How to determine when a task changes sections?

[Jeremy_Labelle]

My goal is to change the assignee of a task depending on what section the task is moved to.

Changing the assignee of the task isn’t hard. But it does not seem like there is a nice way to determine when a task changes the section it is in.

So far the best I have come up with is “stories” . Something along the lines of

For each event, if a story was added in regards to “section_changed” continue with the code. I found a post by a leader explaining what stories are. In the users eyes they are basically those comments that identify changes to the task.

The Asana automation bible: all the triggers and actions from Asana, Zapier, Flowsana, Make.com

What is this exactly? Oh, yeah, that’s probably confusing. A “story” is the Asana technical name for a what end users would know as a comment on a task. Technically stories also include the automatic notes that appear in the comment section, like “Changed due date to 3/5/21”; but the best way to think of this automation capability is as “New task comment”.

I will continue to try and find a good way to approach this, but any input is welcome.

[Phil_Seeman]

Hi @Jeremy_Labelle,

From the code snippet in your post, I assume you’re wanting to do this programmatically using the API, not in the UI using rules? (If so, I want to move your post to the API forum section.)

[Jeremy_Labelle]

Yes I am trying to achieve this programmatically using the API. If there is a more appropriate section please move it there, thank you.

[Phil_Seeman]

Moved!

I can offer two solutions:

1. If you can store values on your end, then record the section for the tasks within the project. Then use a project-level webhook to capture changes on those tasks; when you get a change event, read the task, check its current section against the value in your data store to determine if it’s changed.

2. Use the story-based approach you outlined. If you use this approach, just be cognizant of story consolidation which means you aren’t guaranteed to get every single change on a task.

[Jeremy_Labelle]

I’ve picked this back up and I’m running into a road block. It doesn’t seem like stories reliably track section changes? At least, a section change does not hit my project level webhook, but any field updates do hit it.

I was considering tracking each sections task list and executing my logic when the list for a section changes. But I’m looking for the logic to execute the moment the task changes sections, I don’t want to periodically compare the lists.

Any other recommendations on how I can get a section change to trigger my webhook?

[Phil_Seeman]

@Jeremy_Labelle

It doesn’t seem like stories reliably track section changes? At least, a section change does not hit my project level webhook, but any field updates do hit it.

Two things:

• The project-level webhook doesn’t have anything to do with the Stories object.
• To get section changes on a project-level webhook, set a filter for those explicitly. Here is my project-level webhook in Flowsana:

    filters = new[]
    {
        new WebhookFilter { resource_type = "task", action = "added" },
        new WebhookFilter { resource_type = "task", action = "changed" },
        new WebhookFilter { resource_type = "task", action = "removed" },
        new WebhookFilter { resource_type = "section", action = "added" },
        new WebhookFilter { resource_type = "section", action = "changed" },
        new WebhookFilter { resource_type = "section", action = "removed" }
    }

[Jeremy_Labelle]

When using the filter detailed above. I get an error saying the fields cannot be null. Is that your exact filter? or do I need to declare fields being changed?

[Phil_Seeman]

This is actually my exact C# code (the above was a bit different but functionally the same):

            var newWebhook = new AsanaProjectWebhook
            {
                resource = projectId,
                target = "https://[my endpoint]?code=[my code]&clientId=default" + "&flowsanaId=" + flowsanaUserId + "&resource=" + projectId + "&type=Project"
            };
            newWebhook.filters[0] = new WebhookFilter { resource_type = "task", action = "added" };
            newWebhook.filters[1] = new WebhookFilter { resource_type = "task", action = "changed" };
            newWebhook.filters[2] = new WebhookFilter { resource_type = "task", action = "removed" };
            newWebhook.filters[3] = new WebhookFilter { resource_type = "section", action = "added" };
            newWebhook.filters[4] = new WebhookFilter { resource_type = "section", action = "changed" };
            newWebhook.filters[5] = new WebhookFilter { resource_type = "section", action = "removed" };

            string serialized = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(newWebhook);
            serialized = "{\"data\": " + serialized + "}";
            StringContent stringContent = new StringContent(serialized);
            httpClient.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Bearer", dataService.GetOAuthToken(refreshAuthToken));
            var response = await httpClient.PostAsync("https://app.asana.com/api/1.0/webhooks", stringContent);

[Jeremy_Labelle]

That is very helpful, I was able to establish my webhook with those filters shown above.

However, my webhook doesn’t seem to trigger for them? I’m only receiving events when fields on a task are changed, or added. Not removed.

This is what my webhook looks like getting it with a postman request, i’ve replaced my target with a placeholder. Any insight is helpful.

 "data": {
        "gid": "1209826125588615",
        "resource_type": "webhook",
        "resource": {
            "gid": "805842064117898",
            "resource_type": "project",
            "name": "Current Sprint"
        },
        "target": "https://asi.webhook.placeholder",
        "active": true,
        "is_workspace_webhook": false,
        "failure_deletion_timestamp": null,
        "created_at": "2025-03-28T13:48:08.203Z",
        "last_failure_at": null,
        "last_failure_content": "",
        "last_success_at": "2025-03-28T13:49:07.753Z",
        "delivery_retry_count": 0,
        "next_attempt_after": null,
        "filters": [
            {
                "resource_type": "task",
                "resource_subtype": null,
                "action": "added",
                "fields": null
            },
            {
                "resource_type": "task",
                "resource_subtype": null,
                "action": "changed",
                "fields": null
            },
            {
                "resource_type": "task",
                "resource_subtype": null,
                "action": "removed",
                "fields": null
            },
            {
                "resource_type": "section",
                "resource_subtype": null,
                "action": "added",
                "fields": null
            },
            {
                "resource_type": "section",
                "resource_subtype": null,
                "action": "changed",
                "fields": null
            },
            {
                "resource_type": "section",
                "resource_subtype": null,
                "action": "removed",
                "fields": null
            }
        ]
    }
}

[Phil_Seeman]

@Jeremy_Labelle

when fields on a task are changed, or added. Not removed.

Can you say more specifically what you mean here? Do you mean you’re blanking out the value of a custom field on a task? Or you’re removing a custom field from a project? Or…?

[Jeremy_Labelle]

I mean I’m adding a value to a field, changing a value in a field with an existing value, and removing the value from a field. Not adding or removing entire fields.

[Jeremy_Labelle]

Nevermind? There’s been some weird stuff going on with residual webhooks on my site. So I’m gonna chalk it up to some weird discrepancies. because with that filter you provided, I receive requests when tasks change sections.

Thank you for all your assistance!

[Phil_Seeman]

Excellent news; glad to help!