--api-key <key>      Inkbox API key (or set INKBOX_API_KEY)
--vault-key <key>    Vault key for decrypt operations (or set INKBOX_VAULT_KEY)
--base-url <url>     Override API base URL
--json               Output as JSON instead of formatted tables

If INKBOX_API_KEY is missing and --api-key is not passed, the CLI exits with an error.

Prefer --json when the result will be parsed or fed into another tool. Use the default table/record output when the user wants a quick human-readable summary.

Install & Local Repo Usage

Published package:

npm install -g @inkbox/cli

Or run without a global install:

npx @inkbox/cli <command>

Requires Node.js >= 22.

Inside this repository, prefer running the local source instead of assuming a global install:

npm --prefix cli run dev -- <command>

Examples:

npm --prefix cli run dev -- --json identity list
npm --prefix cli run dev -- email list -i support-bot --limit 10

High-Risk Operations

These commands can send real traffic or mutate real resources. Confirm with the user before running them:

signup create
email send
text send
phone call
identity delete
email delete
email delete-thread
vault delete
mailbox update --filter-mode ... (admin-only; flips allow/block semantics for that mailbox)
number release
number update --filter-mode ... (admin-only; same caveat as mailbox)
signing-key create

contacts delete, notes delete, mailbox rules delete, number rules delete affect downstream filtering and access — confirm intent before running.

Also confirm before creating or rotating secrets if the values were not explicitly provided by the user.

Agent Signup

For the full self-signup flow and API semantics, read the shared reference:

See: skills/inkbox-agent-self-signup/SKILL.md

CLI commands:

inkbox signup create
inkbox signup verify --code <code>
inkbox signup resend-verification
inkbox signup status

signup create is the main command that does not require an API key. The later signup commands require the signup-issued API key to be passed back via --api-key or exported as INKBOX_API_KEY; the CLI does not persist it automatically.

Identities

inkbox identity list
inkbox identity get <handle>
inkbox identity create <handle> [--display-name <name>] [--description <text>]
                                 [--email-local-part <part>]
                                 [--sending-domain <name> | --platform-domain]
                                 [--tls-mode edge|passthrough]
inkbox identity delete <handle>
inkbox identity update <handle> [--new-handle <handle>] [--display-name <name>]
                                 [--description <text> | --clear-description]
                                 [--status active|paused]
inkbox identity refresh <handle>

identity create atomically provisions the mailbox AND the tunnel. The JSON output includes both (mailbox, tunnel.publicHost, tunnel.tlsMode).

--sending-domain <name> binds the agent's mailbox to a verified custom domain (bare name, e.g. mail.acme.com); --platform-domain forces the platform sending domain; the two are mutually exclusive. --tls-mode defaults to edge and is fixed at create time (changing it later requires deleting the identity + recreating).

For identity update, --description "" and --clear-description both send explicit null to clear; omitting both leaves the field untouched.

Notes:

identity delete cascades to the linked mailbox + tunnel and revokes any identity-scoped API keys.
identity get and identity refresh return mailbox, phone-number, and tunnel assignments when present.
Most email, phone, and text commands require -i, --identity <handle>.

Identity Visibility

Controls which other agent identities can see an identity in API responses. Humans and admins always see every identity.

inkbox identity access list <target-handle>
inkbox identity access grant <target-handle> <viewer-handle>
inkbox identity access grant-everyone <target-handle>
inkbox identity access revoke <target-handle> <viewer-handle>

list shows either a single wildcard row (viewerIdentityId empty → every active identity sees it), explicit per-viewer rows, or nothing (no agent can see it). grant adds one viewer; grant-everyone resets to the org-wide wildcard; revoke drops one viewer. Viewer identities are passed as handles and resolved to UUIDs automatically. Unrelated to identity revoke-access below, which manages vault-secret access.

