@getdial/cli

The official command-line interface for Dial — a communication stack for AI agents. Provision phone numbers, send SMS, place AI voice calls, and react to inbound events, all from your terminal. The CLI wraps the Dial REST API so you never have to write HTTP code.

Installation

Install globally from npm:

npm install -g @getdial/cli

Or use the bootstrap script, which installs the CLI and walks you through sign-up:

curl -fsSL https://getdial.ai/install | bash

Requires Node.js 22+.

Quick start

dial signup [email protected]      # email a 6-digit sign-up code
dial onboard --code 123456 \     # verify the code and provision your account
  --inbound-instruction "You are my receptionist. Greet the caller and find out what they need."
dial doctor                      # check account state and what to do next

Once onboarded, your API key is saved locally and the CLI uses it automatically.

# Send an SMS
dial message --to +14155550123 --body "Hello from Dial"

# Place an AI voice call
dial call --to +14155550123 --outbound-instruction "You are a helpful scheduling assistant."

# Wait for an inbound event (e.g. a verification code)
dial wait-for message.received --field to=+14155550123

Commands

| Command | Description | | --- | --- | | dial doctor | Report account state and what to do next. | | dial signup <email> | Email a 6-digit sign-up code. | | dial onboard --code <code> | Verify the code and finish onboarding. | | dial number list | List the phone numbers on your account. | | dial number purchase | Purchase an additional phone number. | | dial number set <number> | Update a number's inbound instruction. | | dial message | Send an SMS. | | dial message list | List recent messages. | | dial message reply | Reply or react to a message. | | dial call | Place an outbound AI voice call. | | dial call list | List recent calls. | | dial call get <id> | Fetch a single call — status, duration, transcript. | | dial wait-for <event> | Block until a matching account event arrives. | | dial listen install | Install the background event daemon. | | dial listen status | Report the daemon's state and recent events. | | dial listen uninstall | Stop and remove the daemon. | | dial local-target add url <url> | Fan out events to a local HTTP endpoint. | | dial local-target add cmd <path> | Run an executable once per event. | | dial local-target list | List registered fan-out targets. | | dial local-target remove <id> | Unregister a fan-out target. | | dial mcp | Run a local stdio MCP server exposing every command as an agent tool. |

Run dial --help for the full command tree, or dial <command> --help for a specific command's flags. Every command accepts --json for machine-readable output (except dial mcp, which speaks JSON-RPC on stdout).

Configuration

| Variable | Description | | --- | --- | | DIAL_API_URL | Target a non-default Dial deployment. |

Your API key is stored at ~/.local/share/dial/auth.json (honoring XDG_DATA_HOME).

Use from an AI agent

The CLI ships with a skill that teaches AI coding agents how to drive dial. Install it into your agent's config during onboarding:

dial onboard --code 123456 --agent claude-code

Supported agents: claude-code, cursor, codex, opencode, pi, openclaw, nanoclaw, hermes.

Local MCP server

dial mcp runs a local Model Context Protocol server over stdio, exposing every command as an agent tool. Point a local MCP client at dial mcp as the server command — it reuses the API key saved by dial onboard (no OAuth, no config). It's the local counterpart to the hosted Remote MCP server, with the same operational tools plus the local-only verbs (signup, onboard, listen, local-target).

# Claude Code, for example
claude mcp add dial -- dial mcp

See the Local MCP docs for client setup.

Documentation

Full documentation lives at docs.getdial.ai — including the CLI reference and the listen service guide.

License

MIT