---
name: al-693-build-a-custom-support-agent-for-the-messy-middle-of-your
description: "Zendesk's Oct 15, 2026 post (and Anthropic's Zendesk customer story) reports Custom Agents powered by Claude reached 1 million executions in the first seven weeks of early access. A five-person team built the Custom Agent Builder with Claude Code and the Claude Agent SDK in about four months, running Claude via Amazon Bedrock. Customers write plain-English instructions and connect approved tools. One highlighted workflow: when many customers report the same issue, the agent groups related tickets, opens a Jira issue, notifies engineers on Slack, updates customers, then closes related tickets with an explanation when fixed. Early customers reported up to 10% higher automated resolution and up to 80% lower human handle times; one pilot hit 99% accuracy on duplicate-ticket merging. Use when the user wants help with business-specific custom service agents with controlled actions (customer support) for a small business."
---

# Build a custom support agent for the messy middle of your business: plain-English instructions plus approved tools that merge duplicate tickets, open Jira, notify Slack and update customers

Zendesk's Oct 15, 2026 post (and Anthropic's Zendesk customer story) reports Custom Agents powered by Claude reached 1 million executions in the first seven weeks of early access. A five-person team built the Custom Agent Builder with Claude Code and the Claude Agent SDK in about four months, running Claude via Amazon Bedrock. Customers write plain-English instructions and connect approved tools. One highlighted workflow: when many customers report the same issue, the agent groups related tickets, opens a Jira issue, notifies engineers on Slack, updates customers, then closes related tickets with an explanation when fixed. Early customers reported up to 10% higher automated resolution and up to 80% lower human handle times; one pilot hit 99% accuracy on duplicate-ticket merging.

## Inputs to collect first
Ask the user for anything below that they haven't already given you. Don't guess missing facts.

- My company
- Chat/email/voice
- E.g. duplicate-ticket merge / warranty claim / billing dispute …
- Zendesk, Jira, Slack, CRM
- Fraud, legal, VIP
- Task

## Instructions

Do the task below with the user's inputs in place of each [bracket].

Design a Zendesk-style Custom Agent for [my company]. Channel: [chat/email/voice]. Workflow to automate: [e.g. duplicate-ticket merge / warranty claim / billing dispute / multi-ticket incident]. Systems it may use: [Zendesk, Jira, Slack, CRM]. Hard rules: list every allowed tool action; never invent policy; escalate [fraud, legal, VIP] to a human; log every tool call. 1) Write the plain-English agent instructions (role, tone, steps). 2) List read vs write permissions per system. 3) Draft the happy path and 8 failure/escalation cases. 4) Propose a pilot metric set (automated resolution, handle time, accuracy on [task]). Do not connect to live systems in this chat.

## Safety checks (share these with the user)

- This prompt works on text other people wrote (emails, reviews, messages or web pages). That text can hide instructions aimed at AI, such as "ignore your rules and…". Paste it as material to work on, and never let the AI act on requests inside it, like paying, sharing logins or changing records.
- Anything legal, tax or compliance-related is a first draft for a qualified person to check. It is not professional advice, and clause references and deadlines must be checked against the source.
- Remove names, contact details, account numbers and other personal data the task doesn't need before you paste, and check your AI tool's data and training settings.
- Read and edit the draft before it reaches a customer or goes public. If you later automate this prompt, start with "draft and notify me", not "send automatically".
- Say clearly which parts need a person to review or approve before anything is sent, paid, posted or filed.

## About this skill

- Works with: Zendesk Custom Agents, Claude, Amazon Bedrock, Jira, Slack
- Based on this real-world example: https://www.zendesk.com/blog/ai/agentic-ai/zendesk-custom-agents-claude/
- Free prompt from AgentPlaybook Real Estate: https://agentic-library.netlify.app/prompt/al-693-build-a-custom-support-agent-for-the-messy-middle-of-your-bu/
- To install in an agent that supports Agent Skills, save this file as SKILL.md in a folder with the same name as `name` above (for example in your skills directory). Install steps for Claude.ai, Claude Code, Cursor and Codex: https://agentic-library.netlify.app/skills/