Identity-Scoped Secrets

These require a vault key:

inkbox identity create-secret <handle> --name <name> --type <type> ...
inkbox identity get-secret <handle> <secret-id>
inkbox identity delete-secret <handle> <secret-id>
inkbox identity revoke-access <handle> <secret-id>
inkbox identity set-totp <handle> <secret-id> --uri <otpauth-uri>
inkbox identity remove-totp <handle> <secret-id>
inkbox identity totp-code <handle> <secret-id>

Secret types:

login, api_key, ssh_key, key_pair, other

Email

All email commands are identity-scoped and require -i <handle>.

inkbox email send -i <handle> \
  --to user@example.com \
  --subject "Hello" \
  --body-text "Hi"

inkbox email list -i <handle> --limit 10
inkbox email get <message-id> -i <handle>
inkbox email search -i <handle> -q "invoice"
inkbox email unread -i <handle> --limit 10
inkbox email mark-read <ids...> -i <handle>
inkbox email delete <message-id> -i <handle>
inkbox email delete-thread <thread-id> -i <handle>
inkbox email star <message-id> -i <handle>
inkbox email unstar <message-id> -i <handle>
inkbox email thread <thread-id> -i <handle>

Use email search only when the identity already has a mailbox assigned.

Before sending, confirm recipients, subject, and body with the user.

Phone

All phone commands are identity-scoped and require -i <handle>.

inkbox phone call -i <handle> --to +15551234567 --ws-url wss://example.com/ws
inkbox phone calls -i <handle> --limit 10 --offset 0
inkbox phone transcripts <call-id> -i <handle>
inkbox phone search-transcripts -i <handle> -q "refund" --party remote

Before placing a call, confirm the destination number and websocket URL with the user.

Text Messages

All text commands are identity-scoped and require -i <handle>.

Outbound SMS limits and gates (current):

Allowed only from local numbers, not toll-free.
100 recipient sends per phone number per rolling 24h. A 3-recipient group message counts as 3 recipient sends. A single accepted send may push usage past the cap; the next capped send returns 429 sender_rate_limited.
A freshly provisioned local number needs ~10-15 min for 10DLC carrier propagation. Inspect with inkbox number get <id>; sending is gated until smsStatus reads ready (otherwise 409 sender_sms_pending).
Recipient must have texted START to any number in the org. Unknown → 403 recipient_not_opted_in. STOP → 403 recipient_opted_out. Inspect / override consent state via inkbox sms-opt-in (see below).
Beta: Group MMS and conversation sends are beta. Some carriers may reject group chats or MMS from 10DLC numbers even when the sender is ready and recipients have opted in.

Customer-managed 10DLC brands/campaigns lift the default per-number cap to the carrier-assigned tier. Toll-free SMS sending is still coming soon.

inkbox text send -i <handle> --to +15551234567 --text "Hello from Inkbox"
inkbox text send -i <handle> --to +15551234567,+15557654321 --text "Hello group" --media-url https://example.com/photo.jpg
inkbox text send -i <handle> --conversation-id <conversation-uuid> --text "Reply all"
inkbox text list -i <handle> --limit 20
inkbox text get <text-id> -i <handle>
inkbox text conversations -i <handle> --limit 20 --include-groups
inkbox text conversation <conversation-key> -i <handle> --limit 50
inkbox text search -i <handle> -q "invoice"
inkbox text mark-read <text-id> -i <handle>
inkbox text mark-conversation-read <conversation-key> -i <handle>

iMessage

All iMessage commands are identity-scoped and require -i <handle>. iMessage has no per-identity number: recipients connect to an agent identity through a shared pool of numbers via the triage line, which creates an assignment for that one recipient. There is no cold outreach — sends only work toward recipients who connected first, and the identity must be opted in (inkbox identity update <handle> --imessage-enabled true).

