Twilio Cli Reference

by twilio8aba46fb65dcNo licenseListed Oct 8, 2026Updated Oct 8, 2026

Twilio CLI reference for managing Twilio resources from the terminal. Covers installation, credential profiles, phone number provisioning, sending SMS and email, webhook configuration, local development with a tunneling service, debugging with watch and logs, serverless deployment, and plugin ecosystem. Use when the developer asks to "just do it", "set this up", "run a command", mentions "CLI", "command line", or "terminal", or when an AI agent can execute a task directly instead of writing application code.

Instructions onlySoftware Development

AI-generated overview

Reference for using the Twilio CLI to manage Twilio resources from the terminal.

What it does: This skill is a reference document for the Twilio CLI, covering installation, authentication and credential profiles, phone number provisioning, sending SMS and email, webhook configuration, local tunneling, debugging and monitoring, serverless deployment, plugins, and regional routing. It provides command examples and notes on credential priority, output formatting, and CLI limitations. It produces guidance rather than executable artifacts; no scripts are included.
When to use it: Use it when a developer or agent wants to run Twilio operations directly from the terminal instead of writing application code, such as provisioning numbers, sending messages, configuring webhooks, or deploying serverless functions. It also helps when troubleshooting CLI behavior, profiles, or regional settings.
Requirements: The Twilio CLI must be installed (Homebrew, Scoop, apt, or npm) along with a Twilio account and credentials via login, profiles, or environment variables. Some features need additional plugins, a separately installed tunneling service such as ngrok, and a SENDGRID_API_KEY for email. Network access is required; the skill ships no scripts.

Overview

The Twilio CLI lets you manage Twilio resources, send messages, configure webhooks, and deploy serverless functions directly from the terminal. AI coding agents can use CLI commands to provision resources and test integrations without writing application code.

Install:

Platform	Command
macOS	`brew tap twilio/brew && brew install twilio`
Windows	`scoop bucket add twilio-scoop https://github.com/twilio/scoop-twilio-cli && scoop install twilio-cli`
Linux (apt)	See `twilio-cli/getting-started/install` for repo setup, then `apt install twilio`
npm	`npm install -g twilio-cli`

Update: brew upgrade twilio / scoop update twilio-cli / npm install -g twilio-cli@latest

Authentication & Profiles

bash

# First-time login — creates a local API key stored as a profiletwilio login
# Named profiles for multiple accountstwilio profiles:create --account-sid ACxxx --auth-token xxx --profile staging# Avoid --auth-token as a plain argument — it will be stored in shell history. Use TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN env var instead.twilio profiles:listtwilio profiles:use staging
# Run a single command against a different profiletwilio api:core:messages:list -p production
# Subaccount accesstwilio api:core:messages:list --account-sid ACxxx_SUBACCOUNT

# First-time login — creates a local API key stored as a profiletwilio login
# Named profiles for multiple accountstwilio profiles:create --account-sid ACxxx --auth-token xxx --profile staging# Avoid --auth-token as a plain argument — it will be stored in shell history. Use TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN env var instead.twilio profiles:listtwilio profiles:use staging
# Run a single command against a different profiletwilio api:core:messages:list -p production
# Subaccount accesstwilio api:core:messages:list --account-sid ACxxx_SUBACCOUNT

Credential priority: explicit -p/--account-sid flag > env vars (TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID, TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN) > active profile.

Phone Numbers

bash

# Search available numbers (US local, area code 415)twilio api:core:available-phone-numbers:local:list --country-code US --area-code 415
# Purchase a numbertwilio api:core:incoming-phone-numbers:create --phone-number "+14155551234"
# List owned numberstwilio phone-numbers:list
# Set webhooks on a numbertwilio phone-numbers:update +14155551234 \  --sms-url "https://example.com/sms" \  --voice-url "https://example.com/voice"

# Search available numbers (US local, area code 415)twilio api:core:available-phone-numbers:local:list --country-code US --area-code 415
# Purchase a numbertwilio api:core:incoming-phone-numbers:create --phone-number "+14155551234"
# List owned numberstwilio phone-numbers:list
# Set webhooks on a numbertwilio phone-numbers:update +14155551234 \  --sms-url "https://example.com/sms" \  --voice-url "https://example.com/voice"

Send SMS

bash

twilio api:core:messages:create \  --from "+14155551234" \  --to "+14155556789" \  --body "Your order has shipped."
# List recent messagestwilio api:core:messages:list --to "+14155556789" --limit 10

twilio api:core:messages:create \  --from "+14155551234" \  --to "+14155556789" \  --body "Your order has shipped."
# List recent messagestwilio api:core:messages:list --to "+14155556789" --limit 10

Send Email (SendGrid)

Requires SENDGRID_API_KEY environment variable.

bash

# Configure defaultstwilio email:set --from "[email protected]" --subject "Default Subject"
# Send emailtwilio email:send \  --to "[email protected]" \  --subject "Invoice attached" \  --text "Please find your invoice." \  --attachment ./invoice.pdf
# Pipe output as email bodyps aux | twilio email:send --to "[email protected]" --subject "Process list"

# Configure defaultstwilio email:set --from "[email protected]" --subject "Default Subject"
# Send emailtwilio email:send \  --to "[email protected]" \  --subject "Invoice attached" \  --text "Please find your invoice." \  --attachment ./invoice.pdf
# Pipe output as email bodyps aux | twilio email:send --to "[email protected]" --subject "Process list"

Webhook Development

bash

# Set webhook URLs on a numbertwilio phone-numbers:update +14155551234 --sms-url "https://your-tunnel-url.example.com/sms"
# Emulate webhook events locally (requires plugin)twilio plugins:install @twilio-labs/plugin-webhooktwilio webhook:invoke http://localhost:3000/sms --type sms

# Set webhook URLs on a numbertwilio phone-numbers:update +14155551234 --sms-url "https://your-tunnel-url.example.com/sms"
# Emulate webhook events locally (requires plugin)twilio plugins:install @twilio-labs/plugin-webhooktwilio webhook:invoke http://localhost:3000/sms --type sms

Local development: The CLI rejects localhost URLs directly. Tunneling services such as ngrok are not bundled with twilio-cli. install one separately, then set the public tunnel URL as your webhook.

