/telnyx-cli

name: telnyx-cli
description: >-
  Use the Telnyx CLI to manage phone numbers, send messages, make calls,
  and access all Telnyx APIs from the terminal. 946 commands auto-generated
  from the OpenAPI spec — every API endpoint is a CLI command.
metadata:
  author: telnyx
  product: cli
  requires:
    bins:
      - telnyx
    env:
      - TELNYX_API_KEY

Telnyx CLI

The Telnyx CLI provides command-line access to the entire Telnyx API. Every API endpoint maps to a CLI command — 946 commands covering messaging, voice, numbers, IoT, AI, and more.

Installation

# Homebrew (macOS/Linux)
brew install telnyx/tap/telnyx

# Go install
go install github.com/team-telnyx/telnyx-go/cmd/telnyx@latest

# Or download a binary from GitHub releases:
# https://github.com/team-telnyx/telnyx-go/releases

Authentication

export TELNYX_API_KEY="KEY..."

The CLI reads `TELNYX_API_KEY` from your environment. Set it once in your shell profile.

Command Discovery

The CLI is fully self-documenting. Use `--help` at any level to explore:

# Top-level resource list
telnyx --help

# Commands for a specific resource
telnyx messages --help

# Full usage for a specific command
telnyx messages send --help

Command Structure

Commands follow a consistent pattern:

telnyx <resource> <action> [--flag value ...]

Resources match API paths. Actions are `list`, `create`, `get`, `update`, `delete`, and resource-specific verbs.

Common Operations

Send an SMS

telnyx messages send \
  --from +15551234567 \
  --to +15559876543 \
  --text "Hello from the CLI"

List phone numbers

telnyx phone-numbers list --page-size 25

Search for available numbers

telnyx available-phone-numbers list \
  --country-code US \
  --state CA \
  --features sms

Order a phone number

telnyx number-orders create \
  --phone-numbers +15551234567

Make an outbound call

telnyx calls dial \
  --connection-id 1234567890 \
  --from +15551234567 \
  --to +15559876543

List SIM cards

telnyx sim-cards list --page-size 10

Create an AI assistant

telnyx ai:assistants create \
  --name "Support Agent" \
  --instructions "Help customers with their orders"

Check account balance

telnyx balance retrieve

Output Formats

# Default: human-readable table
telnyx phone-numbers list

# JSON output for scripting
telnyx phone-numbers list --format json

# Pipe to jq for filtering
telnyx phone-numbers list --format json | jq '.data[].phone_number'

When to Use CLI vs SDK

| Use case | Recommended | |----------|-------------| | Quick one-off operations | CLI | | Shell scripts and automation | CLI | | Application code | SDK (Python, JS, Go, Java, Ruby) | | Interactive exploration | CLI | | CI/CD pipelines | CLI or SDK | | Complex business logic | SDK |