inkbox imessage triage-number   # the router number + the connect command humans text to it
inkbox imessage send -i <handle> --to +15551234567 --text "Hello over iMessage"
inkbox imessage send -i <handle> --conversation-id <conversation-uuid> --text "Reply" --send-style slam
inkbox imessage list -i <handle> --limit 20 --unread-only
inkbox imessage assignments -i <handle> --limit 20   # active connections, newest first
inkbox imessage conversations -i <handle> --limit 20
inkbox imessage conversation <conversation-id> -i <handle> --limit 50
inkbox imessage react <message-id> -i <handle> --reaction like
inkbox imessage mark-conversation-read <conversation-id> -i <handle>
inkbox imessage typing <conversation-id> -i <handle>
inkbox imessage upload-media ./photo.jpg -i <handle> --content-type image/jpeg

# Contact rules are scoped to the identity (not a phone number):
inkbox imessage contact-rule list -i <handle>
inkbox imessage contact-rule create -i <handle> --action block --match-target +15559999999
inkbox imessage contact-rule update <rule-id> -i <handle> --status paused   # admin-only
inkbox imessage contact-rule delete <rule-id> -i <handle>                   # admin-only
inkbox imessage contact-rule list-all                                       # admin-only, org-wide

SMS Opt-Ins

Per-recipient SMS consent state, keyed by (your org, recipient number). The registry is updated automatically when recipients text START / STOP to any of your numbers (source=sms). Reads work for any admin caller; writes require your org to be on its own active, customer-managed 10DLC campaign — default-campaign orgs share consent state and get 409 customer_campaign_required on writes (audit event recorded with source=api).

# List your org's consent rows, newest-updated first
inkbox sms-opt-in list
inkbox sms-opt-in list --status opted_out --limit 100
inkbox --json sms-opt-in list

# Look up one recipient — 404 if no row exists
inkbox sms-opt-in get +15551234567

# Programmatic writes (customer-managed 10DLC campaign only)
inkbox sms-opt-in opt-in  +15551234567
inkbox sms-opt-in opt-out +15551234567

Vault

Vault decryption and secret creation require a vault key via INKBOX_VAULT_KEY or --vault-key.

inkbox vault init --vault-key <key>
inkbox vault info
inkbox vault secrets
inkbox vault get <secret-id>
inkbox vault create --name <name> --type <type> ...
inkbox vault delete <secret-id>
inkbox vault keys
inkbox vault grant-access <secret-id> -i <handle>
inkbox vault revoke-access <secret-id> -i <handle>
inkbox vault access-list <secret-id>
inkbox vault logins -i <handle>
inkbox vault api-keys -i <handle>
inkbox vault ssh-keys -i <handle>
inkbox vault key-pairs -i <handle>

Secret type flags:

# login
--password <pass> [--username <user>] [--email <email>] [--url <url>] [--totp-uri <uri>] [--notes <text>]

# api_key
--key <key> [--endpoint <url>] [--notes <text>]

# key_pair
--access-key <key> --secret-key <key> [--endpoint <url>] [--notes <text>]

# ssh_key
--private-key <key> [--public-key <key>] [--fingerprint <fp>] [--passphrase <pass>] [--notes <text>]

# other
--data <json> [--notes <text>]

Mailboxes

Mailboxes are provisioned atomically by inkbox identity create and removed by inkbox identity delete (cascade); there is no standalone create / delete here. The human-readable name lives on the identity now — inkbox identity update --display-name; the mailbox PATCH endpoint hard-rejects display_name with a 422.

inkbox mailbox list
inkbox mailbox get <email-address>
inkbox mailbox update <email-address> [--filter-mode whitelist|blacklist]
# To attach a webhook receiver, use `inkbox webhook subscription create
# --mailbox-id <id> --url <url> --event-type message.received ...`.

mailbox list / get / update rows include filterMode and agentIdentityId. --filter-mode is admin-only; when the value actually changes, a note is printed to stderr telling you how many existing rules are now redundant under the new mode.

