# Vendor facets — Freshdesk (Freshworks). Helpdesk with a customer portal, knowledge base, community
# forums on Pro and up, and a custom portal URL from Growth. Headline: one 2-point pointer check
# (support_channel, ~45% catalog pass rate, not saturated); getting-started and authentication only
# where the provider writes those articles itself. Its new hosted MCP server exposes the helpdesk to
# support staff, not the provider's API to agents, so it earns nothing. No llms.txt observed.
vendor: freshdesk
name: Freshdesk
website: https://www.freshworks.com/freshdesk/
areas:
- support
registry_keys:
- freshdesk
rubric_schema_version: 0.22.0
generated: '2026-09-25'
features_refreshed: '2026-09-25'
basis: capability
summary: >-
  Freshdesk earns a provider one check by itself: a declared support portal, knowledge base or forum is
  a support channel, 2 points in developer ergonomics. The knowledge base can hold a getting-started guide
  and an authentication page, but only when the provider writes them for its API and declares them. The
  Freshworks MCP server (GA 10 September 2026) lets helpdesk staff drive tickets and articles from an
  AI tool; it is not an MCP server for the provider's API and scores nothing. No llms.txt on Freshdesk's
  own portal.
features:
- id: knowledge-base
  name: Knowledge base
  description: Solution articles customers can search and read on the provider's support portal; all paid
    plans.
  source: https://www.freshworks.com/freshdesk/pricing/
  tier: paid
- id: customer-portal
  name: Customer portal
  description: A hosted portal where customers submit tickets and self-serve from the knowledge base.
  source: https://www.freshworks.com/freshdesk/pricing/
  tier: paid
- id: forums
  name: Community forums
  description: Customer-to-customer forum on the portal; Pro and Enterprise.
  source: https://www.freshworks.com/freshdesk/pricing/
  tier: paid
- id: custom-portal-url
  name: Custom portal URL
  description: >-
    Maps the portal onto the provider's own domain by CNAME with a Freshworks-issued certificate; Growth,
    Pro and Enterprise, not Free.
  source: >-
    https://support.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/37590-set-up-a-custom-portal-url-and-verify-dns
  tier: paid
- id: freddy-ai-agent
  name: Freddy AI Agent
  description: AI agent that answers customers over chat and email from the provider's support content.
  source: https://www.freshworks.com/freshdesk/pricing/
  tier: paid
- id: freshworks-mcp
  name: Freshworks MCP server for Freshdesk
  description: >-
    Hosted MCP server at <subdomain>.freshdesk.com/mcp exposing tickets, contacts, agents and solution
    articles to admins' and agents' AI tools; custom domains not supported.
  source: >-
    https://support.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/50000012670-model-context-protocol-mcp-integration-in-freshdesk-eap-
  tier: paid
maps:
- feature: customer-portal
  check: support_channel
  layer: composite
  credit: 1.0
  provider_must: >-
    Declare the portal, knowledge base or forum in apis.yml common[] as Support, HelpCenter or Community.
    Binary check: declaring all three still earns 2 points.
  catalog_pass_rate: 0.45
  facet: developer_ergonomics
  points: 2
  baseline_pass_rate: 0.69
- feature: knowledge-base
  check: getting_started_present
  layer: composite
  conditional: true
  condition: >-
    Only if the provider writes a getting-started guide for its API as a solution article and declares
    it as GettingStarted. The knowledge base is a container; Freshdesk writes nothing.
  provider_must: Write the guide and declare its URL as GettingStarted.
  catalog_pass_rate: 0.206
  facet: developer_ergonomics
  points: 5
  baseline_pass_rate: 0.636
- feature: knowledge-base
  check: authentication_documented
  layer: composite
  conditional: true
  condition: >-
    Only if the provider documents its API authentication in a solution article and declares it as Authentication.
  provider_must: Write the page and declare its URL as Authentication.
  catalog_pass_rate: 0.368
  facet: developer_ergonomics
  points: 5
  baseline_pass_rate: 0.94
  saturated: true
  saturated_note: >-
    94% of providers with a contract, docs and a reference already earn this; the vendor cannot move it
    for most of its buyers.
earns_nothing:
- feature: forums
  check: support_channel
  why: A forum is another route to the same binary 2-point check the portal already earns.
- feature: custom-portal-url
  why: No check reads which host a support pointer lives on.
- feature: freshworks-mcp
  check: mcp_server
  layer: agent_readiness
  why: >-
    It exposes the provider's helpdesk to its own support staff, on a freshdesk.com host; it is not an
    MCP server for the provider's API, and the rubric reads the provider's mcp/ manifest.
- feature: freddy-ai-agent
  check: llms_txt_published
  why: A conversational AI agent over support content is not a published llms.txt.
out_of_reach:
  checks:
  - llms_txt_published
  - status_page_present
  - change_log_present
  - contract_present
  - api_reference_present
  - sdk_count_1
  note: >-
    No llms.txt seen (support.freshdesk.com/llms.txt returned 404 on 2026-09-25), no status page product
    in Freshdesk, and nothing that produces a contract, reference or SDK.
surface:
  developer_ergonomics:
    reachable: 12.0
    total: 42
  agent_readiness:
    reachable: 0
    total: 139
hard_rule: >-
  A model, not a score. Adopting this vendor changes a provider's Kin Score only when the provider publishes
  the resulting artifacts on its own surface; nothing here writes a score, and no sponsorship or partnership
  can.
method: searched
source:
- >-
  https://support.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/37590-set-up-a-custom-portal-url-and-verify-dns
- >-
  https://support.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/50000012670-model-context-protocol-mcp-integration-in-freshdesk-eap-
- https://www.freshworks.com/freshdesk/pricing/
measured:
  cohort:
    method: vendors-catalog.json detections (CNAME / header / URL shape / markup), never a name match
    detected: 6
    in_baseline: 2
  control:
    basis: providers earning contract_present + documentation_present + api_reference_present, minus the
      cohort
    n: 5214
  metric: >-
    cohort_pct / control_pct = mean share of the check's points earned (derived and platform credit weighted),
    x100
  measured_on: '2026-09-25'
  status: 'not measurable: 2 detected customers clear the baseline (need 20)'
simulation:
  simulated_on: '2026-09-25'
  rubric: 0.23.0
  population: providers publishing a contract (contract_present earned), replayable exactly
  providers: 8977
  providers_unreplayable: 987
  providers_moved: 3995
  conditional_rows: excluded (they depend on what the API already does)
  composite_lift:
    median: 0.0
    p75: 0.9
    p90: 1.0
    max: 1.0
    mean_among_movers: 0.9
  agent_readiness_lift:
    median: 0.0
    p75: 0.0
    p90: 0.0
    max: 0.0
    mean_among_movers: 0.0
  facet_lift_median_among_movers:
    developer_ergonomics: 4.8
  composite_band_moves:
    thin -> developing: 217
    emerging -> thin: 66
    developing -> strong: 34
    strong -> exemplar: 8
    minimal -> emerging: 1
  agent_readiness_band_moves: {}
  method: >-
    each provider's own kin/checks file, the vendor's maps at their stated credit, the scorer's composite
    formula; from -> to, nothing written