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Use the Inbox Zero API CLI when you want a thin wrapper around the public API for scripts, bots, or local automation. The package is published to npm as @inbox-zero/api, and the executable name is inbox-zero-api.

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Run with npx

Requires Node.js 18+. 
npx @inbox-zero/api --help
You can also install it globally: 
npm install -g @inbox-zero/api

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Configure access

The CLI reads configuration in this order:
  1. Command flags
  2. Environment variables
  3. ~/.inbox-zero-api/config.json
Supported environment variables:
  • INBOX_ZERO_API_KEY
  • INBOX_ZERO_BASE_URL for self-hosted or custom API deployments
Example: 
inbox-zero-api rules list
base-url is optional. The CLI defaults to https://www.getinboxzero.com and only needs an override for self-hosted or custom deployments. Set INBOX_ZERO_API_KEY in your shell or secret manager before running commands. Avoid passing API keys as CLI arguments because they can leak into shell history and process listings.

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Common commands

List rules: 
inbox-zero-api rules list
inbox-zero-api rules list --json
Get a rule: 
inbox-zero-api rules get rule_123 --json
Create a rule from JSON: 
inbox-zero-api rules create --file rule.json
cat rule.json | inbox-zero-api rules create --file -
Update a rule from JSON: 
cat rule.json | inbox-zero-api rules update rule_123 --file -
Delete a rule: 
inbox-zero-api rules delete rule_123
Read stats: 
inbox-zero-api stats by-period --period week --json
inbox-zero-api stats response-time --json
Fetch the live OpenAPI document: 
inbox-zero-api openapi --json
For bots, prefer --json so the output is stable and machine-readable.