** ngrok is NOT included in the CLI — install separately: npm install -g ngrok or via https://ngrok.com

Start tunnel: ngrok http 3000, then use the provided URL for webhook
configuration

Debugging & Monitoring

bash

# Debug logging on any command (logs to stderr)twilio api:core:messages:create --from +14155551234 --to +14155556789 --body "test" -l debug
# Real-time monitoring (requires plugin)twilio plugins:install @twilio-labs/plugin-watchtwilio watch                    # stream debugger alerts, calls, messages in real time
# Output formattingtwilio api:core:messages:list -o json             # JSON outputtwilio api:core:messages:list -o tsv              # tab-separatedtwilio api:core:messages:list --properties sid,status,direction  # select columnstwilio api:core:messages:list --limit 200         # override default 50-record cap

# Debug logging on any command (logs to stderr)twilio api:core:messages:create --from +14155551234 --to +14155556789 --body "test" -l debug
# Real-time monitoring (requires plugin)twilio plugins:install @twilio-labs/plugin-watchtwilio watch                    # stream debugger alerts, calls, messages in real time
# Output formattingtwilio api:core:messages:list -o json             # JSON outputtwilio api:core:messages:list -o tsv              # tab-separatedtwilio api:core:messages:list --properties sid,status,direction  # select columnstwilio api:core:messages:list --limit 200         # override default 50-record cap

Serverless Deployment

bash

twilio plugins:install @twilio-labs/plugin-serverless
# Create a new Functions projecttwilio serverless:init my-project --template blankcd my-project
# Local developmenttwilio serverless:start          # serves functions at localhost:3000
# Deploy to Twiliotwilio serverless:deploy

twilio plugins:install @twilio-labs/plugin-serverless
# Create a new Functions projecttwilio serverless:init my-project --template blankcd my-project
# Local developmenttwilio serverless:start          # serves functions at localhost:3000
# Deploy to Twiliotwilio serverless:deploy

Plugins

Plugin	What it does
`@twilio-labs/plugin-serverless`	Develop and deploy Twilio Functions and Assets
`@twilio-labs/plugin-dev-phone`	Test SMS/Voice without a real phone
`@twilio-labs/plugin-watch`	Real-time monitoring of debugger alerts, calls, messages
`@twilio-labs/plugin-token`	Generate client-side SDK tokens (Voice, Chat, Video)
`@twilio-labs/plugin-assets`	Upload static resources
`@twilio-labs/plugin-webhook`	Emulate webhook events for local testing
`@twilio-labs/plugin-flex`	Create, build, deploy Flex plugins

Regional & Edge Routing

bash

# Login to a specific regiontwilio login --region au1 --edge sydney
# Set edge globallytwilio config:set --edge=sydney
# Or via env varsexport TWILIO_REGION=au1export TWILIO_EDGE=sydney

# Login to a specific regiontwilio login --region au1 --edge sydney
# Set edge globallytwilio config:set --edge=sydney
# Or via env varsexport TWILIO_REGION=au1export TWILIO_EDGE=sydney

Supported: au1/sydney, ie1/dublin, jp1/tokyo. Each region uses a different Auth Token from your US1 credentials. Find yours in the Twilio Console under API keys & tokens, selecting your target region.

Configuration

bash

twilio config:list                          # show all settingstwilio config:set --edge=sydney             # set default edgetwilio config:set --require-profile-input   # prompt before using active profile

twilio config:list                          # show all settingstwilio config:set --edge=sydney             # set default edgetwilio config:set --require-profile-input   # prompt before using active profile

Config stored at ~/.twilio-cli/config.json.

Syntax notes:

Commands use spaces by default, using colon also works: twilio api core messages create = twilio api:core:messages:create
twilio [COMMAND] --help for any command's options
Multi-line: use \ for line continuation

CANNOT

Default list limit is 50 records — always pass --limit for larger result sets.
API timeout is 30 seconds — long-running operations may fail silently.
Cannot use localhost URLs for webhooks — use a tunneling service, such as ngrok, installed separately.
No autocomplete on Windows — only bash/zsh supported.
** ngrok is not bundled with twilio-cli**, install separately
Cannot send Twilio Email (comms API) via CLI — twilio email:send uses SendGrid only. For Twilio Email, use the REST API directly.

Next Steps

Account setup and API keys: twilio-account-setup, twilio-iam-auth-setup
Webhook architecture and signature validation: twilio-webhook-architecture
Debugging and observability: twilio-debugging-observability
Send SMS via API/SDK: twilio-send-message
SendGrid email setup: twilio-sendgrid-account-setup

Source and attribution

Source:twilio/aiinskills/twilio/twilio-cli-referenceat commit8aba46f

License: No license

Content belongs to its original authors. SourceWeft indexes it from a public repository.

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Twilio Cli Reference

Overview

Authentication & Profiles

Phone Numbers

Send SMS

Send Email (SendGrid)

Webhook Development

Debugging & Monitoring

Serverless Deployment

Plugins

Regional & Edge Routing

Configuration

CANNOT

Next Steps

Source and attribution

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Twilio Security Compliance Hipaa

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