Data Action 400 Bad Request: Mapping Zendesk Custom Fields to GC Interaction Attributes

Can anyone clarify the correct JSON payload structure when using the Data Action to push Zendesk ticket data into Genesys Cloud during a migration?

We are moving from Zendesk to Genesys Cloud and trying to replicate a workflow where specific ticket fields (like priority and custom_field_123) are mapped to Genesys Cloud interaction attributes for downstream reporting. In Zendesk, this was a straightforward field mapping in the ticket view settings, but in GC, we are building this via the Architect Data Action node.

The issue arises when the Data Action attempts to POST to the Genesys Cloud API. The endpoint is /api/v2/interactions/{id}/attributes, and we are using the standard OAuth2 token generated from a service account. The request fails with a 400 Bad Request error. The error body returns:

{
 "message": "Invalid attribute key format",
 "code": "bad.request"
}

We have tried mapping the Zendesk custom field IDs directly to the GC attribute keys, assuming a 1:1 mapping similar to how Zendesk handles tags. However, the documentation Genesys Docs: Interaction Attributes suggests that attribute keys must follow a specific namespace convention, which is not clearly defined for external data imports.

Our current payload looks like this:

{
 "attributes": {
 "zdesk_priority": "high",
 "zdesk_custom_123": "migration_test"
 }
}

Is there a specific prefix or formatting rule we are missing? We are using the Python SDK v4.0.2, and the service account has interaction:read and interaction:write scopes. This is blocking our validation phase, as we cannot verify if the historical ticket data is correctly populating the GC reports. Any insights on how to structure these keys to avoid the 400 error would be greatly appreciated.

Yep, this is a known issue…

The Data Action expects interaction attributes to follow a specific schema. You cannot map directly to arbitrary keys. Use the attributes object in the payload, ensuring keys match the Interaction Attribute definitions in Genesys Cloud exactly.

{
 "attributes": {
 "priority": "{{ticket.priority}}",
 "zendesk_custom_123": "{{ticket.custom_fields.123.value}}"
 }
}

Verify the attribute names are case-sensitive.