need — they are independent once you have a conversation ID.

1. Create — conversations.create({ from, body }) opens a conversation from a contact and returns its conversationId.
2. Reply — conversations.reply(...) adds a part. type: "admin" is customer-visible, type: "note" is internal-only, type: "user" is a contact reply.
3. Assign — conversations.assign(...) routes to an admin (type: "admin") or team (type: "team"); or POST run_assignment_rules for auto-routing.
4. Close / snooze / reopen — conversations.close(...), conversations.snooze({ snoozedUntil }) (Unix seconds), and conversations.open(...).
5. Tag — conversations.attachTag(...) / detachTag(...).
6. Retrieve — conversations.find(...) returns state, assignee, and the conversationParts thread.
7. List / search — conversations.list() or conversations.search({ query, pagination, sort }) with AND/OR field filters.

Essential skeleton (create then reply); see references/implementation.md for every step in full:

const conversation = await client.conversations.create({
  from: { type: "user", id: "6657add46abd0167d9419c3a" }, // Contact ID
  body: "Hi, I'm having trouble with my billing. Can you help?",
});

await client.conversations.reply({
  conversationId: conversation.conversationId,
  body: "Hi there! I'd be happy to help. What's the issue?",
  type: "admin",
  adminId: "12345",
});

Output

Each operation returns the affected conversation (or acknowledges the mutation):

• create → a conversation object exposing conversationId (use it for every follow-up call).
• reply / assign / close / snooze / open → the updated conversation with its new state and appended part.
• find → the full conversation: state ("open" | "closed" | "snoozed"), adminAssigneeId, and conversationParts (totalCount + the ordered thread of comment / note / assignment / close / open parts).
• search / list → a paginated collection of matching conversations, ordered by your sort clause.

Conversation States

State	Description	Transitions
open	Active, awaiting action	close, snooze
closed	Resolved	open
snoozed	Deferred until timestamp	open (auto or manual)

Conversation Part Types

Part Type	Description	Who Creates
comment	Visible message	Admin or contact
note	Internal-only note	Admin
assignment	Reassignment record	System or admin
close	Conversation closed	Admin
open	Conversation reopened	Admin or contact

Error Handling

Error	HTTP Code	Cause	Solution
not_found	404	Invalid conversation or admin ID	Verify IDs exist
conversation_not_found	404	Conversation deleted	Handle gracefully
admin_not_found	404	Admin ID invalid	Use client.admins.list()
parameter_invalid	422	Missing body or type	Include required fields
conversation_closed	400	Action on closed conversation	Reopen first

For common errors and debugging, see intercom-common-errors.

Examples

Three end-to-end scenarios are worked in full in references/examples.md:

1. Handle a billing complaint end-to-end — create → reply → assign to team → close.
2. Tag, snooze, and follow up — attach a tag, leave an internal note, snooze 24h, reopen.
3. Audit an open queue — search open conversations for an admin, then inspect a thread's parts.

The billing flow, in brief:

const conversation = await client.conversations.create({
  from: { type: "user", id: "6657add46abd0167d9419c3a" },
  body: "Hi, I'm having trouble with my billing. Can you help?",
});
await client.conversations.assign({
  conversationId: conversation.conversationId,
  type: "team",
  adminId: "12345",
  assigneeId: "team-billing-123",
  body: "Routing to billing team",
});
await client.conversations.close({
  conversationId: conversation.conversationId,
  adminId: "12345",
  body: "Issue resolved! Let us know if you need anything else.",
});

Resources

• references/implementation.md — full seven-step walkthrough with every code block
• references/examples.md — three end-to-end worked scenarios
• Conversations API
• Reply to Conversation
• Manage Conversation