Extract OTP Codes from Email — Skip the Inbox

#testing #automation #devops #tutorial

Every OTP interrupts your flow. You get a login prompt, switch to your email client, wait for the message, find the 6-digit code buried in a template, type it in, switch back. That's 30-60 seconds of context switching per authentication event.

For developers running integration tests or E2E flows, it's worse. You need the code programmatically, which means writing custom email polling logic for each provider — Gmail API, Microsoft Graph, IMAP idle — before you can even get to the actual test.

Nylas CLI solves both problems with one command: nylas otp get.

Install

# macOS / Linux
brew install nylas/nylas-cli/nylas

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

New to the CLI? The getting started guide covers setup in under a minute.

Authenticate

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

Works with Gmail, Outlook, Exchange, Yahoo, iCloud, and any IMAP server. No provider-specific config needed.

Extract the latest OTP

nylas otp get
# => ✓ Found code: 847291 (from noreply@github.com, 23s ago)
# => Copied to clipboard

That's it. The CLI scans your recent emails for verification codes, extracts the digits, and copies to clipboard.

Scripting and CI/CD

Use --raw to output just the code — no formatting, no clipboard:

CODE=$(nylas otp get --raw)
echo "OTP is: $CODE"

This makes it easy to pipe into Playwright tests, Cypress, or any CI/CD pipeline:

# In a GitHub Actions workflow
- name: Get verification code
  run: |
    CODE=$(nylas otp get --raw --timeout 30)
    echo "OTP=$CODE" >> $GITHUB_ENV

For PowerShell environments, see the CI/CD email testing guide which covers GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps with Pester assertions.

Watch mode — poll for incoming codes

When you trigger a signup or password reset and need to wait for the code to arrive:

nylas otp watch --interval 5
# Polls every 5 seconds, prints each new code as it arrives

This is useful for automated E2E email testing where you trigger a password reset flow in Playwright, then wait for the OTP to land.

Filter by sender

If you're getting codes from multiple services simultaneously:

nylas otp get --from "noreply@github.com"
nylas otp get --from "verify@stripe.com"

How it works under the hood

The CLI fetches your last 10 unread emails via the Nylas API, scans subject lines and bodies for common OTP patterns (6-digit codes, "verification code", "security code", etc.), and returns the most recent match. No regex to maintain, no IMAP polling logic to write.

For a deeper look at how email listing works, see:

Use case: AI agent account signups

AI coding agents like Claude Code and Cursor often need to sign up for services on your behalf. They hit the email verification step and get stuck. With MCP email access, your agent can extract OTPs directly:

nylas mcp install --assistant claude-code

Now Claude Code can call nylas otp get --raw as a tool to complete signups autonomously. See the full AI agent email setup guide for MCP configuration.

For more on why AI agents need email access: Why AI Agents Need Email

Compared to rolling your own

Feature	Gmail API + regex	IMAP polling	Nylas CLI
Setup time	Hours (OAuth, scopes, parsing)	Hours (IMAP config, TLS)	1 minute
Multi-provider	No (Gmail only)	Partial	Yes (6 providers)
OTP extraction	Manual regex	Manual regex	Built-in
Clipboard copy	Manual	Manual	Automatic
CI/CD friendly	Complex	Complex	`--raw` flag