Migrate from Kayako to Intercom

Kayako Conversations (tickets) map to Intercom Conversations. Each conversation's message thread, status (Open, Pending, Resolved, Closed), priority, assignee, and channel field transfer directly. We use the Kayako Conversations API to extract message content with author attribution and recreate the thread in Intercom with the same message ordering and timestamp sequence. Multi-participant conversations where multiple agents have replied map to a single Intercom conversation with internal notes for agent-to-agent context.

Kayako Users (agents and admins) map to Intercom Admins and Teammates. We extract role assignments (admin vs agent), team memberships, and permission sets from Kayako and map them to Intercom's permission model (Admin, Agent, Viewer). Active and inactive status carries over; inactive Kayako users become inactive Intercom teammates. The email address is the dedupe key for matching.

Kayako Organization records map to Intercom Companies. The organization name, domain, custom properties, and member user list transfer. In Intercom, the Company record links to all Contact records belonging to members of that organization, preserving the shared-account context from Kayako. We resolve the Company-Contact linkage during import by matching user email domains.

Kayako custom fields on Conversations require API field keys (not display names) and map to Intercom custom attributes on Conversations. Intercom custom attribute names must not contain periods (.) or dollar signs ($), and values must be JSON strings, numbers, or booleans—objects and arrays are not supported as attribute values. We transform any complex Kayako custom field values (arrays, nested objects) into flattened string representations or separate attributes during the migration extract phase.

Kayako custom fields on Users map to Intercom custom attributes on Contacts. The same Intercom field-naming restrictions apply (no periods, no dollar signs, string/number/boolean values only). We discover all Kayako API field keys during scoping and apply the transformation rules before writing to Intercom's Contacts API.

Kayako custom fields on Organizations map to Intercom custom attributes on Companies. Organization-level custom fields in Kayako (for example, account tier, contract value, or renewal date) transfer to Company custom attributes in Intercom with equivalent naming transformations. We flag any field that contains an array or object value for pre-migration flattening.

Kayako Knowledge Base articles transfer to Intercom's Help Center articles. Article content (body, title, status, author, created/modified timestamps) migrates via the Kayako Knowledge Base API and writes to the Intercom Articles API. Article attachments migrate as file uploads linked to the article. We preserve the article-author attribution and view counts as custom attributes on the Intercom article record.

Kayako Knowledge Base category hierarchy maps to Intercom Collections with nested folder structure. We preserve parent-child relationships during import, handling naming conflicts if the destination Intercom workspace already has collections with overlapping names. Each article's category assignment transfers as the Collection membership in Intercom.

Kayako tags applied to Conversations migrate as Intercom conversation tags. Tags are label strings stored as an array on the conversation record. We extract the tag list from each Kayako Conversation and write the identical tag array to the corresponding Intercom Conversation during import. Tag-based routing rules do not transfer and are documented for the admin to rebuild in Intercom Workflows.

Conversation message attachments in Kayako migrate as Intercom conversation attachments. The Kayako API requires separate file retrieval calls per conversation, and attachment size restrictions may apply at both source and destination. We batch file extraction by conversation, re-upload to Intercom, and link each attachment to the correct message in the conversation thread. Attachments exceeding Intercom's size limits are flagged for the customer to handle separately.

Kayako SLA policies (response time, resolution time, business hours definitions) are configuration objects that do not export as data. We capture SLA metadata during discovery and deliver a written mapping document that translates each Kayako SLA tier into the equivalent Intercom SLA configuration (available on the Advanced plan and above). The customer's admin rebuilds the SLA definitions in Intercom Admin settings post-migration.

Kayako automation rules (triggers, conditions, actions) do not export as code via API. We deliver a written automation inventory that documents every active Kayako rule with its trigger event, conditions, actions, and a recommended equivalent in Intercom Workflows. The customer's admin or an Intercom implementation partner rebuilds the automation logic in Intercom's visual workflow builder. This inventory is included in the standard migration handoff package.