How to Automate Daily Standups from Asana to Slack with Zapier

Zapier Dashboard > Create Zap > Trigger > Schedule by Zapier

Create a new Zap and set the schedule trigger

In Zapier, click 'Create Zap' from the dashboard. You'll land on the trigger setup screen. Search for 'Schedule by Zapier' in the trigger app search box — it's a native Zapier app, no connection required. This trigger fires the Zap at a fixed time each day, which is what kicks off the Asana task fetch.

1. 1Click the orange 'Create Zap' button in the top left of the Zapier dashboard
2. 2Click inside the 'Trigger' box on the Zap editor canvas
3. 3Type 'Schedule' in the app search field
4. 4Select 'Schedule by Zapier' from the results
5. 5Choose 'Every Day' as the trigger event

Zap Editor > Trigger > Configure > Schedule Settings

Configure the schedule to fire on weekdays at standup time

In the trigger configuration panel, set the time field to your target morning hour in UTC. Check the 'Days of the Week' checkboxes and select Monday through Friday only — leave Saturday and Sunday unchecked so the Zap doesn't post on weekends. Click 'Continue' when done.

1. 1Set the 'Time of Day' field to your target UTC hour (e.g., 14:00:00 for 9 AM EST)
2. 2Under 'Day of the Week', check Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
3. 3Leave Saturday and Sunday unchecked
4. 4Click 'Continue'

Zap Editor > Action 1 > App > Asana > Find Tasks

Connect Asana and fetch completed tasks

Add a new action step after the schedule trigger. Search for 'Asana' and choose the action event 'Find Tasks'. This action queries Asana's API for tasks matching criteria you define — in this case, tasks completed in the last 24 hours within a specific project. You'll need to connect your Asana account here if you haven't already; Zapier will open an OAuth window.

1. 1Click the '+' button below the trigger step to add an action
2. 2Search for 'Asana' in the app search box
3. 3Select 'Find Tasks' as the action event
4. 4Click 'Sign in to Asana' and complete the OAuth login in the popup window
5. 5Select your Asana workspace from the dropdown

Zap Editor > Action 1 > Configure > Find Tasks > Project + Completed Since

Filter Asana tasks to completed items from the last 24 hours

In the Asana 'Find Tasks' configuration, set the Project field to the project you want to report on. Set 'Completed Since' using Zapier's date formatting — type the value as a dynamic date expression. Zapier doesn't have a native 'yesterday' variable, so you'll need to use a Formatter step before this to calculate the timestamp (covered in Step 5). For now, leave 'Completed Since' blank and continue.

1. 1Select your target Asana project from the 'Project' dropdown
2. 2Leave 'Completed Since' blank for now — you'll map a formatted date from Step 5
3. 3Set 'Completed' to 'True' to filter for completed tasks only
4. 4Enable the 'Find All' toggle so the step returns multiple tasks
5. 5Click 'Continue' to proceed

Zap Editor > Add Step > Formatter by Zapier > Date/Time > Format

Add a Formatter step to calculate yesterday's date

Insert a Zapier Formatter step before the Asana 'Find Tasks' action. This is how you generate the 'completed since yesterday' timestamp that Asana needs. Use Formatter's 'Date/Time' transform with 'Format' operation. Set the input date to the Schedule trigger's timestamp, then subtract 1 day to get yesterday's date in ISO 8601 format. Move this step above the Asana action in the editor by dragging it.

1. 1Click '+' to add a new step and place it between the Schedule trigger and the Asana action
2. 2Search for 'Formatter by Zapier' and select it
3. 3Choose 'Date / Time' as the transform type
4. 4Set 'Transform' to 'Format'
5. 5In the 'Input' field, select the Schedule trigger's date/time output
6. 6Set 'To Format' to 'YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ssZ'
7. 7Set 'Modify' to '-1 days' to subtract one day

📬 New entry: {{1.name}}
Email: {{1.email}}
Details: {{1.description}}

Zap Editor > Action 3 > App > Asana > Find Tasks

Add a second Asana action to fetch tasks due today

Add another 'Find Tasks' action in Asana to pull tasks due today — these are the upcoming deadlines your standup report needs. Use the same project. Set the 'Due On' field to today's date. Use another Formatter step (or the same one with a second output) to generate today's date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Enable 'Find All' on this action too.

1. 1Click '+' to add another action step
2. 2Select 'Asana' and choose 'Find Tasks' again
3. 3Use the same connected Asana account and project
4. 4Set 'Due On' to the date output from your Formatter step (today's date in YYYY-MM-DD)
5. 5Enable the 'Find All' toggle
6. 6Set 'Completed' to 'False' to exclude already-done tasks

Zap Editor > Add Step > Code by Zapier > Run JavaScript

Add a Code by Zapier step to build the standup message

Add a 'Code by Zapier' action using JavaScript. This step takes the two arrays of Asana tasks — completed tasks and tasks due today — and formats them into a single readable Slack message. Without this step, you'd have to manually stitch together data from two multi-record Asana responses, which isn't possible with Zapier's standard field mapping. Paste the code from the pro tip section below.

