https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli
signal-cli provides an unofficial commandline, JSON-RPC and dbus interface for the Signal messenger.
https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli
commandline dbus java json-rpc messaging signal signal-cli
Last synced: 8 months ago
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signal-cli provides an unofficial commandline, JSON-RPC and dbus interface for the Signal messenger.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli
- Owner: AsamK
- License: gpl-3.0
- Created: 2015-05-11T10:49:42.000Z (over 10 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2024-10-28T22:38:16.000Z (about 1 year ago)
- Last Synced: 2024-10-29T14:59:09.882Z (about 1 year ago)
- Topics: commandline, dbus, java, json-rpc, messaging, signal, signal-cli
- Language: Java
- Homepage:
- Size: 5.65 MB
- Stars: 3,200
- Watchers: 62
- Forks: 302
- Open Issues: 51
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
- Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md
- Funding: FUNDING.yml
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
- awesome-starred - AsamK/signal-cli - signal-cli provides an unofficial commandline, dbus and JSON-RPC interface for the Signal messenger. (java)
- awesome-cli-apps-in-a-csv - signal-cli - signal-cli provides an unofficial command-line, dbus and JSON-RPC interface for the Signal messenger. (<a name="chat"></a>Chat and instant messaging)
- awesome-repositories - AsamK/signal-cli - signal-cli provides an unofficial commandline, JSON-RPC and dbus interface for the Signal messenger. (Java)
- awesome-cli-apps - signal-cli - signal-cli provides an unofficial command-line, dbus and JSON-RPC interface for the Signal messenger. (<a name="chat"></a>Chat and instant messaging)
README
# signal-cli
signal-cli is a commandline interface for the [Signal messenger](https://signal.org/).
It supports registering, verifying, sending and receiving messages.
signal-cli uses a [patched libsignal-service-java](https://github.com/Turasa/libsignal-service-java),
extracted from the [Signal-Android source code](https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/tree/main/libsignal-service).
For registering you need a phone number where you can receive SMS or incoming calls.
signal-cli is primarily intended to be used on servers to notify admins of important events.
For this use-case, it has a daemon mode with JSON-RPC interface ([man page](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/blob/master/man/signal-cli-jsonrpc.5.adoc))
and D-BUS interface ([man page](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/blob/master/man/signal-cli-dbus.5.adoc)) .
For the JSON-RPC interface there's also a simple [example client](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/tree/master/client), written in Rust.
signal-cli needs to be kept up-to-date to keep up with Signal-Server changes.
The official Signal clients expire after three months and then the Signal-Server can make incompatible changes.
So signal-cli releases older than three months may not work correctly.
## Installation
You can [build signal-cli](#building) yourself or use
the [provided binary files](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/releases/latest), which should work on Linux, macOS and
Windows. There's also a [docker image and some Linux packages](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Binary-distributions) provided by the community.
System requirements:
- at least Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 21
- native library: libsignal-client
The native libs are bundled for x86_64 Linux (with recent enough glibc), Windows and MacOS. For other
systems/architectures
see: [Provide native lib for libsignal](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Provide-native-lib-for-libsignal)
### Install system-wide on Linux
See [latest version](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/releases).
```sh
export VERSION=
wget https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/releases/download/v"${VERSION}"/signal-cli-"${VERSION}".tar.gz
sudo tar xf signal-cli-"${VERSION}".tar.gz -C /opt
sudo ln -sf /opt/signal-cli-"${VERSION}"/bin/signal-cli /usr/local/bin/
```
You can find further instructions on the Wiki:
- [Quickstart](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Quickstart)
## Usage
For a complete usage overview please read
the [man page](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/blob/master/man/signal-cli.1.adoc) and
the [wiki](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki).
Important: The ACCOUNT is your phone number in international format and must include the country calling code. Hence it
should start with a "+" sign. (See [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_calling_codes) for a list
of all country codes.)
* Register a number (with SMS verification)
signal-cli -a ACCOUNT register
You can register Signal using a landline number. In this case, you need to follow the procedure below:
* Attempt a SMS verification process first (`signal-cli -a ACCOUNT register`)
* You will get an error `400 (InvalidTransportModeException)`, this is normal
* Wait 60 seconds
* Attempt a voice call verification by adding the `--voice` switch and wait for the call:
```sh
signal-cli -a ACCOUNT register --voice
```
Registering may require solving a CAPTCHA
challenge: [Registration with captcha](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Registration-with-captcha)
* Verify the number using the code received via SMS or voice, optionally add `--pin PIN_CODE` if you've added a pin code
to your account
signal-cli -a ACCOUNT verify CODE
* Send a message
```sh
signal-cli -a ACCOUNT send -m "This is a message" RECIPIENT
```
* Pipe the message content from another process.
uname -a | signal-cli -a ACCOUNT send --message-from-stdin RECIPIENT
* Receive messages
signal-cli -a ACCOUNT receive
**Hint**: The Signal protocol expects that incoming messages are regularly received (using `daemon` or `receive`
command). This is required for the encryption to work efficiently and for getting updates to groups, expiration timer
and other features.
## Storage
The password and cryptographic keys are created when registering and stored in the current users home directory:
$XDG_DATA_HOME/signal-cli/data/
$HOME/.local/share/signal-cli/data/
## Building
This project uses [Gradle](http://gradle.org) for building and maintaining dependencies. If you have a recent gradle
version installed, you can replace `./gradlew` with `gradle` in the following steps.
1. Checkout the source somewhere on your filesystem with
git clone https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli.git
2. Execute Gradle:
./gradlew build
2a. Create shell wrapper in *build/install/signal-cli/bin*:
./gradlew installDist
2b. Create tar file in *build/distributions*:
./gradlew distTar
2c. Create a fat tar file in *build/libs/signal-cli-fat*:
./gradlew fatJar
2d. Compile and run signal-cli:
```sh
./gradlew run --args="--help"
```
### Building a native binary with GraalVM (EXPERIMENTAL)
It is possible to build a native binary with [GraalVM](https://www.graalvm.org). This is still experimental and will not
work in all situations.
1. [Install GraalVM and setup the environment](https://www.graalvm.org/docs/getting-started/#install-graalvm)
2. Execute Gradle:
./gradlew nativeCompile
The binary is available at *build/native/nativeCompile/signal-cli*
## FAQ and Troubleshooting
For frequently asked questions and issues have a look at the [wiki](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/FAQ).
## License
This project uses libsignal-service-java from Open Whisper Systems:
https://github.com/WhisperSystems/libsignal-service-java
Licensed under the GPLv3: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html