cyber-asana vs official Asana MCP
Asana ships an official MCP server (hosted, OAuth) alongside which cyber-asana runs its own local MCP server. They are not competitors — tool names do not collide, and running both in the same host is the intended setup. The MCP server is opt-in: the cyber-asana plugin does not start it (see CLI vs MCP). This page shows what each one covers so you know which to reach for.
At a glance
Section titled “At a glance”| Official Asana MCP | cyber-asana MCP | |
|---|---|---|
| Tools | 27 | 105 |
| Transport | Hosted remote (https://mcp.asana.com/v2/mcp) |
Local stdio (cyber-asana mcp) |
| Auth | OAuth 2.0 (hosted, an MCP app you register) | Personal access token, or OAuth 2.0 + PKCE via cyber-asana auth login (your own API app) |
| Config key | asana |
cyber-asana |
| Backing surface | Asana’s MCP-native V2 API | Asana REST API |
| Output | JSON | JSON, or TOON via CYBER_ASANA_MCP_FORMAT=toon |
| Also available as a CLI | No | Yes — same core, same operations |
Overlap: 21 tool pairs. Official-only: 6. cyber-asana-only: 84.
What only the official server has
Section titled “What only the official server has”These are routed to the official server by design. cyber-asana’s remit is write-heavy REST automation; discovery, preview-then-confirm flows, and preview APIs stay where they already work. The exception is made when the REST cost turns out to be trivial — the reasoning for each is below, so you can tell a deliberate boundary from an oversight.
| Official tool | What it does | cyber-asana alternative |
|---|---|---|
search_tasks_preview |
Preview a task search before running it | None by design — a host-UX confirm flow, not an API capability |
create_task_preview |
Interactive preview of a task before creating it | None by design — same reason; asana_task_create writes directly |
create_project_preview |
Interactive preview of a project before creating it | None by design — same reason; asana_project_create writes directly |
get_agent |
Fetch an Asana AI agent | None while Asana’s agent endpoints stay early-access and require an opt-in header |
get_workspace_agents |
List a workspace’s AI agents | Same — though asana_search_objects covers basic discovery via typeahead’s agent / actor types |
get_status_overview |
Aggregated status report across projects and portfolios — task summaries and flagged blockers, found by its own keyword search | None for the search half. Once you know the GID, asana_status_overview rolls up the latest status and task counts for a project or portfolio in one call — deterministic and parent-scoped, with no keyword search and no blocker flagging |
If your workflow depends on preview-then-confirm flows, Asana AI agents, or searched status reporting, keep the official server installed.
What both servers cover
Section titled “What both servers cover”21 pairs overlap. Use whichever server is already loaded — ✅ means the two are equivalent for everyday use, 🟡 means the scope differs (explained under the table).
| Capability | Official | cyber-asana | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get a task | get_task |
asana_task_get |
✅ |
| List tasks | get_tasks |
asana_task_list |
✅ |
| My Tasks | get_my_tasks |
asana_task_my_tasks |
✅ |
| Search tasks | search_tasks |
asana_task_search |
✅ |
| Create a task | create_tasks |
asana_task_create |
✅ |
| Update a task | update_tasks |
asana_task_update |
✅ |
| Delete a task | delete_task |
asana_task_delete |
✅ |
| Comment on a task | add_comment |
asana_comment_create |
✅ |
| Get a project | get_project |
asana_project_get |
✅ |
| List projects | get_projects |
asana_project_list |
✅ |
| Create a project | create_project |
asana_project_create |
✅ |
| Get a portfolio | get_portfolio |
asana_portfolio_get |
✅ |
| List portfolios | get_portfolios |
asana_portfolio_list |
✅ |
| List portfolio items | get_items_for_portfolio |
asana_portfolio_item_list |
✅ |
| Get a user | get_user |
asana_user_get |
✅ |
| Get the current user | get_me |
asana_user_me |
✅ |
| List users | get_users |
asana_user_list |
✅ |
| List teams | get_teams |
asana_team_list |
✅ |
| Create a status update | create_project_status_update |
asana_status_create |
🟡 |
| List attachments | get_attachments |
asana_attachment_list |
✅ |
| Find objects by name | search_objects |
asana_search_objects |
🟡 |
Where the pairs are 🟡, the scope differs — and not always in cyber-asana’s favor:
- Create a status update — cyber-asana is the superset.
create_project_status_updateposts to a project or portfolio;asana_status_createadds goals, andasana_status_get/asana_status_deleteround out the resource. - Find objects by name — the official server is the superset per call.
search_objectssearches across object types in one call;asana_search_objectstakes oneresource_type, because that is all Asana’s typeahead endpoint accepts. Both are capped, relevance/recency-ordered, and explicitly not exhaustive.
