bluebubbles-cli

bluebubbles-cli is a terminal-first BlueBubbles CLI.

It focuses on real workflows: chats, messages, server operations, and clean output (table, wide, json).

Install

npm install -g bluebubbles-cli

From source:

bun install
bun run build
bun link

Development

bun run check
bun test
bun run test:commands
bun run build

Run from source:

bun run dev -- --help

Output controls:

bluebubbles contacts list
bluebubbles chats list -o wide
bluebubbles messages list --chat 'iMessage;+;chat123' -o wide
bluebubbles chats list -o json

Human-readable output (columnify) is the default:

NAME            PHONE             EMAIL
Alex Rivera     +1-555-0100       alex@example.com
Taylor Kim      +1-555-0199       taylor@example.com

messages list uses the same default table style:

GUID                        FROM       TEXT                          AGE   CHAT
4b2f...e91                  me         hello from bluebubbles        2m    iMessage;+;chat123
9aa1...77c                  +1555...   sounds good, see you soon     8m    iMessage;+;chat123

messages list -o wide includes extra columns:

GUID                        FROM       TEXT                          AGE   CHAT                     FROM_ME   ATTACHMENTS   CREATED_AT              CHAT_NAME
4b2f...e91                  me         hello from bluebubbles        2m    iMessage;+;chat123      yes       0             2026-04-12 21:08:14     Weekend Plans
9aa1...77c                  +1555...   sounds good, see you soon     8m    iMessage;+;chat123      no        1             2026-04-12 21:02:07     Weekend Plans

JSON output is available with -o json or --json:

{
  "ok": true,
  "data": [
    {
      "displayName": "Alex Rivera",
      "phoneNumbers": [{ "address": "+1-555-0100" }],
      "emails": [{ "address": "alex@example.com" }]
    }
  ]
}

For messages:

bluebubbles messages list --chat 'iMessage;+;chat123'
bluebubbles messages list --chat 'iMessage;+;chat123' -o wide
bluebubbles messages list --chat 'iMessage;+;chat123' --json

-o wide affects table output only. JSON output remains the full payload (-o json / --json).

Pagination defaults are conservative for message-heavy commands:

• bluebubbles messages list defaults to --limit 50
• bluebubbles chats messages <guid> defaults to --limit 50

Query and filter examples

Get all messages for one conversation in pages:

bluebubbles messages list --chat 'iMessage;+;chat123' --limit 50 --offset 0 --json
bluebubbles messages list --chat 'iMessage;+;chat123' --limit 50 --offset 50 --json
bluebubbles messages list --chat 'iMessage;+;chat123' --limit 50 --offset 100 --json

Filter by date window (epoch seconds):

bluebubbles messages list --chat 'iMessage;+;chat123' --after 1710000000 --before 1710086400 --json

Common filters:

bluebubbles messages list --chat 'iMessage;+;chat123' --text 'invoice' --limit 50 --json
bluebubbles messages list --chat 'iMessage;+;chat123' --from '+15551234567' --not-from-me --json
bluebubbles messages list --chat 'iMessage;+;chat123' --from-me --has-attachments --json

Common filters are applied client-side to the returned page. Use --where for raw server-side filtering.

Advanced filtering via raw API where clauses:

bluebubbles messages list \
  --where '[{"statement":"message.text LIKE :q","args":{"q":"%hello%"}}]' \
  --limit 50 \
  --json

Conversation endpoint alternative:

bluebubbles chats messages 'iMessage;+;chat123' --limit 50 --offset 0 --json
bluebubbles chats messages 'iMessage;+;chat123' --after 1710000000 --before 1710086400 --json

Command shape

bluebubbles ping
bluebubbles server info
bluebubbles server open
bluebubbles server status
bluebubbles server logs
bluebubbles server logs --source api
bluebubbles chats list
bluebubbles messages send --chat <guid> --message "hello"
bluebubbles messages schedule list
bluebubbles handle availability <address>
bluebubbles attachment download <guid>
bluebubbles contact query --address user@example.com
bluebubbles icloud account

Verbose diagnostics:

bluebubbles messages list --chat 'iMessage;+;chat123' --verbose

--verbose prints request/response diagnostics to stderr. You can also set BLUEBUBBLES_VERBOSE=1.

Request timeout defaults to 10000ms and can be overridden with BLUEBUBBLES_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS.

Configuration

Persist config:

bluebubbles config set baseUrl http://localhost:1234
bluebubbles config set password your-server-password

Or use environment variables:

export BLUEBUBBLES_BASE_URL=http://localhost:1234
export BLUEBUBBLES_PASSWORD=your-server-password

If your password contains shell-special characters (for example #), quote it:

export BLUEBUBBLES_PASSWORD='your#server#password'

Docs

Docs are served via Scalar and deployed to GitHub Pages.

bun run docs:dev
bun run docs:validate

GitHub Pages workflow publishes scalar/index.html at:

https://anmho.github.io/bluebubbles-cli/

test:commands is local-only by design. It exercises all registered CLI commands and can skip unavailable API/local prerequisites in tolerant mode. It uses the same auth sources as normal CLI runs (BLUEBUBBLES_* env vars or persisted bluebubbles config values).

The API Reference tab renders from docs/openapi.yaml, which is a pinned copy of the official BlueBubbles OpenAPI source:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Jish2/bluebubbles-sdk/main/openapi.yaml