1. 1Click '+' to add a new action step
2. 2Search for 'Code by Zapier' and select it
3. 3Choose 'Run JavaScript' as the action event
4. 4In the 'Input Data' section, create two keys: 'completed_tasks' and 'due_tasks'
5. 5Map 'completed_tasks' to the name/title output from your first Asana 'Find Tasks' step
6. 6Map 'due_tasks' to the name/title output from your second Asana 'Find Tasks' step
7. 7Paste the JavaScript code from the pro tip into the 'Code' field

📬 New entry: {{1.name}}
Email: {{1.email}}
Details: {{1.description}}

Paste this into the Code by Zapier 'Run JavaScript' step. It expects three input data keys — completed_tasks, due_tasks, and overdue_tasks — each as a comma-separated string from Asana's 'Find All' output. The code splits each string into an array, formats them into Slack-ready markdown sections, and outputs a single 'standup_message' string.

// Input data keys expected:
// inputData.completed_tasks — comma-separated task names (completed yesterday)
// inputData.due_tasks — comma-separated task names (due today)

// Input data keys expected:
// inputData.completed_tasks — comma-separated task names (completed yesterday)
// inputData.due_tasks — comma-separated task names (due today)
// inputData.overdue_tasks — comma-separated task names (past due, incomplete)

function formatTaskList(rawInput) {
  if (!rawInput || rawInput.trim() === '') {
    return '• _None_';
  }
  const tasks = rawInput.split(',').map(t => t.trim()).filter(t => t.length > 0);
  if (tasks.length === 0) return '• _None_';
  return tasks.map(t => `• ${t}`).join('\n');
}

const completed = formatTaskList(inputData.completed_tasks);
const dueToday = formatTaskList(inputData.due_tasks);
const overdue = formatTaskList(inputData.overdue_tasks);

const today = new Date().toLocaleDateString('en-US', {
  weekday: 'long', month: 'long', day: 'numeric'
});

const standup_message = [
  `*📋 Daily Standup — ${today}*`,
  '',
  '*🟢 Completed Yesterday*',
  completed,
  '',
  '*📅 Due Today*',
  dueToday,
  '',
  '*🔴 Overdue*',
  overdue
].join('\n');

output = [{ standup_message }];

Zap Editor > Final Action > App > Slack > Send Channel Message

Connect Slack and configure the channel message action

Add a Slack action and choose 'Send Channel Message' as the event. Connect your Slack workspace via OAuth — Zapier will request permission to post messages. Select the target Slack channel (e.g., #daily-standup) from the dropdown. Map the message text field to the 'standup_message' output from the Code by Zapier step.

1. 1Click '+' to add the final action step
2. 2Search for 'Slack' and select 'Send Channel Message'
3. 3Click 'Sign in to Slack' and authorize Zapier in the OAuth popup
4. 4Select your target channel from the 'Channel' dropdown (e.g., #daily-standup)
5. 5In the 'Message Text' field, click the '+' icon and select the 'standup_message' output from the Code step
6. 6Set 'Bot Name' to something like 'Standup Bot' so team members recognize the sender

📬 New entry: {{1.name}}
Email: {{1.email}}
Details: {{1.description}}

Zap Editor > Add Step > Asana > Find Tasks (Overdue)

Add a Slack message for the overdue tasks section

To include overdue tasks, add a third Asana 'Find Tasks' step that filters for incomplete tasks with a due date before today. Use a Formatter step to generate yesterday's date in YYYY-MM-DD format as your upper bound. Update your Code by Zapier step to accept a third input — 'overdue_tasks' — and include it in the standup message output. Re-test the Code step after updating the input data section.

1. 1Insert a new Asana 'Find Tasks' action after your due-today step
2. 2Set the project to the same Asana project
3. 3Set 'Completed' to 'False'
4. 4Set 'Due Before' to the yesterday date output from your Formatter step
5. 5Enable 'Find All'
6. 6Go back to the Code by Zapier step and add a new Input Data key: 'overdue_tasks'
7. 7Map it to the name output of this new Asana step

📬 New entry: {{1.name}}
Email: {{1.email}}
Details: {{1.description}}

Zap Editor > Test > Run Test on Each Step

Test the full Zap end-to-end

Run a full test of the Zap by clicking 'Test' on each step in sequence. Start from the Schedule trigger and work down. When you reach the Slack step, Zapier will post a real test message to your selected channel — warn your team first or use a private test channel. Check that the Slack message shows all three sections: completed tasks, tasks due today, and overdue tasks.

1. 1Click 'Test' on the Schedule trigger step — it will generate a sample timestamp
2. 2Click 'Test' on each Formatter step to confirm date outputs look correct
3. 3Click 'Test' on each Asana step to verify task data is returning
4. 4Click 'Test' on the Code step and inspect the 'standup_message' output for formatting
5. 5Click 'Test' on the Slack step and check your Slack channel for the posted message

Zap Editor > Top Right Toggle > On | Dashboard > Task History

Turn the Zap on and verify the first live run

Toggle the Zap from 'Draft' to 'On' using the switch in the top right of the editor. The next run will fire at the scheduled UTC time you set in Step 2. Check Zapier's Task History the following morning to confirm all steps ran successfully. Look for any failed steps in red — the most common failure at this stage is an empty Asana response being mishandled by the Code step.

1. 1Click the toggle in the top right corner of the Zap editor to switch from 'Draft' to 'On'
2. 2Confirm the status shows 'On' in green
3. 3The next morning, open Zapier Dashboard > Task History
4. 4Click on the most recent Zap run to inspect each step's input and output
5. 5Check your Slack channel to confirm the standup message posted correctly