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Qasim Muhammad
Qasim Muhammad

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Build a Cross-Platform Communication Hub — Email, Slack, Contacts & Webhooks from One CLI

#cli #slack #webhooks #devtools

Your communication is scattered. Email in Gmail. Messages in Slack. Contacts in Outlook. Notifications via webhooks. Testing with throwaway inboxes. Managing all of this means switching between five different tools.

The Nylas CLI unifies email, Slack, contacts, webhooks, and inbound email into a single command-line interface. Automate cross-platform workflows, build notification pipelines, and manage your entire communication stack from the terminal.

Set Up Your Hub 

brew install nylas/nylas-cli/nylas
nylas init
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Log into the Nylas Dashboard to manage apps and API keys:

nylas dashboard login --google
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nylas dashboard login supports Google, Microsoft, and GitHub SSO. Check your session with nylas dashboard status and list apps with nylas dashboard apps list.

Slack Integration

Connect Slack by storing your bot token:

Authenticate

nylas slack auth set stores your token:

nylas slack auth set --token xoxb-your-bot-token
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Browse Channels

nylas slack channels list shows all channels you can access:

nylas slack channels list --json
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Read Messages

nylas slack messages list shows recent messages in a channel:

nylas slack messages list --channel general --limit 20
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Search Across Slack

nylas slack messages search finds messages workspace-wide:

nylas slack messages search --query "deploy production" --json
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Send Messages

nylas slack messages send posts to any channel or DM:

nylas slack messages send --channel deploys --text "v2.3.1 deployed to production"
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Update Your Status

nylas slack status set changes your status from the terminal:

nylas slack status set --text "In a meeting" --emoji ":calendar:"
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List Users

nylas slack users list shows workspace members:

nylas slack users list --json
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Contact Management

List Contacts

nylas contacts list displays your address book:

nylas contacts list --limit 50 --json
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Search Contacts

nylas contacts search finds people by name or email:

nylas contacts search --query "Sarah" --json
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View Contact Details

nylas contacts show shows everything — emails, phones, company, custom fields:

nylas contacts show --id contact_abc123
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Create Contacts

nylas contacts create adds to your address book:

nylas contacts create --name "Sarah Connor" --email "sarah@skynet.com" --company "Cyberdyne"
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Sync and Groups

nylas contacts sync refreshes the local cache:

nylas contacts sync
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nylas contacts groups list shows contact groups (Google) or categories (Outlook):

nylas contacts groups list --json
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Webhooks — Real-Time Notifications

Create a Webhook

nylas webhook create registers a URL for real-time events:

nylas webhook create --url https://api.myapp.com/hooks/email --triggers message.created
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List Webhooks

nylas webhook list shows all registered hooks:

nylas webhook list --json
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Manage Webhooks

Test and Debug

nylas webhook test send fires a test event to verify your endpoint:

nylas webhook test send https://api.myapp.com/hooks/email
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nylas webhook server starts a local HTTP server for development:

nylas webhook server --port 4000
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Inbound Email — Receive Without a Mail Server

Need to receive email for testing or automation? Inbound gives you managed addresses — no MX records, no mail server, no OAuth.

Create an Inbox

nylas inbound create provisions a new address:

nylas inbound create test-runner
# → test-runner@yourapp.nylas.email
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List Inboxes

nylas inbound list shows all your managed addresses:

nylas inbound list --json
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Read Received Messages

nylas inbound messages lists messages in an inbox:

nylas inbound messages inbox_abc123 --unread --json
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Monitor in Real Time

nylas inbound monitor streams new messages as they arrive:

nylas inbound monitor inbox_abc123
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Extract OTP Codes

nylas workflow otp list scans emails for one-time passwords — useful for automated testing:

nylas workflow otp list --limit 5
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Putting It Together: Cross-Platform Alert Pipeline

Here's a real workflow — when a webhook fires, email the team and post to Slack:

#!/bin/bash
# Triggered by webhook server
EVENT="$1"

# Email the team
nylas email send \
  --to team@company.com \
  --subject "Alert: $EVENT" \
  --body "A new event was triggered. Check the dashboard." --yes

# Post to Slack
nylas slack messages send \
  --channel alerts \
  --text ":rotating_light: $EVENT triggered — check email for details"
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Full Command Reference

Every Slack, contacts, webhook, and inbound command with complete documentation: Nylas CLI Command Reference.

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