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 create --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 create \
  --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 create \
  --connection-id 1234567890 \
  --from +15551234567 \
  --to +15559876543

List SIM cards

telnyx sim-cards list --page-size 10

Create an AI assistant

telnyx assistants create \
  --name "Support Agent" \
  --model telnyx_ai

Check account balance

telnyx balance get

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