Create Asana Tasks from Email (CLI)

Command references used in this guide: nylas email search, nylas email list, and nylas email read.

How do I create an Asana task from email?

Creating an Asana task from email takes two calls: pull the message as JSON, then POST it to Asana. The CLI returns structured messages with nylas email search --json, and a single request to the Asana API create task endpoint turns each one into a task in a project you pick. The whole flow is 2 commands, with no SMTP, no OAuth app registration, and no per-task fee.

First, get a token and a project ID. Asana issues a personal access token from the developer console, and you pass it as a bearer credential in the Authorization header per the token docs. The 2 inputs you need are that token and the numeric project GID from a project's URL. If the CLI isn't installed yet, run the Homebrew one-liner below, then see getting started for the other three install methods.

# Install the CLI (macOS / Linux)
brew install nylas/nylas-cli/nylas

# Pull the messages you want to file into Asana
nylas email search "*" --subject "bug" --after 2026-06-08 --json --limit 50 > items.json

How do I map an email to Asana task fields?

Map each email to an Asana task by sending a JSON body where name holds the subject and notes holds the sender and body. Asana wraps every request in a top-level data object, and a task needs a workspace or at least one project. Build the body with jq so values escape correctly and a missing subject never produces a nameless task.

The loop below reads one message at a time, extracts the subject and sender, and POSTs a task to the chosen project. Using jq -n to assemble the payload keeps the JSON valid even when a subject contains quotes or newlines — a common cause of a 400 response from the Asana API. The projects field takes an array of GIDs, so one task can land in several projects at once.

PROJECT_GID="1201234567890123"
jq -c '.[]' items.json | while read -r msg; do
  subject=$(echo "$msg" | jq -r '.subject // "(no subject)"')
  sender=$(echo "$msg"  | jq -r '.from[0].email // "unknown"')
  body=$(jq -n --arg n "$subject" --arg notes "From: $sender" --arg p "$PROJECT_GID" \
    '{data: {name: $n, notes: $notes, projects: [$p]}}')
  curl -s -X POST "https://app.asana.com/api/1.0/tasks" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $ASANA_TOKEN" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d "$body"
done

What Asana fields can I set from an email?

Beyond the name, the Asana create task endpoint accepts due_on, assignee, notes, and html_notes in the same data object. Due dates use a plain YYYY-MM-DD string for due_on, per the create task reference. The assignee field takes a user GID or the literal me.

That lets you route by sender. A message from your on-call alias gets a due date 1 day out and lands on you; everything else keeps the project default. The snippet picks a due date from the current date plus 1 day and assigns the task with me. Asana's html_notes field accepts a restricted HTML subset documented in the rich text reference, so you can keep links from the email body clickable.

subject=$(echo "$msg" | jq -r '.subject // "(no subject)"')
sender=$(echo "$msg"  | jq -r '.from[0].email // "unknown"')
due=$(date -u -d "+1 day" +%Y-%m-%d 2>/dev/null || date -u -v+1d +%Y-%m-%d)
jq -n --arg n "$subject" --arg notes "From: $sender" \
  --arg due "$due" --arg p "$PROJECT_GID" \
  '{data: {name: $n, notes: $notes, due_on: $due, assignee: "me", projects: [$p]}}'

How do I avoid creating duplicate tasks?

Avoid duplicate Asana tasks by recording each email's message ID after you file it and skipping IDs you have already seen. Every Nylas message carries a stable id field, so a flat file of processed IDs is enough to make the pipeline safe to run every 5 minutes from cron without ever double-filing a message.

The loop checks a seen.txt file before each POST and appends the ID after a successful create. Scoping the search to newer_than:1d caps the working set, and the ID check guards the edge where the same message matches two consecutive runs. Combined, the two limits keep a 1-minute cron job idempotent and stay well under Asana's default rate limit of 150 requests per minute.

touch seen.txt
jq -c '.[]' items.json | while read -r msg; do
  id=$(echo "$msg" | jq -r '.id')
  grep -qF "$id" seen.txt && continue
  subject=$(echo "$msg" | jq -r '.subject // "(no subject)"')
  curl -s -X POST "https://app.asana.com/api/1.0/tasks" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $ASANA_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d "$(jq -n --arg n "$subject" --arg p "$PROJECT_GID" '{data: {name: $n, projects: [$p]}}')" \
    && echo "$id" >> seen.txt
done

Why use a webhook instead of polling?

A webhook files an Asana task the instant an email arrives, instead of waiting for the next poll. The CLI ships a webhook server; run it with --tunnel cloudflared to expose a temporary public URL, so you can develop against live message.created events without deploying anything. A 5-minute poll adds up to 300 seconds of latency; a webhook fires within seconds of delivery.

The nylas webhook create command registers the endpoint and the triggers; nylas webhook server runs a local listener on port 9000 for testing. The mapping code from earlier is identical — only the trigger changes from a cron timer to an inbound event. Your Asana token stays separate from the mailbox grant the tool manages, so you rotate each one independently.

# Register a webhook for new mail
nylas webhook create \
  --url https://your-endpoint.example.com/hooks \
  --triggers message.created \
  --description "Email to Asana"

# Or test locally with an auto-generated tunnel
nylas webhook server --port 9000

Next steps

• Create Confluence Pages from Email — Pull email as JSON with the Nylas CLI and POST to the Confluence…
• Create ClickUp tasks from email — the same pattern into a ClickUp list
• Email to Trello cards — file messages as Trello cards
• Send email to a Notion database — create Notion pages from email
• Email to GitHub issues — open issues from inbound mail
• Email to monday.com items — write board items from email
• Full command reference — every flag and subcommand documented
• Asana docs: create task, personal access token, and rate limits