Email, calendar, and contacts from your terminal.
Pipe-friendly, headless-first. Give any agent email, calendar, and contacts in one command.
Nylas CLI is a free, open-source command-line tool that provides unified access to email, calendar, and contacts across Gmail, Microsoft 365, Exchange, Yahoo, iCloud, and IMAP providers. It includes a built-in MCP server for AI agents, GPG encryption, webhook management, and 72+ commands for scripting and automation.
Features
Agent-native
Built-in MCP server lets Claude, Cursor, and VS Code read and send email in one command. Typed tools across email, calendar, and contacts — no API keys or middleware required.
Runs anywhere
Works over SSH, inside containers, and in CI pipelines. No GUI, no browser, no display server. Pipe JSON output to jq, scripts, or other CLI tools.
Unified email
One interface for Gmail, Outlook, Exchange, Yahoo, iCloud, and any IMAP server. Send, search, list, and read email across 6 providers with a single command.
Calendar
List, create, update, and delete events. AI scheduling with natural language, DST-aware timezone handling, and free/busy availability checks.
Contacts
Search and sync contacts across every connected provider. List contact groups, look up by name or email, and export as JSON for automation.
Sandboxed
OAuth tokens stored in your OS keyring. GPG signing and encryption keep messages private. Your credentials and keys never leave your machine.
Guides
Learn by doing
Courier vs Nylas: Notifications vs Email
Courier.com orchestrates outbound notifications — email, SMS, push, Slack. Nylas reads mailboxes, syncs calendars, and supports AI agents. Scope comparison.
Google Workspace CLI: Limits and Alternative
What gws covers, where its OAuth scope limits and pre-1.0 status bite, and when a multi-provider email and calendar CLI is the better fit.
MailerSend vs Nylas: Email Compared
MailerSend sends transactional email from verified domains. Nylas reads and syncs user inboxes across 6 providers. Compare features, pricing, and use cases.
SavvyCal vs Nylas: Scheduling Compared
SavvyCal is a scheduling SaaS for end users. Nylas is the API and CLI for building scheduling into your product across Google, Microsoft, and iCloud calendars.
Customer.io vs Nylas: Email Compared
Customer.io sends lifecycle emails to your user base. Nylas reads and sends from real user inboxes via OAuth. Compare use cases, pricing, and AI agent support.
Knock vs Nylas: Notifications vs Email API
Knock delivers multi-channel product notifications via workflows; Nylas provides two-way email and calendar sync. Compare scope, pricing, and agent support.
Install
One install. Then pipe it to anything.
brew install nylas/nylas-cli/nylasThen run guided setup
nylas initSigns you up, creates an app and API key, and connects your email in one flow.
Prefer manual setup? Already have an API key? Log in with nylas auth config.