Tunnels

Tunnels are provisioned atomically by inkbox identity create and removed by inkbox identity delete (cascade). The inkbox tunnel subcommand is read + update + sign-csr only.

inkbox tunnel list
inkbox tunnel get <id-or-handle>
inkbox tunnel update <id> [--metadata <json>]
inkbox tunnel sign-csr <id> --csr <path-or-pem> [--out <path>]

tunnel get accepts either a UUID or the owning identity's agent handle. tunnel update is metadata-only; pass --metadata "{}" to clear. tunnel sign-csr is passthrough-only and uses an elevated 180-second timeout (the server runs DNS validation + cert issuance synchronously).

Data-plane auth uses the same API key the CLI was invoked with — admin-scoped or identity-scoped (matching the tunnel's identity). There is no per-tunnel connect secret; mint an identity-scoped key via inkbox api-keys create --identity-id <uuid> for an agent.

Custom Sending Domains

inkbox domain list [--status verified]
inkbox domain set-default <domain-name>

domain list shows registered custom domains for your org, optionally filtered by status (e.g. verified). domain set-default requires an admin-scoped API key; pass the bare custom domain name to set it, or pass the platform sending domain (e.g. inkboxmail.com in production) to revert. Domain registration, DNS records, verification, DKIM rotation, and deletion stay in the console.

Mailbox Contact Rules (`inkbox mailbox rules …`)

Per-mailbox allow/block rules (combined with the mailbox's filterMode).

inkbox mailbox rules list --mailbox <email> [--action allow|block] [--match-type exact_email|domain] [--limit <n>] [--offset <n>]
inkbox mailbox rules list --all-mailboxes [--mailbox-id <id>] [--action …] [--match-type …]    # admin-only
inkbox mailbox rules get <rule-id> --mailbox <email>
inkbox mailbox rules create --mailbox <email> --action allow|block --match-type exact_email|domain --match-target <value> [--status active|paused]
inkbox mailbox rules update <rule-id> --mailbox <email> [--action allow|block] [--status active|paused]   # admin-only
inkbox mailbox rules delete <rule-id> --mailbox <email>                                                    # admin-only

Admin-Only Phone Numbers

inkbox number list
inkbox number get <id>
inkbox number provision --handle <handle> [--type toll_free|local] [--state NY]
inkbox number update <id> [--incoming-call-action auto_accept|auto_reject|webhook] [--filter-mode whitelist|blacklist] ...
inkbox number release <number-id>

Use --state only when provisioning a local number. Phone-number rows also carry filterMode / agentIdentityId; --filter-mode is admin-only and prints a stderr note when the value changes.

Number Contact Rules (`inkbox number rules …`)

Per-number allow/block rules (combined with the number's filterMode).

inkbox number rules list --number <id> [--action allow|block] [--match-type exact_number] [--limit <n>] [--offset <n>]
inkbox number rules list --all-numbers [--phone-number-id <id>] [--action …] [--match-type …]   # admin-only
inkbox number rules get <rule-id> --number <id>
inkbox number rules create --number <id> --action allow|block --match-target <e164> [--match-type exact_number] [--status active|paused]
inkbox number rules update <rule-id> --number <id> [--action allow|block] [--status active|paused]   # admin-only
inkbox number rules delete <rule-id> --number <id>                                                    # admin-only

Contacts

Admin-only address book. All commands hit the admin endpoints; agents see contacts they've been granted access to.

inkbox contacts list [--q <query>] [--order name|recent] [--limit <n>] [--offset <n>]
inkbox contacts get <contact-id>
inkbox contacts create --json <payload>            # JSON matching CreateContactOptions
inkbox contacts update <contact-id> --json <patch>  # JSON-merge-patch
inkbox contacts delete <contact-id>
inkbox contacts lookup (--email <email> | --email-contains <s> | --email-domain <d> | --phone <e164> | --phone-contains <s>)
inkbox contacts import <file.vcf>                  # bulk vCard import (≤5 MiB, ≤1000 cards)
inkbox contacts export <contact-id> [--out <file>] # vCard 4.0 to stdout or file

# Per-contact access grants
inkbox contacts access list <contact-id>
inkbox contacts access grant <contact-id> (--identity <uuid> | --wildcard)   # admin + JWT only
inkbox contacts access revoke <contact-id> <identity-id>

contacts lookup requires exactly one filter flag. For create / update, construct the payload carefully — fields include preferredName, givenName, familyName, companyName, jobTitle, birthday, notes, and lists emails / phones / websites / dates / addresses / customFields (each list item has label / value).

