How to Create an Email Task With the Interactions API in Node.js – Twilio Support

Objective

This article provides a simple internal code example in Node.js showing how to initiate an email task using the Twilio Interactions API.

Product

Twilio Flex

Procedure

Use the following example to create an email Interaction initiated by api. Hardcoded credentials are for internal testing only.

const twilio = require("twilio");

const accountSid = "ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX";
const authToken = "your_auth_token";

const client = twilio(accountSid, authToken);

async function createInteraction() {
  const interaction = await client.flexApi.v1.interaction.create({
    channel: {
      type: "email",
      initiated_by: "api",

      // Required when type=email AND initiated_by=api
      properties: {
        from: "support@example.com", // Contact center team email
        from_name: "Support Team", // Display name
      },

      // Participants are OPTIONAL (required only for initiated_by=agent)
      participants: [
        {
          level: "to", // email role: to | cc | bcc
          name: "John Doe",
          address: "customer@example.com",
        },
      ],
    },

    routing: {
      properties: {
        workspace_sid: "WSXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX", // required
        workflow_sid: "WWXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX", // optional
        task_channel_unique_name: "email", // optional

        attributes: {
          customerName: "John Doe",
          customerEmail: "customer@example.com",
          source: "webform",
          interactionType: "api-email",
        },
      },
    },
  });
  console.log("Interaction created!");
  console.log("Interaction SID:", interaction.sid);
}

createInteraction();

initiated_by: "api" creates an inbound task.
Email channels require from and from_name when initiated_by is api or agent.
Participants are optional unless initiated_by is agent.
Routing requires at least workspace_sid.

Additional Information