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Get started with the Paubox CLI

The Paubox CLI is a command-line tool that lets your team send encrypted email and submit Paubox form responses directly from a terminal or script. It's designed for developers, IT admins, and ops teams who want to use Paubox inside scripts and automated workflows instead of (or alongside) the Paubox dashboard.

How the Paubox CLI works

The CLI runs locally on a developer or admin's machine. After a one-time login with their Paubox API credentials, they can run commands like paubox send to send encrypted email and paubox status to check delivery and open status. Credentials are stored in the operating system's secure credential store, so the API key doesn't sit in plain text in scripts or environment files.

Under the hood, the CLI sends every message through the same Paubox encrypted email service that handles mail from the Paubox dashboard and the Email API. Messages containing protected health information are protected the same way they would be from any other Paubox interface, consistent with your account settings and your BAA with Paubox.


Who it's for

The CLI is available to customers with Email API access. It's designed for technical users:

  • Developers integrating Paubox into internal tools or one-off scripts

  • IT admins automating routine email tasks

  • Ops teams pulling data from another system and triggering encrypted email based on it

The CLI is an alternative interface to the Email API. It's not a separate product or tier.


When to use the CLI

Common uses:

  • Scripted reminders or notifications — pull tomorrow's appointments from a scheduling system and loop through them to send encrypted reminders

  • One-off encrypted sends from a terminal — send a quick HIPAA compliant message without logging into the dashboard

  • CI/CD or scheduled jobs — fire off encrypted notifications when a job completes, a report is ready, or a system event triggers

  • Form submissions from scripts — submit Paubox form responses programmatically alongside other automation


For embedding encrypted email inside a product or customer-facing application, the Paubox Email API is usually the better fit. The CLI is built for operators and scripts; the API is built for product integration.


What you need to get started

  • A Paubox account with Email API access and an API key

  • Node.js version 20.12 or later installed on the machine running the CLI

  • The CLI installed via npm, Homebrew, or the Windows Package Manager

For installation steps, authentication, command syntax, and full troubleshooting, see the Paubox CLI developer documentation.