# Vendor facets — Help Scout. Shared-inbox helpdesk with Docs, a hosted knowledge base that can run on
# the provider's own subdomain at no extra charge, and Beacon for in-app help. Headline: one 2-point
# pointer check (support_channel, ~45% catalog pass rate, not saturated); getting-started and
# authentication only where the provider writes those Docs articles. No community product, no
# llms.txt observed, and its hosted MCP server serves support staff, not the provider's API.
vendor: helpscout
name: Help Scout
website: https://www.helpscout.com
areas:
- support
registry_keys:
- helpscout
rubric_schema_version: 0.22.0
generated: '2026-09-25'
features_refreshed: '2026-09-25'
basis: capability
summary: >-
  Help Scout Docs gives a provider one check on its own: a declared Docs site is a support channel, 2
  points in developer ergonomics. Docs can also host a getting-started guide and an authentication page,
  and some providers do run their developer help there, but only the provider writing and declaring those
  pages moves those checks. Help Scout's MCP server (mcp.helpscout.net) is a read-only connector for the
  provider's own support team and earns nothing. No community forum and no llms.txt on Help Scout's own
  Docs site.
features:
- id: docs
  name: Docs knowledge base
  description: >-
    Hosted, CSS-customisable help center of articles and collections, public or restricted, with AI writing
    assistance and a Docs report of failed searches.
  source: https://www.helpscout.com/knowledge-base/
  tier: paid
- id: docs-custom-domain
  name: Docs custom domain
  description: >-
    Serves a Docs site on a subdomain the provider owns by CNAME, at no additional charge; apex domains
    not supported.
  source: https://docs.helpscout.com/article/42-use-your-own-custom-domain-with-docs
  tier: paid
- id: beacon
  name: Beacon
  description: Embeddable widget that surfaces Docs articles on the provider's site or in its app.
  source: https://www.helpscout.com/knowledge-base/
  tier: paid
- id: helpscout-mcp
  name: Help Scout MCP server
  description: >-
    Hosted MCP endpoint (mcp.helpscout.net/mcp) giving team members' AI tools read access to conversations,
    customers, reports and Docs content under their own credentials.
  source: >-
    https://docs.helpscout.com/article/1779-connect-your-ai-agent-with-help-scout-to-search-conversations-and-pull-reports
  tier: paid
maps:
- feature: docs
  check: support_channel
  layer: composite
  credit: 1.0
  provider_must: >-
    Declare the Docs site in apis.yml common[] as HelpCenter or Support. If the provider declares it as
    Documentation instead, it earns documentation_present and not this check.
  catalog_pass_rate: 0.45
  facet: developer_ergonomics
  points: 2
  baseline_pass_rate: 0.69
- feature: docs
  check: getting_started_present
  layer: composite
  conditional: true
  condition: >-
    Only if the provider writes a getting-started guide for its API as a Docs article and declares it
    as GettingStarted.
  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: docs
  check: authentication_documented
  layer: composite
  conditional: true
  condition: >-
    Only if the provider documents its API authentication in a Docs 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: docs-custom-domain
  why: No check reads which host a support pointer lives on.
- feature: beacon
  check: support_channel
  why: >-
    An embedded widget is not a pointer; the Docs site behind it is what gets declared, and it earns the
    check once.
- feature: helpscout-mcp
  check: mcp_server
  layer: agent_readiness
  why: >-
    A staff-facing connector to the provider's helpdesk on a Help Scout host is not an MCP server for
    the provider's API.
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 (docs.helpscout.com/llms.txt returned 404 on 2026-09-25), no community or status
    product, 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://docs.helpscout.com/article/1779-connect-your-ai-agent-with-help-scout-to-search-conversations-and-pull-reports
- https://docs.helpscout.com/article/42-use-your-own-custom-domain-with-docs
- https://www.helpscout.com/knowledge-base/
measured:
  cohort:
    method: vendors-catalog.json detections (CNAME / header / URL shape / markup), never a name match
    detected: 2
    in_baseline: 0
  control:
    basis: providers earning contract_present + documentation_present + api_reference_present, minus the
      cohort
    n: 5216
  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: 0 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