Resend CLI

The official CLI for Resend.

Built for humans, AI agents, and CI/CD pipelines.

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Install

cURL

curl -fsSL https://resend.com/install.sh | bash

Node.js

npm install -g resend-cli

Homebrew (macOS / Linux)

brew install resend/cli/resend

PowerShell (Windows)

irm https://resend.com/install.ps1 | iex

Or download the .exe directly from the GitHub releases page.

Agent skills

This CLI ships with an agent skill that teaches AI coding agents (Cursor, Claude Code, Windsurf, etc.) how to use the Resend CLI effectively — including non-interactive flags, output formats, and common pitfalls.

To install skills for Resend's full platform (API, CLI, React Email, email best practices) from the central skills repository:

npx skills add resend/resend-skills

Local development

Use this when you want to change the CLI and run your build locally.

Prerequisites

Node.js 20+

Setup

Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/resend/resend-cli.git
cd resend-cli

Install dependencies
```
pnpm install
```
Build locally
```
pnpm build
```
Output: ./dist/cli.cjs

Running the CLI locally

Use the dev script:

pnpm dev --version

Or run the built JS bundle:

node dist/cli.cjs --version

Making changes

After editing source files, rebuild:

pnpm build

Building native binaries

To build a standalone native binary:

pnpm build:bin

Output: ./dist/resend

Quick start

# Authenticate
resend login

# Send an email
resend emails send \
  --from "you@yourdomain.com" \
  --to recipient@example.com \
  --subject "Hello from Resend CLI" \
  --text "Sent from my terminal."

# Check your environment
resend doctor

Authentication

The CLI resolves your API key using the following priority chain:

Priority	Source	How to set
1 (highest)	`--api-key` flag	`resend --api-key re_xxx emails send ...`
2	`RESEND_API_KEY` env var	`export RESEND_API_KEY=re_xxx`
3 (lowest)	Config file	`resend login`

If no key is found from any source, the CLI errors with code auth_error.

Commands

`resend login`

Authenticate by storing your API key locally. The key is validated against the Resend API before being saved.

resend login

Interactive mode (default in terminals)

When run in a terminal, the command checks for an existing key:

No key found — Offers to open the Resend API keys dashboard in your browser so you can create one, then prompts for the key.
Existing key found — Shows the key source (env, config) and prompts for a new key to replace it.

The key is entered via a masked password input and must start with re_.

Non-interactive mode (CI, pipes, scripts)

When stdin is not a TTY, the --key flag is required:

resend login --key re_xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Omitting --key in non-interactive mode exits with error code missing_key.

Options

Flag	Description
`--key <key>`	API key to store (required in non-interactive mode)

Output

On success, credentials are saved to ~/.config/resend/credentials.json with 0600 permissions (owner read/write only). The config directory is created with 0700 permissions.

# JSON output
resend login --key re_xxx --json
# => {"success":true,"config_path":"/Users/you/.config/resend/credentials.json"}

Error codes

Code	Cause
`missing_key`	No `--key` provided in non-interactive mode
`invalid_key_format`	Key does not start with `re_`
`validation_failed`	Resend API rejected the key

Switch between teams and accounts

If you work across multiple Resend teams or accounts, the CLI handles that too.

Switch between profiles without logging in and out:

resend auth switch

You can also use the global --profile (or -p) flag on any command to run it with a specific profile.

resend domains list --profile production

`resend emails send`

Send an email via the Resend API. Provide all options via flags for scripting, or let the CLI prompt interactively for missing fields.

resend emails send \
  --from "Name <sender@yourdomain.com>" \
  --to recipient@example.com \
  --subject "Subject line" \
  --text "Plain text body"

Options

Flag	Required	Description
`--from <address>`	Yes	Sender email address (must be from a verified domain)
`--to <addresses...>`	Yes	One or more recipient email addresses (space-separated)
`--subject <subject>`	Yes	Email subject line
`--text <text>`	One of text/html/html-file	Plain text body
`--html <html>`	One of text/html/html-file	HTML body as a string
`--html-file <path>`	One of text/html/html-file	Path to an HTML file to use as body
`--cc <addresses...>`	No	CC recipients (space-separated)
`--bcc <addresses...>`	No	BCC recipients (space-separated)
`--reply-to <address>`	No	Reply-to email address

Interactive mode

When run in a terminal without all required flags, the CLI prompts for missing fields:

# prompts for from, to, subject, and body
resend emails send

# prompts only for missing fields
resend emails send --from "you@yourdomain.com"

Non-interactive mode

When piped or run in CI, all required flags must be provided. Missing flags cause an error listing what's needed:

echo "" | resend emails send --from "you@yourdomain.com"
# Error: Missing required flags: --to, --subject

A body (--text, --html, or --html-file) is also required — omitting all three exits with code missing_body.

