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How to install and use the Resend CLI

Resend CLI: Send and Manage Email from the Terminal

The Resend CLI is the official command-line tool for Resend, an email platform built for developers. Install it with npm install -g resend-cli or brew install resend/cli/resend, authenticate with resend login, and then send emails, manage domains, and automate email infrastructure from a terminal or CI/CD pipeline.

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What is Resend?

Resend is an email API for developers. Connect a domain, create an API key, and start sending transactional emails from your application, including password resets, order confirmations, and onboarding messages.

On March 13, 2026, Resend founder Zeno Rocha shipped the Resend CLI, bringing the same infrastructure to the terminal. The CLI has 53 commands across 13 resources, is written in TypeScript, and is fully open source under the MIT license.

It supports three common use cases:

  • Humans: Interactive prompts, readable tables, and natural-language scheduling such as tomorrow at 9am
  • AI agents: JSON output, idempotency keys, and automatic agent detection
  • CI/CD pipelines: Environment-variable authentication, scriptable flags, and consistent exit codes

If you're building an application that sends email, test your email API calls before they reach production. Apidog provides a visual interface for testing REST APIs, including Resend's email API. You can import the Resend OpenAPI specification, configure environments, and run organized test suites without writing additional test code.

Installing the Resend CLI

Choose the installation method that best fits your environment.

Install with cURL

This method downloads a standalone binary and does not require Node.js:

curl -fsSL https://resend.com/install.sh | bash
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The installer downloads a prebuilt binary for your operating system and places it on your PATH.

Install with npm

The npm package requires Node.js 20 or later:

npm install -g resend-cli
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Verify the installation:

resend --version
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Install with Homebrew

On macOS or Linux, install the CLI with Homebrew:

brew install resend/cli/resend
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Homebrew also handles future updates.

Install on Windows with PowerShell

Run the PowerShell installer:

irm https://resend.com/install.ps1 | iex
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You can also download .exe binaries directly from the GitHub Releases page.

Build the CLI locally

To contribute to the CLI or build it from source, install Node.js 20 or later and pnpm:

git clone https://github.com/resend/resend-cli.git
cd resend-cli
pnpm install
pnpm build       # outputs ./dist/cli.cjs
pnpm build:bin   # native binary at ./dist/resend
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Authenticating your account

Run resend login to connect the CLI to your Resend account:

resend login
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The command opens your browser and guides you through creating an API key in the Resend dashboard. Credentials are stored locally at:

~/.config/resend/credentials.json
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The file uses restricted 0600 permissions.

For CI/CD pipelines and other non-interactive environments, pass an API key directly:

resend login --key re_xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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After authentication, the CLI resolves API keys in this order:

  1. The --api-key flag
  2. The RESEND_API_KEY environment variable
  3. The stored credentials file

For CI pipelines, store RESEND_API_KEY as a secret environment variable:

RESEND_API_KEY=re_xxx \
  resend emails send \
  --from builds@yourco.com \
  --to dev@yourco.com \
  --subject "Build passed" \
  --text "All tests green."
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Use multiple accounts

If you work with multiple Resend organizations or teams, switch between stored profiles without logging out:

resend auth switch
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You can also select a profile for one command:

resend <command> --profile production
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Sending your first email

The main sending command is resend emails send. At minimum, provide:

  • A sender address from a verified domain
  • A recipient
  • A subject
  • A message body

Send a plain-text email 

resend emails send \
  --from "you@yourdomain.com" \
  --to recipient@example.com \
  --subject "Hello from the CLI" \
  --text "This is a test email sent from the Resend CLI."
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Send an HTML email

Pass HTML inline with --html:

resend emails send \
  --from "team@yourco.com" \
  --to user@example.com \
  --subject "Your order is confirmed" \
  --html "<h1>Order confirmed</h1><p>Thanks for your purchase.</p>"
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For larger templates, use --html-file:

resend emails send \
  --from "team@yourco.com" \
  --to user@example.com \
  --subject "Welcome aboard" \
  --html-file ./templates/welcome.html
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Schedule delivery

The CLI accepts natural-language dates as well as ISO 8601 timestamps:

resend emails send \
  --from "you@yourco.com" \
  --to user@example.com \
  --subject "Scheduled check-in" \
  --text "Just checking in." \
  --schedule "tomorrow at 9am"
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Other supported formats include:

  • in 1 hour
  • next Monday at 3pm
  • A complete ISO 8601 timestamp

Capture the email ID

When output is piped, the CLI automatically switches to JSON output. Use jq to extract the email ID:

EMAIL_ID=$(resend emails send \
  --from a@acme.com \
  --to b@acme.com \
  --subject "Test" \
  --text "Hi" | jq -r '.data.id')

echo "Sent email: $EMAIL_ID"
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You can use the ID for follow-up operations.

