Adding html_text parameter to asana_create_task_story MCP tool for rich text comments

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Hi Asana MCP team,

We would like to request the addition of an html_text parameter to the asana_create_task_story tool in the Asana MCP server.

What is missing:

Currently, the asana_create_task_story tool only exposes the text parameter for creating comments (stories) on tasks. The Asana REST API, however, supports two fields for this purpose:

  • text — plain text, no formatting

  • html_text — HTML-formatted rich text (supports <strong>, <code>, <em>, <ul>, <ol>, <a>, etc.)

Since only text is available through the MCP, there is no way to post rich-text-formatted comments. Markdown syntax (e.g., **bold**, `code`) is rendered as literal characters, and HTML tags (e.g., <strong>bold</strong>) are escaped by the API and displayed as plain text.

Why we need this:

We use AI agents (via MCP clients like Cursor, Claude Desktop, etc.) to automate workflows that involve posting structured, readable comments on Asana tasks — such as investigation summaries, status updates, code review notes, and technical reports. These comments often contain code snippets, bold headings, lists, and links. Without rich text support, the comments are difficult to read and lack the structure needed to be useful.

We note that other MCP tools already support HTML-formatted text — for example, asana_create_task and asana_update_task both expose html_notes for task descriptions, and asana_create_project_status supports html_text for project status updates. The inconsistency means comments are the only major text area where rich formatting is unavailable through the MCP.

Suggested implementation:

Add an optional html_text parameter to the asana_create_task_story tool, analogous to how html_notes works for tasks. When html_text is provided, it would be passed to the Asana REST API’s html_text field for the story creation endpoint. The existing text parameter would remain as a fallback for plain text comments.

We believe this would be a straightforward addition given that the underlying REST API already supports html_text for stories, and the pattern is already established in other MCP tools.

Thank you for considering this request — and thank you for the excellent MCP server overall. It has been a great productivity boost for our team!

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cc: @dbrdak @John_Baldo

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Hi @FloopCZE!

Thank you for the thoughtful feedback—I completely agree with you. If LLMs could leverage the html_text field, that would indeed unlock some very powerful use cases.

With the release of v2, we intentionally reduced the overall number of available tools (nearly by half). As part of that change, the asana_create_task_story tool is no longer included. We shared the reasoning behind this in the v2 changelog, but in short: we chose to prioritize quality over quantity. The goal is to ensure that the tools we do expose are well-scoped, reliable, and supported by strong, contextual instructions so agents can use them effectively.

That said, this is a temporary limitation. We’re actively evaluating which tools should be reintroduced or added next, based on real-world needs and feedback like yours. While this means LLMs may feel a bit more constrained right now, the intention is for them to perform actions more accurately and with better context.

I agree that adding a create_task_story tool could unblock many workflows and improve how agents interact with Asana. I’ll pass your feedback along to our R&D team so they can evaluate the request and consider next steps.

Thanks again for sharing your perspective! I’ll follow up if we have any questions on our end.

Best,
Dominik

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