InboxTrue CLI

Command-line client for the InboxTrue email validation API. Requires Python 3.10 or newer.

Installation

Once published on PyPI, install the CLI with pipx:

pipx install inboxtrue

You can also install it with python -m pip install inboxtrue inside a virtual environment. Both inboxtrue and python -m inboxtrue run the CLI.

Authentication

Log in with a browser on the same machine:

inboxtrue login

Use inboxtrue login --no-browser to print the login URL without opening it. For Docker or SSH, approve the login in a browser on any device and paste the code it displays:

inboxtrue login --code

For scripts and CI, set INBOXTRUE_API_KEY to your API key. It takes precedence over the saved browser session.

inboxtrue logout forgets the local tokens. To revoke the session on the server, use Connected apps on the dashboard's /keys page.

Validate addresses

inboxtrue validate alice@example.com bob@example.com
inboxtrue validate --timeout 90 alice@example.com
inboxtrue validate - < emails.txt
inboxtrue credits

Input files contain one address per line; blank lines and lines starting with # are ignored. With no address arguments, validate reads standard input.

Output defaults to a table in a terminal and newline-delimited JSON when piped. Use --format json or --format table to select the format explicitly:

inboxtrue validate --format json alice@example.com
inboxtrue credits --format json

Validation costs one paid credit per checked address. Malformed addresses and checks that error out are free. Once paid credits run out, validations are free under a much lower rate limit. --timeout controls the mail-server wait per address, from 1 to 90 seconds; the default is 60 seconds.

Configuration

inboxtrue config get api_url
inboxtrue config set api_url https://api.inboxtrue.com
inboxtrue --version
inboxtrue --help

The default API URL is https://api.inboxtrue.com. config get shows the saved setting, which is empty until set. INBOXTRUE_API_URL overrides the saved setting.

Settings and credentials are stored under $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/inboxtrue, or ~/.config/inboxtrue when that variable is unset. Sessions are stored separately for each API URL. Files are restricted to the current user on POSIX; on Windows, credential privacy depends on the config directory's ACL.

Development

python -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install -e '.[dev]'
python -m pytest
python -m build
python -m twine check --strict dist/*

On Windows, activate with .venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1 in PowerShell instead. CI tests the installed package on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and checks the wheel built from the source distribution. Publishing is a separate manual step.

License

MIT.