Send Email from the Terminal

# macOS / Linux (Homebrew)
brew install nylas/nylas-cli/nylas

# Or build from source (requires Go 1.23+)
go install github.com/nylas/cli/cmd/nylas@latest

nylas auth config
# Paste your API key when prompted

# Verify it works
nylas auth whoami
# => Authenticated as you@company.com (Google Workspace)

Authentication Status

Current Account:
  Email: dev@example.com
  Provider: google
  Grant ID: d3f4a5b6-c7d8-9e0f-a1b2-c3d4e5f6g7h8
  Status: ✓ Valid

Configuration:
  Region: us
  Config Path: /home/dev/.config/nylas/config.yaml
  Secret Store: system keyring

nylas email send \
  --to "colleague@company.com" \
  --subject "Quarterly report attached" \
  --body "Hi -- please review the Q4 numbers before Friday."

# Skip the confirmation prompt
nylas email send --to user@example.com --subject "Quick note" --body "..." --yes

# CC and BCC
nylas email send \
  --to alice@team.com \
  --cc bob@team.com \
  --bcc manager@team.com \
  --subject "Sprint update" \
  --body "All tasks on track."

✓ Email sent successfully

  Message ID: abc123def456
  To: jamie@example.com
  Subject: Deployment complete
  Sent at: 2026-03-25T15:30:00-04:00

# List recent emails
nylas email list --limit 10

# Only unread
nylas email list --unread

# Search by keyword
nylas email search "invoice" --limit 5

# Read a specific message
nylas email read msg_abc123

# Read the raw MIME source
nylas email read msg_abc123 --mime

nylas email list --limit 1 --json

[
  {
    "id": "a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8",
    "grant_id": "d3f4a5b6-c7d8-9e0f-a1b2-c3d4e5f6g7h8",
    "thread_id": "a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8",
    "subject": "Re: Project Atlas — Q2 launch timeline",
    "from": [{"name": "Sarah Chen", "email": "sarah@example.com"}],
    "to": [{"name": "Alex Rivera", "email": "alex@example.com"}],
    "snippet": "The staging environment is ready. I've attached the test results from Friday's run...",
    "date": "2026-03-25T14:22:18-04:00",
    "unread": true,
    "starred": false,
    "folders": ["INBOX"],
    "object": "message"
  }
]

# Send in 2 hours
nylas email send --to team@company.com --subject "Reminder" --body "..." --schedule 2h

# Send tomorrow morning
nylas email send --to team@company.com --subject "Standup" --body "..." --schedule "tomorrow 9am"

# Send on a specific date
nylas email send --to client@example.com --subject "Follow-up" --body "..." --schedule "2026-03-01 14:30"

nylas email send \
  --to prospect@company.com \
  --subject "Proposal attached" \
  --body "Here is our proposal for Q2." \
  --track-opens \
  --track-links \
  --track-label "q2-outreach"

# Tracking events are delivered via webhooks:
nylas webhook create \
  --url https://your-server.com/hooks \
  --triggers message.opened,message.link_clicked

# Sign with your GPG key
nylas email send --to legal@partner.com --subject "Contract" --body "..." --sign

# Encrypt with recipient's public key (auto-fetched from keyservers)
nylas email send --to legal@partner.com --subject "Contract" --body "..." --encrypt

# Both (recommended for maximum security)
nylas email send --to legal@partner.com --subject "Contract" --body "..." --sign --encrypt

# Decrypt and verify a received message
nylas email read msg_xyz789 --decrypt --verify

# Generate a draft from a prompt
nylas email smart-compose --prompt "Thank them for the meeting and confirm next steps"

# Generate a reply to a specific message
nylas email smart-compose --message-id msg_abc123 --prompt "Accept the invitation politely"

# AI inbox analysis
nylas email ai analyze --unread
# => Summary, categories, action items, urgency levels

# Morning inbox summary script
#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Inbox Summary ==="
unread=$(nylas email list --unread --json | jq length)
echo "Unread: $unread"

# Urgent check
nylas email list --unread --json \
  | jq '[.[] | select(.subject | test("urgent|asap"; "i"))]' \
  | jq 'length' \
  | xargs -I{} echo "Urgent: {}"

# Bulk send from a CSV
while IFS=, read -r email name; do
  nylas email send \
    --to "$email" \
    --subject "Hello $name" \
    --body "Your account is ready." \
    --yes
  sleep 2
done < contacts.csv

# Agent triages your inbox
nylas email list --unread --json | agent triage --rules ./inbox-rules.yml

# Agent drafts a reply, CLI sends it
nylas email send \
  --to sarah@team.io \
  --subject "Re: Follow-up" \
  --body "$(agent draft --context msg_a1f2)" \
  --yes

# Start the built-in MCP server for Claude, Cursor, or VS Code
nylas mcp install --assistant claude-code

# Use a here-doc for longer email bodies in shell scripts
nylas email send \
  --to ops@company.com \
  --subject "Nightly backup report" \
  --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
Backups completed successfully.

- Cluster: prod-a
- Duration: 18m
- Snapshot age: 24h
EOF
)" \
  --yes

# Cron-friendly check with explicit exit handling
if ! nylas email send --to alerts@company.com --subject "Disk warning" --body "Disk usage > 90%" --yes; then
  echo "email send failed" >&2
  exit 1
fi