Pipe Slack Design Feedback Threads Directly into Asana Tasks – 2025 No‑Code Guide

By Sima Team | June 1, 2025

TL;DR – Convert every design‑feedback thread your team drops in Slack into a fully‑formed Asana task (complete with attachments, assignee, and due‑date) in under 15 minutes using Slack Workflow Builder or Zapier. Perfect for digital agencies juggling multiple clients, designers, and revisions.

Why This Matters for Digital Agencies

Less Copy‑Paste, More Billable Hours. Designers and PMs lose up to 6 hours/week manually ferrying comments between chat and task boards. Automating that hand‑off captures lost time and prevents details slipping through the cracks.
Single Source of Truth. Centralising feedback in Asana keeps history, files, and approvals in one canonical thread – critical for ISO‑certified or enterprise clients.
Happier Clients & Team. Real‑time task creation means stakeholders see progress instantly, and your team spends fewer cycles chasing context.

The good news? Slack and Asana both shipped native workflow connectors in Spring 2025, so you can do this entirely no‑code. (asana.com, slack.com)

Prerequisites

Tool	Free Plan OK?	What You Need
Slack	✅	Workspace with less than 50 apps, Workflow Builder enabled
Asana	✅ (Basic)	Access token or just install the Asana for Slack app
Sima	✅	Web app account to capture visual feedback
Zapier / Make (optional)	Free tier	For multi-step filtering or branching

Heads‑up: Slack's Agents in Channels update (May 2025) means any bot or workflow can now join threads by default. If your org restricts bots, ask an admin to enable "Agents" first. (slack.com)

Option 1 – Pure Slack ⇄ Asana (5 minutes)

Add the Asana App in Slack • Go to Slack → Apps → Add apps and search "Asana". • Click Add to Slack and follow the OAuth flow. • Choose which Slack channels Asana can access. The app lets you create or update tasks straight from any message. (asana.com)
Open Workflow Builder • /workflow create inside the design‑feedback channel. • Name it "Send Thread → Asana".
Trigger: Message posted to channel • Select your #design-feedback channel. • Tick Include threaded replies.

Step: Create Asana Task Slack now offers a native Asana step (rolled out March 2025). Map the fields:

Asana Field	Slack Variable	Example
Task name	`${thread_message.text}`	"Homepage hero banner tweak"
Notes	`${thread_replies}`	All threaded comments
Assignee	`${user.email}`	alice@agency.com
Due date	`{{date}}+2d`	Two days after thread start
Project	Choose e.g. Client X Website

Publish & Test Drop a new design screenshot in the thread → Watch Workflow Builder instantly spin up a task link.

Pros & Cons

✅ Pros	❌ Cons
Zero code, zero cost	Limited conditional logic
Inside Slack UX	Only one project per workflow
Takes less than 5 minutes	No multi‑channel fan‑out

Option 2 – Zapier Low‑Code Flow (10 minutes)

If you need branching (e.g., route mobile feedback to one project, desktop to another), Zapier makes it painless.

flowchart TD
  A[Slack "New Reaction"] --> B{Filter by Emoji}
  B -->|🎨| C[Format w/ Regex → Extract Figma File ID]
  C --> D[Asana "Create Task"]
  D --> E[Slack "Reply w/ Asana Link"]

Zap recipe (ready to import):

{
  "trigger": {
    "app": "Slack",
    "event": "New Reaction",
    "properties": {
      "reaction": "asanalink"
    }
  },
  "steps": [
    {
      "app": "Filter",
      "event": "Only continue if",
      "conditions": ["user.group", "contains", "design"]
    },
    {
      "app": "Formatter",
      "event": "Regex",
      "pattern": "file/(.*?)(?:?|$)",
      "input": "{{Slack.FileURL}}"
    },
    {
      "app": "Asana",
      "event": "Create Task",
      "map": {
        "name": "{{Slack.MessageText}}",
        "notes": "{{Slack.Thread}}\nFigma File: https://figma.com/file/{{Regex.output}}",
        "assignee": "{{Slack.UserEmail}}",
        "project": "1205012312312", // Client X Website
        "due_on": "{{ZapMeta_human_now}}+3d"
      }
    },
    {
      "app": "Slack",
      "event": "Send Channel Message",
      "map": {
        "thread_ts": "{{Slack.Ts}}",
        "text": "✅ Task created in Asana → {{Asana.TaskUrl}}"
      }
    }
  ]
}

What's New in 2025

Asana AI notes summariser – auto‑generates a one‑sentence summary at the top of the task description once the task is created. (asana.com)
Slack agents API – bots can now add themselves to private threads without an invite, making the Zap reply reliable even in client channels. (slack.com)

Bonus: Trigger from Sima Visual Feedback

Using Sima to capture on‑page comments? Enable the Slack integration (Settings → Integrations → Slack) and set Sima to post each new comment into #design-feedback automatically. The above workflow will pick it up instantly – no extra steps.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Do I need a paid Slack plan?

No. Workflow Builder's basic steps work on the Pro plan, and Zapier's Slack triggers function on any free workspace with 10k messages visibility. (slack.com)

What permissions does the Asana bot need?

It needs Read & Write Tasks and Read Projects scopes. For cross‑workspace tasks, use a Service Account.

Can I map attachments?

Yes – pass file_url from Slack into the Add Attachment action in Asana. Works for images, PDFs, and Figma links.

How do I stop task spam?

Add a Filter step for 👉 specific emoji (e.g., :asana:) or restrict workflows to the design‑lead role.

Wrap‑Up & Next Steps

Automating your design‑feedback pipeline means:

Fewer dropped balls – every comment lives in Asana.
Faster iterations – stakeholders get progress pings instantly.
Scalable process – replicate the workflow for dev QA, content approvals, or marketing assets.

Next: Try piping approvals the other way – push Asana task completions back into Slack for real‑time client notifications.

Happy automating!