Tools

Command-line client

@mailkite/cli is a wrangler-style terminal tool for MailKite — sign in, add domains, set DNS + webhooks, send mail, and tail inbound messages. It's a thin layer over the Node SDK, so it speaks the exact same API as every other client.

Install

bash

# No install needed
npx @mailkite/cli --help

# …or install the `mailkite` binary globally
npm i -g @mailkite/cli

Quick start

Create an account, point a domain, set its DNS, register a webhook, and send — each step is one command:

bash

mailkite signup --email you@example.com --password •••••     # or: login
mailkite domains add mail.myapp.ai                       # prints the DNS records
# …add those records at your DNS provider, then:
mailkite domains verify <domainId>                          # MX / SPF / DKIM / DMARC
mailkite webhook set <domainId> https://myapp.ai/hooks/mailkite
mailkite send --from hello@mail.myapp.ai --to you@example.com \
  --subject "It works" --html "<p>Hi from MailKite</p>"
mailkite messages tail                                       # watch inbound arrive

Or run the whole flow at once with the setup wizard:

bash

mailkite init --email you@example.com --password ••••• \
  --domain mail.myapp.ai --provider cloudflare \
  --webhook https://myapp.ai/hooks/mailkite --to you@example.com --verify

Built for scripts and agents

Fully non-interactive. Every command works from flags + env; prompts only appear as a fallback on an interactive TTY.
--json everywhere for machine-readable output.
Snappy. Commands exit the moment the work is done.

bash

# Every command takes --json and exits immediately — built for scripts & agents
ID=$(mailkite domains add mail.app.com --json | jq -r .domain.id)
mailkite domains verify "$ID" --json | jq -e '.status == "verified"'

Commands

Auth	login · signup · logout · whoami
Send	send (--from --to --subject [--html\|--text\|--file] [--cc --bcc --reply-to --in-reply-to])
Domains	domains list \| add \| get \| verify \| rm · dns <id> [--provider]
Webhooks	webhook set \| rm \| test \| show · secret get \| rotate · verify-webhook
Receiving	messages list \| get \| tail · routes list \| create · deliveries retry
Workflow	init (setup wizard) · mcp (run the MCP server)

Run mailkite <command> --help (or just mailkite) for the full reference.

Auth & config

The CLI uses one bearer token for everything — the account token from login/signup. Resolution order:

--token <t> flag
MAILKITE_API_KEY / MAILKITE_TOKEN env
~/.mailkite/config.json (written by login/signup, mode 600)

Override the endpoint with --base-url or MAILKITE_BASE_URL (default https://api.mailkite.dev).

Receiving without a public URL

messages tail polls the stored-messages API and prints new arrivals — so you can confirm an inbound round-trip with no tunnel:

bash

# Confirm a send→receive round-trip with no public tunnel:
mailkite messages tail --once --subject "test" --timeout 120 --json

To verify webhook signatures locally (no network), use mailkite verify-webhook or the SDK's verifyWebhook helper — see Verifying signatures.

The CLI can also launch the MCP server (mailkite mcp) and is the backbone of the agent skill. Next: the full API reference.