What only cyber-asana has
Section titled “What only cyber-asana has”84 tools, mostly relationship edits and resources outside the official server’s V2 scope.
Task relationships
Section titled “Task relationships”asana_task_subtask_list, asana_task_subtask_create, asana_task_dependency_list|add|remove,
asana_task_dependent_list|add|remove, asana_task_follower_add|remove,
asana_task_project_add|remove, asana_task_get_many.
This is the biggest gap. The official server can create and update tasks but cannot wire them together — subtasks, dependencies, followers, and project membership are cyber-asana only.
Sections
Section titled “Sections”asana_section_list|get|create|update|move|delete, plus asana_section_task_add. The
official server has no section tools at all, so board-column workflows — including
reordering the columns and dropping a task straight into one — need cyber-asana.
asana_tag_list|get|create|update|delete, plus asana_tag_list_for_task,
asana_tag_add_to_task, asana_tag_remove_from_task, asana_tag_list_tasks.
asana_goal_list|get|create|update|delete.
Out-of-office entries
Section titled “Out-of-office entries”asana_ooo_list|get|create|update|delete. Asana holds who is away and nothing else does;
the official server exposes no path to it, so checking availability before assigning work
needs cyber-asana.
Writes on projects and portfolios
Section titled “Writes on projects and portfolios”asana_project_update, asana_project_delete, asana_project_counts,
asana_project_search, asana_portfolio_create|update|delete,
asana_status_list|get|delete, asana_status_overview. The official server creates
projects and portfolios but does not update or delete them, and has no way to list the
status updates on one parent. asana_status_overview rolls a parent’s latest status and
task counts into one call — the deterministic half of get_status_overview, without its
keyword search.
Custom field settings
Section titled “Custom field settings”asana_custom_field_list_for_project|portfolio|goal|team. The official server has no way
to ask which custom fields a project accepts, so an agent writing custom_fields has to
guess the field and option GIDs. These four reads answer that directly.
Workspaces and teams
Section titled “Workspaces and teams”asana_workspace_list, asana_workspace_get, asana_team_get.
Attachments
Section titled “Attachments”asana_attachment_get, asana_attachment_create, asana_attachment_delete. The official
server can list attachments but not add or remove one; asana_attachment_create uploads a
local file or links an external URL to a task, project, or project brief.
Comments and stories
Section titled “Comments and stories”asana_story_list|get|create|update|delete and the asana_comment_* aliases — the
official server can add a comment but not read the thread back, and cannot correct or
withdraw one it posted.
No REST equivalent at all
Section titled “No REST equivalent at all”| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
asana_url_parse |
Turn an Asana web URL into the task/project GIDs it refers to |
asana_project_export |
Render a project and its tasks as a Markdown document |
asana_task_scan_todos |
Scan a codebase for TODO/FIXME comments and draft tasks from them |
Choosing between them
Section titled “Choosing between them”Both can be installed at once — see Using alongside official Asana MCP for the dual config. When both could do the job:
Prefer official asana |
Prefer cyber-asana |
|---|---|
Cross-object discovery in one call (search_objects, search_tasks_preview) |
Anything relational: subtasks, dependencies, followers, sections |
| Preview-then-confirm creation flows | Write-heavy automation and bulk edits |
| Asana AI agents | Tags, goals, portfolio and project updates/deletes |
| New MCP-only capabilities Asana ships first | Token-efficient output (--toon), auto-pagination, --full control |
| Zero local setup — hosted OAuth | Running the same operations from a CLI or a script |
Rule of thumb: official for discovery and previews, cyber-asana for writes and structure.