Nylas is a unified API platform that lets you integrate email, calendar, scheduling, and transcription into your application. Instead of building and maintaining separate integrations for Gmail, Microsoft, IMAP, and other providers, you write your code once against the Nylas API and it works across all of them.
Core concepts
Section titled “Core concepts”Before you set up your application, it helps to understand a few terms you’ll see throughout the docs.
Applications
Section titled “Applications”A Nylas application is the container for your integration. You create one in the Nylas Dashboard or via the Nylas CLI, and it holds your API keys, connected accounts, connectors, and configuration. Most projects need a single application, though you can create separate ones for development and production.
API keys
Section titled “API keys”An API key authenticates your server-side requests to the Nylas API. You include it as a Bearer token in the Authorization header of every request. API keys are scoped to an application and can have expiration dates. Keep them secret — they grant full access to all accounts connected to your application.
Grants
Section titled “Grants”A grant represents a single authenticated user account — one person’s Gmail inbox, one person’s Outlook calendar, and so on. When a user connects their account through OAuth, Nylas creates a grant and returns a grant ID. You use this ID to tell the Nylas API which account you’re reading from or writing to.
For example, to list messages from a specific user, you pass their grant ID in the request path: /v3/grants/<GRANT_ID>/messages.
Connectors
Section titled “Connectors”A connector (sometimes called a service connector) configures how Nylas authenticates with a specific provider. For example, a Google connector holds your Google Cloud OAuth client ID and secret. Sandbox applications come with pre-configured connectors so you can skip this step while testing.
Providers
Section titled “Providers”Nylas supports these providers through a single API:
| Provider | Calendar | Contacts | Scheduler | Notetaker | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google (Gmail, Workspace, Meet) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft (Outlook, Microsoft 365, Teams) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exchange (EWS) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| iCloud | Yes | Yes | |||
| IMAP | Yes | ||||
| Yahoo | Yes | ||||
| Zoom | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Notifications
Section titled “Notifications”Nylas uses webhooks to send real-time notifications when data changes — new emails, updated events, status changes, and more. Instead of polling the API for updates, you register a webhook URL and Nylas pushes events to your server as they happen. This is the recommended way to keep your application in sync with user accounts.
Set up your application
Section titled “Set up your application”There are two ways to get started. Both paths get you to the same place — an API key and a connected account ready for API calls.
- Get started with the Dashboard — a web UI for creating your application, generating API keys, and connecting accounts. Good if you prefer a visual walkthrough.
- Get started with the Nylas CLI — a command-line tool that handles the entire setup in a single
nylas initcommand. Good if you prefer working in the terminal.
For AI agents
Section titled “For AI agents”If you’re an AI agent or building with one, we have dedicated guides:
- Nylas for coding agents — for AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot) building applications with Nylas SDKs and APIs
- Nylas CLI for AI agents — for autonomous AI agents that need direct email and calendar access from the terminal
- Nylas MCP — connect AI agents to Nylas using the Model Context Protocol, giving them access to email, calendar, and contacts through typed tools without manual API key configuration
Explore the API
Section titled “Explore the API”Once you’re set up, dive into the product area you need:
- Email — read, send, and manage messages, threads, folders, and attachments
- Calendar — manage calendars, events, and availability
- Scheduler — add embeddable scheduling to your app
- Notetaker — transcribe and summarize meetings
- Notifications — receive real-time webhooks when data changes
- Authentication — connect user accounts with OAuth
- API reference — full endpoint documentation