Serve Pendo guides using Intercom Fin (beta)

The Pendo integration with Intercom's Fin AI Agent lets Fin surface relevant Pendo guides directly in chat conversations. When a visitor asks how to complete a task, Fin queries Pendo through MCP and offers a walkthrough the visitor can launch in their app.

This article explains how the connection works, what you need before you begin, and how to set it up in both Pendo and Intercom.

Note: Pendo also offers a separate integration that proactively triggers Fin conversations based on visitor frustration signals. The two integrations work well together, but each has its own setup procedure. If you want Fin to proactively reach out when visitors show friction, see Power Intercom Fin to act proactively based on frustration signals (beta).

Use cases

• When users ask your AI support agent how to do something, the agent queries Pendo through MCP to find the most relevant guide.
• Agents match user intent to the most relevant Pendo walkthrough, triggering step-by-step help in the moment.
• Works with any MCP-compatible AI agent; surface your entire guide library through natural language, no code required.

How it works

The integration connects Pendo frustration event data to Intercom's automation and messenger products through webhooks. The end-to-end flow has four stages:

1. A visitor asks Fin a question in your app's chat.
2. Fin recognizes the question as a request for help with a workflow. 
3. Fin calls the GetInAppGuidance tool on the Pendo MCP server, passing the visitor's question and Visitor ID.
4. Pendo evaluates which guides the visitor is eligible to see based on your segment rules and returns matching results.
5. Fin surfaces the guide as a link the visitor can select to launch the walkthrough in their browser.

The service account and MCP server are configured in your Pendo subscription. The token authentication and data connectors are configured in Intercom.

Before you begin

To complete this set up, you need:

• An Intercom workspace with Fin enabled.
• An Intercom access token. Access this from the Intercom Developer Hub.
• Allow API integration key creation enabled in Pendo Subscription settings > Settings.
• Pendo MCP server (read-only tools) turned on in Pendo Subscription settings > AI access.
• Semantic search turned on in Pendo Subscription settings > AI access.

If the Semantic search setting is turned off, your subscription may have opted out of using Google AI features. In this case, the in-app guidance tool through Fin is unavailable.

Step 1. Create a service account

A service account provides the OAuth 2.0 credentials that Fin uses to authenticate with the Pendo MCP server for this integration. Service accounts are created and managed in Pendo integration settings. For full setup and management steps, see Authenticate to the Pendo MCP server with a service account.

Note: If your organization uses multiple Pendo subscriptions, you need to create a separate service account for each one.

Step 2. Set up the token refresh in Fin

The token refresh lets Fin authenticate with the Pendo MCP server using your service account credentials. Fin uses this token every time it needs to look up a Pendo guide, providing Fin with ongoing, secure access to your Pendo data.

In the Intercom app:

1. Go to Settings > Authentication.
2. Select New token.
3. Enter the following information:
   • Token name. Provide a descriptive name, for example, "Pendo Service Account".
   • Type. Select OAuth.
   • HTTPS URL. https://app.pendo.io/oauth/v1/token. Replace app.pendo.io with the domain for your Pendo subscription's region.
   • Client ID. The Client ID you saved when you created the service account.
   • Client secret. The Client Secret you saved when you created the service account.
   • Scope. read:me.
   • Request format. Form Encoded.

4. Select Test Request. You should receive the response: 

   200 OK. Found token under the path "access_token"

Step 3. Add the Pendo Support Agent MCP

Adding the Pendo MCP server as a data connector tells Intercom where to send Fin's requests for Pendo data.

In the Intercom app:

1. Go to Settings > Data connectors.
2. Select New data connector.
3. Enter the following information:
   • Name. Pendo Support Agent MCP.
   • URL. https://app.pendo.io/mcp/visitor/shttp. Replace app.pendo.io with the domain for your Pendo subscription's region.
   • Authentication. Existing Token or API Key.
   • Token. Select the token you created in the previous step.

Step 4. Enable the In-app Guidance data connector

The In-app Guidance data connector exposes the GetInAppGuidance tool to Fin. This is the tool Fin calls to look up a relevant Pendo guide and lets Fin offer a walkthrough rather than a text-only answer.

In the Intercom app:

1. Go to Settings > Data connectors. The MCP server you added in the previous step is listed.
2. On the MCP server, select New to add a new data connector.
3. Select the GetInAppGuidance tool, then select Add connector.
4. To allow Fin to use the connector outside of a workflow or procedure, turn on Enable Fin to use this connector directly without adding it to a workflow or procedure.
5. On the Input Parameters tab, configure the following:
   • query. Leave set to Let Fin decide, with Optional set to false.
   • visitorId. Choose one of the following:
     • Ignore input. Fin doesn't pass a Visitor ID. Only guides without segment targeting are returned.
     • Use an attribute. Fin passes the visitor's Pendo Visitor ID from the selected Intercom attribute. Guides the visitor is eligible to see are returned, including those with and without segment targeting. The selected attribute must match the Visitor ID used to identify the visitor in Pendo.
6. On the Data Transformation tab, set data access to Full data access.
7. Set the data connector to Live. The tool is now available to Fin.

Once the data connector is live, Fin can call the GetInAppGuidance tool whenever a visitor asks a question. Fin queries Pendo for a matching guide and surfaces a link the visitor can select to launch the walkthrough in their app.