Improve Fin resolution rate with session context (beta)

The Pendo integration with Intercom’s Fin AI Agent gives Fin access to real-time session data from Pendo during active support conversations. Joint Pendo and Intercom customers can use this to help Fin understand what a visitor was doing in the app before contacting you, so it can deliver faster, more relevant answers.

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 lets Fin surface relevant Pendo guides directly in chat. The two integrations work well together, but each has its own setup procedure. If you want Fin to offer in-app walkthroughs from Pendo, see Serve Pendo guides using Intercom Fin.

Use cases 

This integration lets Fin look up a visitor’s recent session activity in Pendo when they start a support conversation. Pendo and Intercom customers can use this context to:

• Reduce back-and-forth by giving Fin visibility into what the visitor already tried.
• Improve resolution accuracy by grounding Fin’s responses in actual user behavior, not just the visitor’s description of the problem.
• Shorten time-to-resolution by skipping basic troubleshooting steps when session data shows the visitor has already completed them.

How it works 

The integration connects Pendo session data to Intercom’s Fin AI Agent so Fin can retrieve visitor context during a live conversation. The end-to-end flow has four stages:

1. A visitor starts a support conversation in Intercom Messenger and describes an issue.
2. Fin calls the Pendo integration to retrieve the visitor’s recent session activity, including pages visited, features used, and any frustration signals detected.
3. With the session data available, Fin can reference what the visitor was doing, acknowledge steps already taken, and provide a more targeted answer.
4. The session data lookup is configured through a Custom Action in Intercom. Pendo surfaces the session data through its API, and Fin references it as part of its response generation.

Tip: For best results, give your Pages and Features descriptive names and descriptions in Pendo. Fin uses these names when referencing session activity, so clear labels like “Billing Settings Page” or “Export CSV Button” help Fin communicate precisely about where the visitor was and what they did.

Before you begin 

To complete this setup, you need:

• An Intercom workspace with Fin enabled.
• An Intercom access token. Access this from the Intercom Developer Hub.
• Allow API integration key creation turned on in Pendo from Settings > Subscription settings. If you don't see this option, ask your Pendo account representative or our support team to turn it on for you.
• Pendo MCP server (read-only tools) turned on in Pendo from Settings > Subscription settings > AI access.
• Semantic search turned on in Pendo from Settings > Subscription settings > AI access.

If you can't turn on Semantic search, your subscription may have opted out of using Google AI features. In this case, the session context integration with 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 Pendo session activity, 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 GetSessionActivity data connector

The GetSessionActivity data connector exposes the GetSessionActivity tool to Fin. This is the tool Fin uses to look up a visitor’s recent Pendo session activity and base its answers on what the visitor actually did in your app.

In the Intercom app:

1. Go to Settings in the bottom-left corner.
2. Under Integrations, select Data connectors.
   
   
    
3. Find the MCP server you added in the previous step, then select New Pendo Support Agent MCP connector.
   
   
    
4. Select the GetSessionActivity tool, then select Add connectors. This populates the data connector in the table.
5. Select the newly added GetSessionActivity from the table under the Name column, then select Edit in the top-right corner.
   
   
    
6. Under Data inputs, select + Data input.
7. For Data source, select Select data attribute, then choose the Intercom attribute that uses the same value as the Pendo Visitor ID so Fin can pass the user ID into the connector. Use this same value in the remaining steps..⁠
   
   
    
8. Select Save.
9. Scroll down to the Body section. With your cursor, click between the two double quotes here: "arguments":{"visitorId":"", then select Add data and choose the same attribute you added in step 7. This maps the selected Intercom attribute to the visitorId argument in the GetSessionActivity tool.
   
   
    
10. Scroll down to the Test section, and enter a Test value that matches the format of the Visitor ID in Pendo.

11. Optionally, we recommend allowing Fin to use this connector outside of a workflow or procedure. To do this, open the Fin tab, then turn on the Directly toggle.

    
     

12. When ready, select Set live in the top-right corner to make the data connector available in Fin.

Once the data connector is live, Fin can call the GetSessionActivity tool whenever a visitor starts a conversation. Fin queries Pendo for recent session context and uses this information to tailor its responses during support interactions.