zendcli

Minimal Zendesk CLI for listing tickets and reading ticket comment timelines.

zend comments returns a slim timeline optimized for terminal review and LLM summarization. By default it includes both public and private comments and emits only:

• author
• time
• visibility (public or private)
• body

Install

npm install -g @tplog/zendcli

Configure

Option 1: interactive setup

zend configure

Credentials are stored locally in:

~/.zendcli/config.json

The CLI writes this file with restricted permissions.

Option 2: environment variables

This is the recommended option for temporary or CI usage.

export ZENDESK_SUBDOMAIN="your-subdomain"
export ZENDESK_EMAIL="[email protected]"
export ZENDESK_API_TOKEN="your_zendesk_api_token"

Environment variables take precedence over the config file.

Usage

zend --help
zend ticket --help
zend email --help
zend follower --help
zend comments --help
zend 12345
zend ticket 12345 --raw
zend email [email protected]
zend email [email protected] --status unresolved
zend email [email protected] --status open,pending
zend follower [email protected] --limit 3
zend comments 12345
zend comments 12345 --visibility public
zend comments 12345 --visibility private --sort desc

Comments output shape

[
  {
    "author": "Support Agent",
    "time": "2026-03-13T06:19:57Z",
    "visibility": "public",
    "body": "Reply text..."
  }
]

Use --visibility public or --visibility private to filter the timeline.

Development workflow

Daily development

1. Create a feature branch from main
2. Develop locally
3. Commit as needed
4. Push branch to GitHub
5. Open a PR to main
6. Merge after CI passes

Example:

git checkout main
git pull
git checkout -b feat/some-change

# work locally
npm ci
npm run build

git add .
git commit -m "feat: add some change"
git push -u origin feat/some-change

Release workflow

This repository uses a safer release flow:

• normal merges to main do not publish automatically
• npm publishing happens only when a version tag is pushed
• the release tag must match package.json version exactly

Publish a new version

1. Make sure main is in the state you want to release
2. Bump the version locally
3. Push main and the new tag
4. GitHub Actions publishes to npm

git checkout main
git pull
npm version patch
git push origin main --tags

Or for a feature release:

npm version minor
git push origin main --tags

This creates tags like v0.1.2, and the publish workflow verifies that the tag matches package.json.

CI/CD

• CI: runs on branch pushes, PRs to main, and pushes to main
• Publish to npm: runs only on v* tags or manual trigger

Trusted publishing

The publish workflow is set up for npm trusted publishing via GitHub Actions OIDC.

Recommended setup on npm:

1. Go to the package settings on npm
2. Add a Trusted Publisher for GitHub Actions
3. Point it to:
   • owner: tplog
   • repo: zendcli
   • workflow file: publish.yml

This avoids storing long-lived npm tokens in the repository.

Security notes

• Never commit real Zendesk credentials
• Prefer environment variables for temporary use
• If a token is ever exposed, revoke and rotate it immediately
• Do not store npm publish credentials in the repo or in gitignored files