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Guide

Getting Started

Set up Nylas CLI in under 2 minutes with an API key from the Nylas Dashboard. Create an account, create an application, copy your API key, and run nylas auth config. Works everywhere — no browser auth flow required. An interactive wizard (nylas init) is also available for guided setup.

Written by Prem Keshari Senior SRE

Reviewed by Caleb Geene

Verified — CLI 3.1.1 · Gmail, Outlook, IMAP · last tested April 11, 2026

How do I install Nylas CLI?

Nylas CLI installs as a single 12 MB static binary with no runtime dependencies. Pick the method that matches your platform — each option auto-detects your CPU architecture (x86_64 or arm64), downloads the correct build from GitHub, and verifies the download with SHA-256 checksums. Installation completes in under 30 seconds on most connections.

Homebrew (macOS and Linux)

The Homebrew formula taps the nylas/nylas-cli repository and pins the latest stable release. Homebrew handles upgrades automatically when you run brew upgrade.

brew install nylas/nylas-cli/nylas

Shell script (macOS, Linux, WSL)

The shell installer works on any POSIX system, including WSL. It writes the binary to ~/.config/nylas/bin and prints a PATH export line you can add to your shell profile.

curl -fsSL https://cli.nylas.com/install.sh | bash

PowerShell (Windows)

The PowerShell installer downloads the Windows binary and adds the install directory to your user-level PATH. It requires PowerShell 5.1 or later, which ships with Windows 10 and 11.

irm https://cli.nylas.com/install.ps1 | iex

Go

Building from source requires Go 1.23 or later. The binary lands in your $GOPATH/bin directory.

go install github.com/nylas/cli/cmd/nylas@latest

After installing with any method, confirm the binary is on your PATH by printing its version:

nylas --version

How do I set up Nylas CLI?

The fastest way to get running is with an API key from the Nylas Dashboard. Five steps, under 2 minutes, no browser auth flow required.

Step 1: Create a Nylas account

Sign up at dashboard-v3.nylas.com. The free tier includes 5 connected accounts, which is enough for personal use and testing. You can sign up with Google, Microsoft, or GitHub SSO.

Step 2: Create an application

In the dashboard, go to All apps → Create new app. Pick a name and choose your region (US or EU). Each application holds unlimited connected email accounts (called grants) across Gmail, Outlook, Exchange, Yahoo, iCloud, and IMAP.

Step 3: Get your API key

Open your application in the dashboard and go to the API Keys section. Click Create new key. Copy the key — it starts with nyl_ and you'll paste it into the CLI in the next step.

Step 4: Connect your email account

Still in the dashboard, go to your application's Grants section and click Add Account. Authorize with your email provider (Gmail, Outlook, Exchange, Yahoo, iCloud, or IMAP). This creates a grant — the connection between your email account and your Nylas application.

Step 5: Configure the CLI

Run nylas auth config and paste your API key when prompted. The CLI validates the key against the Nylas API, saves it encrypted to ~/.config/nylas/config.yaml, and syncs the grant you just connected.

nylas auth config

If your Nylas application is in the EU region, pass --region eu:

nylas auth config --region eu

The CLI confirms the key is saved and shows your connected accounts:

Paste your API key:
nyl_••••••••••••••••••••

> API key saved to system keyring
> Set [email protected] as default account

That's it — try listing your inbox to confirm everything works:

nylas email list

How do I connect additional email accounts?

To add more accounts after setup, go to the Nylas Dashboard, open your application's Grants section, and click Add Account. The CLI picks up new grants automatically on the next command.

You can also connect accounts directly from the CLI with OAuth:

nylas auth login

This opens your browser for authorization. According to Google's OAuth 2.0 documentation, access tokens expire after 3,600 seconds — the CLI refreshes them automatically. If the browser flow hangs after granting permissions, use the dashboard method instead.

Manage your connected accounts with:

# List all connected accounts
nylas auth list

# Switch between accounts
nylas auth switch

How do I set up with a single command?

If you already have an API key, skip the interactive prompt and pass it directly. This works in CI/CD pipelines, Docker containers, and SSH sessions.

nylas init --api-key nyl_abc123

Use --region eu if your application is in the EU region:

nylas init --api-key nyl_abc123 --region eu

How do I use the interactive setup wizard?

The nylas init wizard is an alternative to the API key flow above. It walks you through account creation, application selection, API key generation, and grant syncing in one interactive session. It requires a browser for SSO authentication.

nylas init

To skip the SSO provider selection menu, pass the flag directly:

nylas init --google
nylas init --microsoft
nylas init --github

How do I manage my account from the CLI?

Nylas CLI mirrors about 90% of the web dashboard functionality through nylas dashboard subcommands. You can create applications, rotate API keys, switch organizations, and check your login status without opening a browser. Every subcommand supports --json output for scripting.

The most common dashboard operations:

# Check login status
nylas dashboard status

# List applications
nylas dashboard apps list

# Create a new application
nylas dashboard apps create --name "Production App" --region us

# Set an application as active
nylas dashboard apps use app_abc123

# Generate a new API key
nylas dashboard apps apikeys create

# Switch organizations
nylas dashboard orgs switch

How do I use email, calendar, and contacts?

Nylas CLI organizes its 72+ commands into three core groups: email (send, list, search, draft, attach), calendar (events, availability, scheduling), and contacts (list, search, groups). Each group supports --json output for scripting and --limit to control result size. Here are the commands you'll use most after setup:

# Email: list, search, and send
nylas email list --limit 5
nylas email search "quarterly report"
nylas email send --to [email protected] --subject "Quick note" --body "See you at 2pm."

# Calendar: list events and check availability
nylas calendar events list --days 7
nylas calendar availability check --start 2026-05-12T09:00:00Z --end 2026-05-12T17:00:00Z --participants [email protected]

# Contacts: list and search
nylas contacts list --limit 10
nylas contacts search --query "Alice"
nylas contacts groups list

Add --json to any command to get structured output you can pipe into jq, feed to a script, or pass to an AI agent. The send email guide and calendar guide cover each group in depth.

How do I reset and start over?

Nylas CLI stores all configuration locally in ~/.config/nylas/ — typically 3-4 files totaling under 2 KB. Resetting removes API credentials, Dashboard session tokens, authenticated grants, and the config file — but it does not affect your Nylas Dashboard data or connected accounts on the server side. Your applications, grants, and API keys remain intact in the cloud.

To clear the local config and re-run setup:

nylas config reset
nylas init

Use --force to skip the confirmation prompt, which is useful in scripts that need to reconfigure the CLI automatically.

Next steps