Connecting Help Scout to Stacktic

For: a Help Scout account admin. Takes about 10 minutes.

What this integration does

Connecting Help Scout lets Stacktic do three things:

see everyone in your Help Scout account, and their role (Owner, Admin, or User).
add a new person to Help Scout from the tool's Access tab.
remove someone's Help Scout seat in one step when they leave your company.

To connect, you create a special login for apps from your own Help Scout account. Help Scout calls this a My App, and it gives you an App ID and an App Secret. It's tied to the person who creates it, the same way a personal access token is. There's more on that in Security notes.

Stacktic needs two values:

Value	What it is
App ID	The public ID of the My App you create in Help Scout.
App Secret	Its matching password. Help Scout only shows this once.

Before you start

You need a Help Scout account with permission to create a My App (an API credential). That's usually an account Owner or Admin.
If you want to add users from Stacktic, create the My App as an Owner or Admin. Help Scout only lets those roles create users, and the My App acts as the person who made it.
Be ready to copy the App Secret the moment it's created. Help Scout only shows it once.

Step 1: Create a My App in Help Scout

Help Scout's own developer docs explain how to create a My App and get an App ID and App Secret for the API. See Help Scout's Mailbox API docs. Follow their steps to create one. Then copy both values before you leave the page. The App Secret isn't shown again.

Step 2: Connect in Stacktic

In Stacktic, go to Tools → Help Scout → Integration and enter:

App ID (from Step 1)
App Secret (from Step 1)

Click Connect. Stacktic uses the App ID and App Secret to get an access pass from Help Scout. It checks that the pass works before saving anything.

Step 3: Turn on removal (when you're ready)

Stacktic starts reading your Help Scout users as soon as you connect. Removing someone's Help Scout seat during an offboarding is a separate switch. It's off until you turn it on, because removal is destructive.

When you're ready, turn on Automated user removal on the Integration tab. The owner still confirms each removal when it happens. Turning this on only makes removal possible. It doesn't make removals happen without review.

Step 4: Turn on automatic account creation (optional)

If you use an access workflow for Help Scout, it can include a Create the account step. Here's how it works:

A request reaches that step, usually after an approval or a training check.
Stacktic adds the person to Help Scout itself, with the User role.
Help Scout emails them an invite.

Nobody has to click anything.

That step needs its own switch. Turn on Automated user creation on the Integration tab before you add the step. A workflow with the step can't be turned on while the switch is off. The switch is off by default. The Add a user action on the Access tab works either way.

What you'll see

Once you're connected, Stacktic lists everyone Help Scout returns from your account.

Who: each person's name, email, and role. Roles use Help Scout's own words: Owner, Admin, or User.
Who's left out: Help Scout's internal "team" placeholder accounts. They aren't people.
Status: Help Scout has no deactivated or suspended state for a user. Someone either has a seat on the account or they're gone. So Stacktic shows everyone it sees as active. There's no "disabled" status to show for this tool.

The connected card shows your App ID in plain text, plus the last 4 characters of the App Secret. That lets you check which credential is in place, without the full secret ever being shown again.

What adding a user does

On the tool's Access tab, Add a user creates a new Help Scout user. You enter their first name, last name, and email. Stacktic first checks that nobody in Help Scout already has that email. Then you confirm.

The account is created right away, with the User role. Stacktic can't create an Owner or Admin. If the person needs one of those roles, change it in Help Scout afterward.
Help Scout emails them an invite to set a password and sign in. Stacktic never sees or shows a password or link.
No inboxes are assigned. The new user can sign in, but won't see any inboxes until an Admin gives them access in Help Scout.
It counts as a seat on your Help Scout bill from the moment it's created.

Every Owner, Admin, and User sees the button. See Roles and permissions.

What removal does (and doesn't do)

Removing someone's Help Scout access is a hard delete of their user account. Help Scout has no way to just disable a seat. Before Stacktic deletes anyone, it shows you how many of their active conversations will be reassigned. So you know the impact before you confirm.

Removal does not:

soft-disable or suspend the account. The delete is permanent and can't be undone from Stacktic.
affect any other tool. It only touches the person's Help Scout seat.

If the person was already removed, or never existed in Help Scout, Stacktic counts that as done. It doesn't treat it as an error.

Security notes

The credential is personal. A My App belongs to whoever created it. If that person later leaves and loses their Help Scout access, the integration stops being able to sign in. Stacktic flags this so someone can create a new My App and reconnect.
No token to babysit. Stacktic doesn't store a login token. It stores the App ID and App Secret (encrypted), and uses them to get a short-lived access pass each time it needs one. There's no separate expiry to track or renew by hand.
Stored encrypted. Stacktic keeps only the App ID and App Secret, both encrypted. The secret is never shown again in full, only its last 4 characters, so you can tell which one it is.
You can cut it off anytime. Delete or regenerate the My App in Help Scout and the connection stops working right away.

Troubleshooting

Message in Stacktic	Likely cause & fix
"bad_credential" / Help Scout rejected the credential at connect time	The App ID or App Secret is wrong, or the My App was deleted or regenerated. Create a new My App in Help Scout and reconnect with the new values.
The connection shows it needs reconnecting	The stored App Secret no longer works. Usually the My App was deleted, or the person who created it lost Help Scout access. Create a new My App and reconnect.
Offboarding removal reports the user wasn't found	They were already removed from Help Scout, or never existed. Stacktic counts this as done. You don't need to do anything.
Offboarding removal is refused (permission denied)	Help Scout rejected the delete request. Check that the connected credential still has permission, and retry.
"… is already a Help Scout user." when adding a user	Someone in Help Scout already has that email. Nothing was created.
Adding a user is refused because the app's owner must be an Admin or Account Owner	The person who created the My App is a User in Help Scout. Help Scout only lets Owners and Admins create users. Have an Owner or Admin create a new My App, then reconnect.

Frequently asked questions

Does removing someone from Help Scout delete their conversations? No. It reassigns their active conversations that are currently assigned to them to someone else. It doesn't delete conversation history. Stacktic shows you the count before you confirm.

Can I undo a removal? No. Help Scout has no way to restore a deleted user. That's why the switch that allows removal is off by default. It's also why every removal is a confirmed, deliberate action.

Will connecting change or delete anything right away? No. Connecting only reads your current user list.

Stacktic adds a user only when someone uses Add a user and confirms. It also adds one when an access workflow with a Create the account step reaches that step, but only after you turn on Automated user creation.
Removal happens only during an offboarding, and only after you turn on Automated user removal.

Can I choose the new user's role? Not from Stacktic. New users always get the User role, so nobody can create an Admin through Stacktic by mistake. Change it in Help Scout if needed.

What if the person who created the My App leaves? The integration stops being able to sign in, and Stacktic flags it. Anyone with permission to create a My App in Help Scout can create a new one and reconnect. Nothing about the setup ties it to one specific person from then on.