Command

nylas email drafts create

Create a new draft email with optional attachments.

Written by Qasim Muhammad Staff SRE

Published February 13, 2026Updated June 21, 2026

What does nylas email drafts create do?

The nylas email drafts create command saves a draft instead of sending it, so an AI agent can stage a reply for human review. It works across Gmail, Outlook, Exchange, Yahoo, iCloud, and IMAP, and returns the draft ID with --json.

Usage

nylas email drafts create --to EMAIL --subject TEXT --body TEXT [--json]

Flags

Flag	Description
--json	Output as JSON
--no-color	Disable color output
--verbose(-v)	Enable verbose output
--config	Custom config file path
--help(-h)	Show help for the command
--limit	Limit results (most list commands)
--yes(-y)	Skip confirmations
--to(-t)	Recipient email addresses
--subject(-s)	Email subject
--body(-b)	Email body
--cc	CC email addresses
--attach(-a)	File paths to attach
--reply-to	Message ID to reply to
--signature-id	Stored signature ID to append when creating the draft

Examples

Stage a draft for human review

nylas email drafts create --to customer@example.com --subject "Re: your order" --body "Thanks for reaching out."

Create a draft and capture its ID

nylas email drafts create --to customer@example.com --subject "Re: your order" --body "On it." --json | jq -r '.id'

Example output

✓ Draft created
  Draft ID: draft_abc123
  To: alice@example.com
  Subject: Q3 planning

Troubleshooting

Draft created but not visible in webmail

Some providers sync drafts on a delay. Run nylas email drafts list --json to confirm the draft exists by ID.

Attachment rejected

Pass a readable local file path to --attach and stay within the provider's attachment size limit (25 MB on Gmail).

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Run nylas email drafts create --help for full help output.