Asana MCP Server

Asana MCP Server

Change Asana without opening Asana.

A local-first Asana MCP over the REST API: controlled writes, schema operations, diagnostics, and one-call briefs over a Personal Access Token.

npx -y @jtalk22/asana-mcp --setup

Claude Code Claude Desktop Cursor Copilot Windsurf Gemini CLI Codex CLI any stdio MCP client

Why this exists · Install · 75 tools · Composites · Slack + Asana · Honest limits · API reference

Why this exists

Asana's official V2 MCP server is the supported hosted choice: OAuth, workspace-scoped access, consolidated task writes, and interactive confirmations in supported clients. Its tool set changes over time, so use Asana's current tools reference rather than a frozen comparison table.

Choose this server when you want a transparent local stdio process and direct REST coverage:

You can use both: the official service for managed OAuth and this package for local-first REST workflows or capabilities your operating model needs. To use this package, create a Personal Access Token, run --setup, and keep the process on your machine. It talks only to app.asana.com.

Slack + Asana continuity preview

This package remains the full 75-tool, MIT-licensed local server. Nothing below is an unlock for missing tools.

The same maintainer is also building Keep the Thread, a managed continuity layer for an independent operator or two-to-five-person team that already works in Slack and Asana but does not want another dashboard. Its first cross-tool contract asks a narrower question:

Which Slack commitment is missing, incomplete, or stale in one selected Asana project?

flowchart LR
    Slack["1–5 selected Slack channels"] --> Report["continuity_asana_discrepancy_report"]
    Asana["1 selected Asana project\nincomplete tasks only"] --> Report
    Report --> Gaps["matched commitments · gaps · task drift · next reviews"]
    Gaps --> Receipt["source IDs preserved\nwrites_performed: 0"]

The hosted Asana connector code is live and read-only, but public OAuth activation is still staged. See the representative input/output contract, inspect the live connector status, or request a bounded deployment review. Creating, updating, completing, or deleting Asana tasks is not part of the hosted discrepancy report.

Install

1. Get a token — app.asana.com/0/my-apps → Personal access tokens → Create. Then either:

npx -y @jtalk22/asana-mcp --setup    # stores it in the macOS Keychain (or ~/.asana-mcp.json, mode 600)

or export ASANA_PAT yourself.

2. Add the server to your MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "asana": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@jtalk22/asana-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code one-liner: claude mcp add asana -- npx -y @jtalk22/asana-mcp

3. Verify:

npx -y @jtalk22/asana-mcp --doctor   # token → identity → workspace → tool surface, as JSON

Workspace is auto-detected when your token sees exactly one. Tokens that see several: set ASANA_WORKSPACE_GID (the doctor lists your options) or pass workspace per call.

75 tools: read, act, design

• 26 reads — tasks, projects, sections, users, teams, tags, stories, subtasks, dependencies, attachments, statuses, portfolios, typeahead (name→GID), cross-board duplicate detection that knows a multi-homed task is not a duplicate.
• 40 writes — create/update/complete/assign, comments, followers, tags, dependencies, memberships, section moves, dates (start_on done right), custom fields (dates wrapped, multi_enum arrays), rich notes (sanitized), attachments (100MB uploads), bulk ops, project statuses, portfolios, templates with async-job polling, and asana_set_notes_safe for boards where automations rewrite what you just wrote.
• 6 schema/design tools — create custom fields, extend dropdowns, attach fields to projects, sections, reorder: the agent can build the board, not just fill it.
• 3 destructive — delete_task / delete_project / delete_section refuse to run without confirm: true.
• Local file boundary — attach_file requires confirm: true and only reads from the current directory or ASANA_MCP_FILE_ROOTS.
• Read-only batch — batch_ops rejects every non-GET action at both schema and runtime layers.

Every tool declares MCP annotations — readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint, titles. Clients that honor them (Claude Code does) auto-allow reads in plan mode, parallelize them safely, and gate the destructive three.

Trim the advertised surface with ASANA_MCP_TOOLS=read (30 tools), write, or a comma-list — a triage agent doesn't need delete tools in its context.

Full inputs and semantics: docs/API.md.

Composites: one call, one answer

Five tools that replace ten-call round-trips, built from running real boards daily:

• asana_morning_brief — incomplete tasks bucketed overdue / due-today / upcoming / blocked-by-dependency, one call.
• asana_user_queue — one person's FULL queue, paginated past the API's 100-result search cap, bucketed by due date with per-project counts. The "what is X sitting on?" call.
• asana_portfolio_rollup — per-project health (incomplete / overdue / completed-this-week + status) across a portfolio or project list. include_archived: true catches the open tasks hiding on archived boards — every default listing skips them.
• asana_board_rollup — one board grouped by section, any number custom field summed per section ("Deal $", "Claim $"), deadline fields checked for overdue by name — fields resolve live from the board's own settings, nothing hard-coded.
• asana_triage_inbox — bulk-create from a triaged list (the bulk CREATE the API doesn't have), per-item overrides, continues past failures.

Honest limits

• Asana's search API caps at 100 results with no pagination. Tools built on it say so (truncated: true) instead of pretending the tail doesn't exist; asana_user_queue and the list tools paginate past it where the REST API allows.
• The /batch endpoint silently discards PUT bodies and GET options upstream — so this server doesn't route writes through it. asana_batch_ops exists for GET-with-default-fields only, and its description says exactly that.
• Comment rich text (html_text on stories) is downgraded to escaped plaintext by Asana — comments here are plain text by design rather than silently ugly.
• Date custom fields come back as full ISO timestamps; overdue math normalizes to YYYY-MM-DD before comparing (a silent all-clear bug we hit and fixed).
• A PAT reads only its own My Tasks (others 403) — asana_user_queue uses the assignee route that works for anyone.

More in docs/TROUBLESHOOTING.md.

Security

Your PAT has the same access as your Asana login. It's read from ASANA_PAT, the macOS Keychain (asana-mcp), or ~/.asana-mcp.json (written mode 600) — never logged, never sent anywhere but api.asana.com's host. No telemetry, no phone-home; read SECURITY.md.

Development

npm ci && npm test          # 16 unit tests, no token needed
npm run doctor              # live check against your workspace
npm run api-docs            # regenerate docs/API.md from lib/tools.js

PRs welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md. MIT.

Also by the same author: @jtalk22/slack-mcp — catch up on Slack without reading it.