Plain integration
Connect Plain to Ferndesk so Fern can analyze your completed support conversations and identify documentation gaps. This integration helps you prioritize articles based on what your customers actually ask about.
How the integration helps
When customers contact support, they reveal what's confusing or missing in your documentation. By connecting Plain, Fern can read your resolved support threads and surface patterns in customer questions.
Fern uses Plain threads as a support signal to identify topics that need documentation. For example, if multiple customers ask about the same billing issue, Fern can recommend creating an article that addresses it, reducing future support volume.
What gets imported
Ferndesk imports completed support threads only. This includes:
Threads marked as Done, whether closed manually or automatically
The full message timeline for each completed thread
The following threads are not imported:
Active threads with status Todo or Snoozed
Threads marked as Ignored
This ensures Fern analyzes resolved issues rather than ongoing conversations, giving you a clear picture of what customers needed help with after their issues were closed.
Before you begin
You need a Plain account with access to your support workspace
You need a Plain machine-user API key, not a personal API key
Machine-user keys are designed for integrations and have scoped permissions. You can create one in your Plain workspace settings under API keys.
Required permissions
Your Plain API key needs these permissions:
thread:read — allows Ferndesk to read support threads
timeline:read — allows Ferndesk to read the message timeline within each thread
No write permission is required. Ferndesk only reads completed conversations and never modifies your Plain data.
Setting up the integration
Open the Integrations page
Navigate to Integrations in your Ferndesk dashboard sidebar. You'll see integrations grouped by category under Support tooling, Product context, Workflow, and Codebase.
Find Plain and click Connect
In the Support tooling section, locate Plain and click the Connect button. This opens the connection modal where you'll enter your API key.
Enter your Plain API key
In the connection modal, paste your Plain machine-user API key into the API Key field.
Ferndesk validates your credentials and checks that your API key has the required thread:read and timeline:read permissions before saving the connection.
Start using Plain as a support signal
Once connected, Fern can read your completed Plain threads. The integration appears in your connected integrations list, and Plain data becomes available as a support signal for documentation tasks and audits.
Disconnecting Plain
To disconnect the integration:
Go to the Integrations page in your Ferndesk dashboard.
Find the Plain integration and click Disconnect.
After disconnection, Ferndesk stops accessing your Plain data. Previously imported thread data remains in Ferndesk's support signals for historical analysis.