Manage contacts with Node.js

This page explains how to manage contacts with the Nylas Node.js SDK and Contacts API.

Before you begin

Before you start, you must have done the following tasks:

• Installed and set up the Nylas Node.js SDK.
• Authenticated one or more users.

List contacts

The example below lists the first and last names, email addresses, and IDs of the first 10 contacts in a user’s contact list.

import Nylas from "nylas";

const NylasConfig = {
  apiKey: "<NYLAS_API_KEY>",
  apiUri: "<NYLAS_API_URI>",
};

const nylas = new Nylas(NylasConfig);

async function fetchContacts() {
  try {
    const identifier = "<NYLAS_GRANT_ID>";

    const contacts = await nylas.contacts.list({
      identifier,
      queryParams: {
        limit: 5,
      },
    });

    console.log("Contacts:", contacts);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error("Error fetching contacts:", error);
  }
}

fetchContacts();

Create a contact

When you create a contact, Nylas syncs it to the user’s provider. The following example creates a contact, assigns its attributes, and saves it to Nylas.

async function createContact() {
  try {
    const contact = await nylas.contacts.create({
      identifier: "<NYLAS_GRANT_ID>",
      requestBody: {
        givenName: "My",
        middleName: "Nylas",
        surname: "Friend",
        notes: "Make sure to keep in touch!",
        emails: [{ type: "work", email: "[email protected]" }],
        phoneNumbers: [{ type: "work", number: "(555) 555-5555" }],
        webPages: [{ type: "other", url: "nylas.com" }],
      },
    });

    console.log("Contact:", contact);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error("Error to create contact:", error);
  }
}

createContact();

For more information on Contact objects and their attributes, see the Contacts references.

When you create a contact for a Google account, it renders like this on the provider:

For Microsoft Outlook, new contacts look like this:

Delete a contact

To delete a contact from a user’s account, you must get the contact’s id and pass it as an argument to the contacts.destroy() function. You can use the same code from the List contacts section to retrieve a contact’s ID.

The following code snippet deletes the contact you specify! Make sure the contact is one that you actually want to delete.

const deleteContact = async () => {
  try {
    await nylas.contacts.destroy({ identifier, contactId });

    console.log(`Contact with ID ${contactId} deleted successfully.`);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(`Error deleting contact with ID ${contactId}:`, error);
  }
};

deleteContact();