Examples

Multiple recipients:

resend emails send \
  --from "you@yourdomain.com" \
  --to alice@example.com bob@example.com \
  --subject "Team update" \
  --text "Hello everyone"

HTML from a file:

resend emails send \
  --from "you@yourdomain.com" \
  --to recipient@example.com \
  --subject "Newsletter" \
  --html-file ./newsletter.html

With CC, BCC, and reply-to:

resend emails send \
  --from "you@yourdomain.com" \
  --to recipient@example.com \
  --subject "Meeting notes" \
  --text "See attached." \
  --cc manager@example.com \
  --bcc archive@example.com \
  --reply-to noreply@example.com

Overriding the API key for one send:

resend --api-key re_other_key emails send \
  --from "you@yourdomain.com" \
  --to recipient@example.com \
  --subject "Test" \
  --text "Using a different key"

Output

Returns the email ID on success:

{ "id": "49a3999c-0ce1-4ea6-ab68-afcd6dc2e794" }

Error codes

Code	Cause
`auth_error`	No API key found or client creation failed
`missing_body`	No `--text`, `--html`, or `--html-file` provided
`file_read_error`	Could not read the file passed to `--html-file`
`send_error`	Resend API returned an error

`resend doctor`

Run environment diagnostics. Verifies your CLI version, API key, domains, and detects AI agent integrations.

resend doctor

Checks performed

Check	Pass	Warn	Fail
CLI Version	Running latest	Update available or registry unreachable	—
API Key	Key found (shows masked key + source)	—	No key found
Domains	Verified domains exist	No domains or all pending verification	API key invalid
AI Agents	Lists detected agents (or none)	—	—

The API key is always masked in output (e.g. re_...xxxx).

Interactive mode

In a terminal, shows animated spinners for each check with colored status icons:

  Resend Doctor

  ✔ CLI Version: v0.1.0 (latest)
  ✔ API Key: re_...xxxx (source: env)
  ✔ Domains: 2 verified, 0 pending
  ✔ AI Agents: Detected: Cursor, Claude Desktop

JSON mode

resend doctor --json

{
  "ok": true,
  "checks": [
    { "name": "CLI Version", "status": "pass", "message": "v0.1.0 (latest)" },
    { "name": "API Key", "status": "pass", "message": "re_...xxxx (source: env)" },
    { "name": "Domains", "status": "pass", "message": "2 verified, 0 pending" },
    { "name": "AI Agents", "status": "pass", "message": "Detected: Cursor" }
  ]
}

Each check has a status of pass, warn, or fail. The top-level ok is false if any check is fail.

Detected AI agents

Agent	Detection method
OpenClaw	`~/clawd/skills` directory exists
Cursor	`~/.cursor` directory exists
Claude Desktop	Platform-specific config file exists
VS Code	`.vscode/mcp.json` in current directory

Exit code

Exits 0 when all checks pass or warn. Exits 1 if any check fails.

Global options

These flags work on every command and are passed before the subcommand:

resend [global options] <command> [command options]

Flag	Description
`--api-key <key>`	Override API key for this invocation (takes highest priority)
`-p, --profile <name>`	Profile to use (overrides `RESEND_PROFILE` env var)
`--json`	Force JSON output even in interactive terminals
`-q, --quiet`	Suppress spinners and status output (implies `--json`)
`--version`	Print version and exit
`--help`	Show help text

Output behavior

The CLI has two output modes:

Mode	When	Stdout	Stderr
Interactive	Terminal (TTY)	Formatted text	Spinners, prompts
Machine	Piped, CI, or `--json`	JSON	Nothing

Switching is automatic — pipe to another command and JSON output activates:

resend doctor | jq '.checks[].name'
resend emails send --from ... --to ... --subject ... --text ... | jq '.id'

Error output

Errors always exit with code 1 and output structured JSON to stdout:

{ "error": { "message": "No API key found", "code": "auth_error" } }

Agent & CI/CD usage

CI/CD

Set RESEND_API_KEY as an environment variable — no resend login needed:

# GitHub Actions
env:
  RESEND_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.RESEND_API_KEY }}
steps:
  - run: |
      resend emails send \
        --from "deploy@yourdomain.com" \
        --to "team@yourdomain.com" \
        --subject "Deploy complete" \
        --text "Version ${{ github.sha }} deployed."

AI agents

Agents calling the CLI as a subprocess automatically get JSON output (non-TTY detection). The contract:

Input: All required flags must be provided (no interactive prompts)
Output: JSON to stdout, nothing to stderr
Exit code: 0 success, 1 error
Errors: Always include message and code fields

Configuration

Item	Path	Notes
Config directory	`~/.config/resend/`	Respects `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME` on Linux, `%APPDATA%` on Windows
Credentials	`~/.config/resend/credentials.json`	`0600` permissions (owner read/write)
Install directory	`~/.resend/bin/`	Respects `$RESEND_INSTALL`

License

MIT

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 301 Commits
.github		.github
scripts		scripts
skill-evals/resend-cli		skill-evals/resend-cli
skills/resend-cli		skills/resend-cli
src		src
tests		tests
.gitignore		.gitignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
biome.json		biome.json
install.ps1		install.ps1
install.sh		install.sh
package.json		package.json
pnpm-lock.yaml		pnpm-lock.yaml
renovate.json		renovate.json
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json
vitest.config.e2e.ts		vitest.config.e2e.ts
vitest.config.ts		vitest.config.ts

Folders and files

Latest commit

History

Repository files navigation

Resend CLI

Install

cURL

Node.js

Homebrew (macOS / Linux)

PowerShell (Windows)

Agent skills

Local development

Prerequisites

Setup

Running the CLI locally

Making changes

Building native binaries

Quick start

Authentication

Commands

resend login

Interactive mode (default in terminals)

Non-interactive mode (CI, pipes, scripts)

Options

Output

Error codes

Switch between teams and accounts

resend emails send

Options

Interactive mode

Non-interactive mode

Examples

Output

Error codes

resend doctor

Checks performed

Interactive mode

JSON mode

Detected AI agents

Exit code

Global options

Output behavior

Error output

Agent & CI/CD usage

CI/CD

AI agents

Configuration

License

About

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`resend login`

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