Cancel or update a scheduled email

Cancel a scheduled email:

resend emails cancel "$EMAIL_ID"
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Update its schedule:

resend emails update "$EMAIL_ID" --schedule "next Monday at 10am"
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List recent emails 

resend emails list
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Send a batch of emails

The CLI supports batches of up to 100 emails. Create a JSON file containing an array of email objects:

[
  {
    "from": "you@yourco.com",
    "to": "alice@example.com",
    "subject": "Hi Alice",
    "text": "Hello!"
  },
  {
    "from": "you@yourco.com",
    "to": "bob@example.com",
    "subject": "Hi Bob",
    "text": "Hello!"
  }
]
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Send the batch:

resend emails send-batch --file emails.json
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Each batch request counts as one API call against your rate limit, even when it sends up to 100 emails.

Managing domains and API keys

You need a verified domain before you can send email. The CLI supports the complete domain setup and verification workflow.

Add a domain 

resend domains create \
  --name yourdomain.com \
  --region us-east-1
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Supported regions are:

  • us-east-1
  • eu-west-1
  • sa-east-1
  • ap-northeast-1

Choose the region closest to your users to minimize latency.

Verify DNS records

After you create a domain, Resend provides DNS records to add to your DNS provider, including SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records.

Start verification with:

resend domains verify --id <domain-id>
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Check the domain status:

resend domains get --id <domain-id>
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Poll the status until it returns verified.

Configure tracking and TLS

Run the interactive configuration command:

resend domains configure --id <domain-id>
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This lets you configure options such as open tracking, click tracking, and custom DKIM.

List domains 

resend domains list
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Manage API keys

Create scoped API keys for individual services or environments instead of sharing one key everywhere:

resend api-keys create  # Interactive, lets you scope per domain
resend api-keys list
resend api-keys delete --id <key-id>
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A key scoped to one domain cannot access your other domains or account settings.

Advanced features

In addition to individual emails, the CLI supports broadcasts, webhooks, templates, contacts, and audiences.

Broadcasts

Create a broadcast draft, then send or schedule it:

resend broadcasts create   # Interactive draft creation
resend broadcasts send --id <broadcast-id>
resend broadcasts schedule \
  --id <broadcast-id> \
  --date "next Monday at 10am"
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Webhooks

Webhooks provide real-time delivery events such as bounces, opens, clicks, and spam reports.

Create and list webhook endpoints:

resend webhooks create   # Register a new endpoint
resend webhooks list
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For local development, forward webhook events to a local endpoint:

resend webhooks listen \
  --forward-to http://localhost:3000/webhooks/resend
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This avoids setting up ngrok or similar tunneling tools. The CLI supports 17 event types, including:

  • email.sent
  • email.delivered
  • email.bounced
  • email.opened
  • email.clicked

Templates

Create reusable HTML templates with dynamic variables:

resend templates create  # Interactive template builder
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Template variables use the {{variable_name}} syntax with fallback values. Reference a template by ID when sending emails.

Contacts and audiences

Resend also provides contact management for marketing emails:

resend contacts create \
  --audience-id <id> \
  --email user@example.com \
  --first-name "Alice"

resend contacts list --audience-id <id>

resend contacts update \
  --id <contact-id> \
  --unsubscribed false
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Run diagnostics

The doctor command checks your local setup:

resend doctor
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It verifies your CLI version, API key validity, and verified domains. It can also detect AI coding agents such as Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code, and OpenClaw.

Using Resend CLI in CI/CD pipelines

The CLI is designed for automated environments. Use non-interactive authentication, machine-readable output, and automatic confirmation flags in scripts.

Use machine-readable output

Pass --json to force structured JSON output:

resend emails send \
  --from a@co.com \
  --to b@co.com \
  --subject "Deploy" \
  --text "Done" \
  --json
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The CLI also automatically uses JSON when its output is piped.

The --quiet flag suppresses spinners and progress indicators:

resend emails list --quiet | jq '.[0].id'
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Skip confirmation prompts

Use --yes for destructive operations in scripts:

resend api-keys delete --id <key-id> --yes
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GitHub Actions example

Store the API key in GitHub Actions secrets and expose it only to the step that needs it:

- name: Send deployment notification
  env:
    RESEND_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.RESEND_API_KEY }}
  run: |
    resend emails send \
      --from deploys@yourco.com \
      --to team@yourco.com \
      --subject "Deploy to production: ${{ github.sha }}" \
      --text "Deployed commit ${{ github.sha }} to production."
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Account for rate limits

The Resend API rate limit is two requests per second, shared across all API keys for your team.