Notes

Admin-only free-form notes with per-identity grants (no wildcard).

inkbox notes list [--q <query>] [--identity <uuid>] [--order recent|created] [--limit <n>] [--offset <n>]
inkbox notes get <note-id>
inkbox notes create --body <text> [--title <text>]
inkbox notes update <note-id> [--title <text>] [--body <text>]   # pass --title "" to clear
inkbox notes delete <note-id>

# Per-note access grants
inkbox notes access list <note-id>
inkbox notes access grant <note-id> <identity-id>    # admin + JWT only
inkbox notes access revoke <note-id> <identity-id>

Whoami, Signing Keys, Webhooks

inkbox whoami
inkbox signing-key create
inkbox webhook verify --payload <payload> --secret <secret> -H "X-Header: value"

# Webhook subscriptions (fan-out per (owner, url, event_types)):
inkbox webhook subscription list [--mailbox-id <id>] [--phone-number-id <id>] [--agent-identity-id <id>]
inkbox webhook subscription create --mailbox-id <id> --url <url> --event-type message.received
inkbox webhook subscription create --phone-number-id <id> --url <url> \
  --event-type text.received --event-type text.delivered
inkbox webhook subscription create --agent-identity-id <id> --url <url> \
  --event-type imessage.received --event-type imessage.reaction_received
inkbox webhook subscription update <sub-id> [--url <url>] [--event-type <type>...]
inkbox webhook subscription delete <sub-id>

Use whoami --json when you need the authenticated caller shape exactly.

inkbox webhook verify is event-type-agnostic — it operates on raw bytes and only checks the X-Inkbox-Signature HMAC. The body can be any of:

Mail (envelope): message.received, message.sent, message.forwarded, message.delivered, message.bounced, message.failed. Subscribe via inkbox webhook subscription create --mailbox-id ....
Text (envelope): text.received, text.sent, text.delivered, text.delivery_failed, text.delivery_unconfirmed. Subscribe via inkbox webhook subscription create --phone-number-id ....
iMessage (envelope): imessage.received, imessage.reaction_received, imessage.sent, imessage.delivered, imessage.delivery_failed. Subscribe via inkbox webhook subscription create --agent-identity-id ... — owned by the agent identity, since shared iMessage pool numbers are not org resources.
Inbound call (flat, no envelope; response controls call routing). Not subscribable; URL stays on the phone-number resource as incomingCallWebhookUrl.

Mail and text payloads carry data.contacts and data.agent_identities (both always-present lists; mail entries also carry bucket + address). Outbound mail payloads also include data.message.bcc_addresses (null on inbound). Group text events carry per-recipient delivery rows in data.text_message.recipients; outbound group lifecycle events name the event target in data.recipient_phone_number (one webhook per recipient leg). Inbound and outbound 1:1 events leave data.recipient_phone_number as null — the singular peer is already in data.text_message.remote_phone_number (inbound) or data.text_message.recipients[0] (outbound 1:1). Inbound-call payloads carry contacts and agent_identities at the top level (no envelope). For the typed receiver-side shapes, see the SDK skills (inkbox-ts, inkbox-python).

Practical Guidance

Prefer the local repo command npm --prefix cli run dev -- ... when working in this codebase.
Prefer --json for anything that needs stable parsing.
Use the identity handle, not mailbox address or phone number, for identity-scoped commands.
If a command fails because the identity lacks a mailbox or phone number, inspect it first with inkbox identity get <handle>.

inkbox-cli

Inkbox CLI

Auth & Runtime