# Zammad

AGPL helpdesk with a documented REST API for tickets, users, organizations and the knowledge base.

Web-based ticketing across email, chat, phone and social channels, owned by the Zammad Foundation and developed by Zammad GmbH. Self-host free with Docker Compose, DEB/RPM or Helm; the same company sells hosting. The REST API at /api/v1 with token auth is the agent interface; community MCP wrappers exist.

Alternative to: Zendesk, Freshdesk

- Capabilities: adaptable, operable
- Vertical: smb-ops-crm
- Shape: business-app
- Form factor: web-app
- Execution model: deterministic
- Provenance: human-written (recorded, never ranked)
- Repo: https://github.com/zammad/zammad (AGPL-3.0), 5886 stars, last commit 2026-09-02
- Last activity: 2026-09-02
- Page: apps/zammad--zammad.html
- JSON: apps/zammad--zammad.json

## Use it when

- I need a proper ticket queue with SLAs for a small support team and want it on our own server
- I want our agent to triage and answer tickets through a stable REST API

## Gotchas

- Needs Elasticsearch for search; the compose stack runs five services
- AGPL: modifications to a hosted copy must be published
- Hosted edition has no free plan; only self-host is free

## Editions

- Community (self-hosted): Free, open source
  - source: https://github.com/zammad/zammad
  - container: https://hub.docker.com/r/zammad/zammad-docker-compose
  - binary: https://packager.io/gh/zammad/zammad/refs/stable
- Hosted: Free, closed source
  - hosted: https://zammad.com/en/pricing

## Adaptable: make it yours

Effort: config-only (19 things to edit), surface kind admin-ui

zammad-docker-compose/.env.dist (VERSION, POSTGRES_*, ELASTICSEARCH_*, NGINX_PORT, ZAMMAD_FQDN, TZ, backup settings) is deployment configuration only. Business adaptation lives in the admin UI: Channels (email, chat, forms), Triggers and Schedulers, SLAs, Text Modules, Groups and Roles, and Object Manager for custom fields.

- Env vars: VERSION, IMAGE_REPO, POSTGRES_HOST, POSTGRES_DB, POSTGRES_USER, POSTGRES_PASS, NGINX_PORT, NGINX_EXPOSE_PORT, ZAMMAD_RAILSSERVER_PORT, ELASTICSEARCH_VERSION, ELASTICSEARCH_JAVA_OPTS, REDIS_URL, MEMCACHE_SERVERS, BACKUP_DIR, BACKUP_TIME, HOLD_DAYS, TZ
- Config files: zammad-docker-compose/.env.dist, zammad-docker-compose/docker-compose.yml
- Prompt files: none
- Accounts you'll need: SMTP/IMAP mailbox per channel; Zammad GmbH account (hosted edition only)

## Operable: what an agent can drive

Operability: official. Interface: api at https://docs.zammad.org/en/latest/api/intro.html (published by the builder, both).

### Reach (partial coverage)

- Create, update and search tickets: reachable. docs.zammad.org API: /api/v1/tickets with search
- Reply on a ticket (articles): reachable. Ticket articles endpoint in the API docs
- Manage users and organizations: reachable. /api/v1/users and /api/v1/organizations
- Manage groups and roles: reachable. Groups and roles endpoints listed in the API intro
- Read and write knowledge base articles: reachable. Knowledgebase listed among searchable endpoints in the API intro
- Use macros, templates and text modules: reachable. Macros, Templates and Text modules listed in the API intro
- Run live chat sessions: undetermined. Chat Sessions endpoint mentioned but not detailed on the intro page
- Configure triggers and schedulers: undetermined. Not covered on the API intro page
- Pull reports: undetermined. Not covered on the API intro page

## Code stack

- Languages: Ruby, JavaScript
- Frameworks: Ruby on Rails, Vue.js
- Package manager: bundler + pnpm
- Database: PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch, Redis, Memcached
- Hosting target: Docker Compose, DEB/RPM, Helm

## Evidence and confidence

- formFactor: README: web-based helpdesk; Docker, DEB/RPM, Helm (confidence 0.95)
- executionModel: No model dependency in README or compose stack (confidence 0.7)
- operability: docs.zammad.org/en/latest/api/intro.html: /api/v1 with token auth (confidence 0.95)
- effort: zammad-docker-compose .env.dist and docker-compose.yml variable names (confidence 0.9)
- editions: README: AGPLv3 source, cloud service at zammad.com/en/pricing with free trial (confidence 0.8)
- active: GitHub pushedAt 2026-09-02
- reach:  (confidence 0.75)

## Open questions

- Hosted plan prices
- Does recent Zammad ship AI features (summaries, assistants) that would make executionModel hybrid?
- API coverage for triggers, schedulers and reports

## Sources

- https://github.com/zammad/zammad (sourcing:smb-ops-crm:github)
- https://docs.zammad.org/en/latest/api/intro.html (sourcing:smb-ops-crm:github)
- https://github.com/zammad/zammad-docker-compose (analysis)