When sending multiple messages, prefer send-batch—which supports up to 100 emails per call—instead of looping over individual send commands.

Testing your email API with Apidog

The Resend CLI works well for interactive development and simple scripts. If your backend calls Resend's REST API directly, an API client can help you explore and test the integration before writing application code.

Apidog lets you send HTTP requests, inspect responses, organize test cases, and configure separate environments for different API keys and settings.

A typical workflow looks like this:

1. Import the Resend API specification

Resend provides API reference documentation at resend.com/docs. Import the API specification into Apidog to organize the available endpoints and view their request and response schemas.

2. Configure environments

Create development and production environments. Store your RESEND_API_KEY as an environment variable and reference it in requests with:

{{RESEND_API_KEY}}
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You can switch between environments without manually replacing credentials.

3. Test the sending request

Before implementing the integration in your application, run the POST /emails endpoint with the payload you plan to use.

Verify:

  • The response status
  • The returned email ID
  • Required-field validation
  • Invalid-address behavior
  • Other edge cases relevant to your application

4. Automate API tests

Use Apidog's test runner to chain requests and assert response values. For example, a test can:

  1. Send a test email
  2. Retrieve it by ID
  3. Verify its status

This catches integration problems before they reach production. Combined with the Resend CLI for local development, you have a terminal workflow for quick checks and an API testing environment for repeatable integration tests.

Resend pricing

The CLI is free and open source. Pricing applies to the Resend platform:

Plan Price Monthly emails Daily limit Log retention
Free $0/month 3,000 100/day 1 day
Pro $20/month 50,000 No limit 3 days
Scale $90/month 100,000 No limit 7 days
Enterprise Custom Custom Custom Custom

Important free-tier details:

  • The 100-email-per-day limit makes the free plan suitable for testing and small projects, not production traffic.
  • Analytics such as open and click tracking require a paid plan.
  • Log retention is limited to one day, so old email status may not be retrievable after 24 hours.
  • The rate limit is two requests per second for all plans, shared across your team.
  • Overage on paid plans is capped at five times the monthly quota to help prevent unexpected bills.

Dedicated IPs are available as a $30/month add-on on the Scale plan when sending more than 500 emails per day.

FAQ

Do I need Node.js to install the Resend CLI?

Not when using cURL or Homebrew, which install prebuilt standalone binaries. The npm installation requires Node.js 20 or later.

Why can't I send from any email address?

Resend requires a verified domain. You must own the domain, add the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records provided by Resend, and complete verification. Free email providers such as Gmail are not supported as sender addresses.

Can I send to any email address on the free plan?

Yes. The free plan does not restrict recipients, but it limits you to 3,000 emails per month and 100 emails per day.

How does natural-language scheduling work?

The CLI parses phrases such as tomorrow at 9am, in 2 hours, and next Friday at 3pm, as well as standard ISO 8601 timestamps. Unless you specify otherwise, times are interpreted in your system's local timezone.

What happens when I pipe output?

The CLI detects when output is being piped and automatically switches to JSON-only output without spinners or prompts. You do not need to pass --json explicitly.

Can I use the CLI with multiple Resend accounts?

Yes. Run resend login multiple times to store different profiles. Then use resend auth switch to change profiles, or pass --profile <name> to a specific command.

Is the Resend CLI open source?

Yes. It is MIT licensed and hosted at github.com/resend/resend-cli.

What's the difference between --quiet and --json?

Both produce JSON output. --json forces JSON mode, while --quiet suppresses spinners and progress indicators and also implies JSON mode. In practice, they use the same output format; --quiet additionally removes non-data output.

Additional resources

  • Resend CLI GitHub repository
  • Resend documentation
  • Resend pricing
  • Resend changelog
  • Apidog free API client

Top comments (1)

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topstar_ai profile image
Luis Cruz •

The implementation of the Resend CLI is intriguing, especially with its focus on user-friendliness through interactive prompts and natural-language scheduling. This makes it accessible for both developers and AI agents, enhancing efficiency in managing email tasks. One improvement idea could be to provide more examples or templates for common use cases, which would help users get started quickly. If you’re looking for support in expanding those templates or enhancing the CLI further, I’d be glad to explore a paid collaboration. How have users responded to the command-line interface so far?