Start your import first, then build the rest of your account while it runs in the background. Nothing here affects your current helpdesk. You keep working in it until you're ready to switch.

Start the import

Create an API key in your old helpdesk, then go to Settings → Account settings → Import, pick your helpdesk and click Start import. You need the administrator or manager role.

Commslayer has importers for nine helpdesks:

• Gorgias: From Gorgias to Commslayer →
• Zendesk: From Zendesk to Commslayer →
• Help Scout: From Help Scout to Commslayer →
• Re:amaze: From Re:amaze to Commslayer →
• Richpanel: From Richpanel to Commslayer →
• Freshdesk: enter your Freshdesk URL and Freshdesk API key. The URL must be your freshdesk.com address, for example https://yourcompany.freshdesk.com. A custom support domain is not accepted. The key is under your profile picture → Profile Settings in Freshdesk. Use an admin's key, otherwise your canned responses are skipped.
• Front: enter your Front API token. Create it in Front under Settings → Developers → API tokens with read access.
• Kustomer: enter your Kustomer API key. Create it in Kustomer under Settings → Security → API keys with read access.
• Intercom: enter your Intercom access token. In Intercom, open the Developer Hub, create an app, open Authentication and copy the access token.

Every importer form has a help link with the steps for finding the key or token.

There is no importer for other tools such as Crisp, Tidio, HubSpot or ThriveDesk, and no import from a mailbox.

A few things to know before you start it:

• The import can take a few hours, and more than a day for a very large history. It runs in the background, so you can close the page.

• The Imported inbox is read-only. It stores your conversation history and you can't reply from it. To handle new tickets you need a real email inbox, which is step 2 below.

While the import runs:

1. Connect the MCP#

Leverage Claude/ChatGPT to make your setup easier. Go to Settings → AI assistants.

Connect Claude and ChatGPT via MCP →

2. Set up your inboxes#

Add your channels. We recommend the Standard option when creating email inboxes.

⚠️ Don't turn on email forwarding or enable your chat widget until you're ready to start taking tickets within Commslayer.

• Email: Connect your email →
• Live chat: Add the chat widget to your store →
• Meta (Facebook and Instagram): Connect Instagram & Messenger →
• WhatsApp: Connect WhatsApp →
• Voice: Set up Voice integration →

Meta gives you two inboxes: one for DMs across Facebook and Instagram, one for comments on ads and posts. Send a test email from Commslayer to your personal address to check your sender name looks right. By default customers see "Agent from Store". Change the sender name →

3. Invite your team#

Go to Settings → Agents. Make sure everyone adds a photo and a signature once they're in. A saved signature is only added after the agent clicks Signature in the reply box once. See Replying to customers: the basics.

Add agents →

4. Configure contact reasons#

Set your contact reasons up now so they start working the moment you go live.

Contact reasons →

5. Rebuild your automations#

Go to Settings → Automations and rebuild the ones you had.

💡 Fastest way: screenshot your existing rules in your old platform, paste them into Claude or ChatGPT, and ask it to recreate them in Commslayer using the MCP.

Using automations →

6. Set up your customer portal#

Create your portal, then copy your articles across.

💡 Fastest way: paste your existing articles into Claude or ChatGPT and ask it to create them in Commslayer using the MCP. Ask for drafts so you can review them before they go live.

Setting up your Customer Portal →

7. Set up your AI agent#

Go to Tools → AI agent. Set up its profile, check that Auto-generate drafts is on under Drafts, write guidances for your common ticket types, and test it in the playground.

Introduction to the AI agent →

Once the import has finished

The import has finished when Settings → Account settings → Import → your helpdesk shows Import completed. No email or notification is sent, so check there.

Then open the Imported inbox to confirm your history has landed. It is named after your old helpdesk, for example Gorgias Imported Inbox. Administrators see it straight away. Managers and agents see it once you add them to that inbox under Settings → Inboxes.

Nothing runs backwards over imported conversations. Automations, auto-labels and contact reasons only apply to new tickets from the point you go live.

8. Review your canned responses#

Your saved replies arrive as canned responses. The common customer name and email placeholders are converted to Commslayer variables for you. Order, tracking and other placeholders are not converted, so replace them with variables from the {{ list. Help Scout placeholders are not converted at all and stay in the text as written. Insert a few responses in a test conversation to check the result.

Creating canned responses →

9. Review your labels#

Your old tags come across as labels, and there are usually a lot of them. Merge the duplicates, delete the dead ones, then set up auto-labels on what's left.

💡 Fastest way: ask Claude or ChatGPT using the MCP to list every label with no conversations in the last 90 days, and every pair that means the same thing. Review the list before deleting anything.

Labels and auto-labels →

10. Go live#

Check import progress#

Go to Settings → Account settings → Import and pick your helpdesk. The form shows a progress bar and the current stage:

• Import started, preparing data…
• Fetching conversations from [your helpdesk]. This can take a few hours. Commslayer is reading your old helpdesk. How fast this goes depends on how many requests your old helpdesk allows.
• Processing and importing data… Everything is fetched and is being saved into Commslayer.
• Import completed

On the Getting started page the same stages show as a percentage: 5%, 30%, then 70%. The number marks the stage, not how many tickets are done. It stays on 30% for the whole fetch and on 70% for the whole save, so a long wait on one number is expected.

Your old helpdesk keeps working during the import. If the form shows Import failed, contact support from the chat inside the app and name your old helpdesk. Don't start the import again first.

Questions, or need help? Contact support from the chat inside the app. It's the chat bubble in the bottom right corner.