ActionIntercomUpdated September 2026

How do I start an Intercom conversation programmatically?

Short answer: You can create conversation in Intercom by hand from its own interface, but it won’t repeat itself. On TinyCommand, add the Intercom Create Conversation action to a workflow, map its 3 inputs from any upstream app, and it runs automatically every time the trigger fires. No code, and a free tier to start.

Create Conversation in Intercom — start free All 20 Intercom actions

Create Conversation in Intercom — start free

Inputs

The fields this action accepts.

Every field can be mapped from an upstream trigger, AI step, table row, or hard-coded literal.

Field	Type	Required	Description
From Type from_type	options	Required	Who is initiating the conversation
Contact ID from_id	string	Required	The Intercom ID of the contact starting the conversation
Message Body body	string	Required	Initial message content (supports HTML)

Sample request

{
  "from_type": "{{trigger.from_type}}",
  "from_id": "e.g. 5f7b1a2...",
  "body": "e.g. Hi, I need help with..."
}

Returns

{
  "id": "123456789",
  "type": "conversation",
  "source": {
    "body": "Hi, I need help with...",
    "type": "conversation"
  },
  "contacts": {
    "contacts": [
      {
        "id": "5f7b1a2",
        "type": "contact"
      }
    ]
  },
  "created_at": 1700000000
}

Use these fields in downstream nodes for routing, logging, or error handling.

Triggered by

Apps that pair well as the trigger for Create Conversation.

Any of these apps can fire this action as part of a workflow.

Google Sheets → Intercom

2 Google Sheets triggers

HubSpot → Intercom

18 HubSpot triggers

FAQ

Questions about Create Conversation.

What does the Create Conversation action do in Intercom?

Creates a new conversation on behalf of a contact, kicking off the thread from their side. Useful when piping inbound messages from another channel (email, social) into Intercom.

What inputs does Create Conversation require?

Required: From Type, Contact ID, Message Body. Every input accepts a static value or a variable from any upstream node in your workflow.

Can I use dynamic inputs from earlier workflow nodes?

Yes. Any field on this action can pull values from upstream nodes, whether that's a form response, a trigger payload, an AI output, or a lookup result.

What happens if Intercom returns an error?

The run history shows the failed step with its input and the error message Intercom returned, so you can fix the input and run the workflow again. Automatic retries are built into HTTP steps only, where you can also set your own retry count and delay.

Does Create Conversation support batch operations?

Run Create Conversation inside a loop to process each item in an array. TinyCommand does not throttle calls for you, so for large arrays add a Delay step if you need to stay within Intercom's rate limits.

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