nylas / nylas/nylas-python

drafts.create() fails with "only JSON and multipart supported" error since v6.13.1

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bug
Dominant language
Python
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1d 21h
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Description

Describe the bug

Draft creation fails with NylasApiError: only JSON and multipart supported when using the Nylas Python SDK v6.13.1+. The Nylas API returns
a 400 error rejecting the draft creation request, even though the request appears to be properly formatted JSON.

Root Cause:

In v6.13.1 (commit d226ff113a62, PR #442), the HTTP client was changed to manually serialize JSON using json.dumps(request_body,
ensure_ascii=False) and pass it via the data= parameter instead of using the json= parameter in requests.request(). While this fixed UTF-8
encoding for multipart requests, it appears to have broken JSON-only requests for draft creation.

The issue is that when using data=json_string instead of json=dict, the requests library doesn't automatically set the correct
Content-Type header, or the manually added application/json; charset=utf-8 header is not being accepted by the Nylas API for draft
creation.

To Reproduce
from nylas import Client                                                                                                                  
 from nylas.models.drafts import CreateDraftRequest                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                           
 # Initialize client                                                                                                                       
 nylas = Client(api_key="your_api_key", api_uri="https://api.us.nylas.com")                                                                
                                                                                                                                           
 # Attempt to create a draft                                                                                                               
 draft_request = CreateDraftRequest(                                                                                                       
     to=[{"email": "recipient@example.com"}],                                                                                              
     subject="Test Subject",                                                                                                               
     body="Test body content"                                                                                                              
 )                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                           
 try:                                                                                                                                      
     # This will fail with "only JSON and multipart supported"                                                                             
     response = nylas.drafts.create(                                                                                                       
         grant_id="your_grant_id",                                                                                                         
         request_body=draft_request                                                                                                        
     )                                                                                                                                     
 except Exception as e:                                                                                                                    
     print(f"Error: {e}")                                                                                                                  
     # Output: NylasApiError: only JSON and multipart supported                   
Expected behavior

The draft should be created successfully without errors. The Nylas API should accept the JSON request and return the created draft object.

Workaround:

Bypass the SDK's drafts.create() method and use requests directly with the json= parameter:

import requests                                                                                                                           
from nylas.models.response import Response                                                                                                
from nylas.models.drafts import Draft                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                          
# Get API credentials from the SDK client                                                                                                 
api_server = nylas.drafts._http_client.api_server                                                                                         
api_key = nylas.drafts._http_client.api_key                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                          
url = f"{api_server}/v3/grants/{grant_id}/drafts"                                                                                         
headers = {                                                                                                                               
    "Authorization": f"Bearer {api_key}",                                                                                                 
    "X-Nylas-API-Wrapper": "python",                                                                                                      
}                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                          
# Use requests directly with json= parameter                                                                                              
http_response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=draft_request_dict, timeout=30)                                                  
                                                                                                                                          
if http_response.status_code >= 400:                                                                                                      
    raise Exception(f"Draft creation failed: {http_response.json()}")                                                                     
                                                                                                                                          
draft_data = http_response.json()                                                                                                         
response = Response.from_dict(draft_data, Draft, http_response.headers)                            

This workaround succeeds because requests.post() with json=dict properly handles Content-Type headers.

SDK Version:
  • Broken: v6.13.1 and later (including v6.13.1, v6.14.0, v6.14.1, v6.14.2)
  • Last working: v6.13.0 and earlier
Additional context

The breaking change was introduced in commit d226ff113a62 (PR #442) which modified nylas/handler/http_client.py:

  • Changed from: requests.request(..., json=request_body, data=data)
  • Changed to: requests.request(..., data=json_data or data) where json_data = json.dumps(request_body, ensure_ascii=False)
  • Changed Content-Type header from application/json to application/json; charset=utf-8

While PR #442 successfully fixed UTF-8 encoding issues for multipart requests with large attachments, it appears to have broken standard
JSON requests for draft creation. The requests library handles the json= parameter differently than data= with a pre-serialized JSON
string, particularly regarding header management.

Suggested Fix:

Consider using json= parameter for JSON-only requests and data= with manual serialization only for multipart/form-data requests where
UTF-8 encoding is needed.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Read nylas/handler/http_client.py and the request path used by drafts.create(), focusing on the change from the json= parameter to manually serialized data. Run the provided draft-creation reproduction and verify that JSON draft requests succeed while the multipart behavior addressed by PR #442 remains intact.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
api
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
48/100

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