mirror of
https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli
synced 2025-08-28 18:10:38 +00:00
164 lines
6 KiB
Markdown
164 lines
6 KiB
Markdown
# signal-cli
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signal-cli is a commandline interface for the [Signal messenger](https://signal.org/).
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It supports registering, verifying, sending and receiving messages.
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signal-cli uses a [patched libsignal-service-java](https://github.com/Turasa/libsignal-service-java),
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extracted from the [Signal-Android source code](https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/tree/main/libsignal-service).
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For registering you need a phone number where you can receive SMS or incoming calls.
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signal-cli is primarily intended to be used on servers to notify admins of important events.
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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))
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and D-BUS interface ([man page](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/blob/master/man/signal-cli-dbus.5.adoc)) .
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For the JSON-RPC interface there's also a simple [example client](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/tree/master/client), written in Rust.
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signal-cli needs to be kept up-to-date to keep up with Signal-Server changes.
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The official Signal clients expire after three months and then the Signal-Server can make incompatible changes.
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So signal-cli releases older than three months may not work correctly.
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## Installation
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You can [build signal-cli](#building) yourself or use
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the [provided binary files](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/releases/latest), which should work on Linux, macOS and
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Windows. There's also a [docker image and some Linux packages](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Binary-distributions) provided by the community.
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System requirements:
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- at least Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 21
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- native library: libsignal-client
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The native libs are bundled for x86_64 Linux (with recent enough glibc), Windows and MacOS. For other
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systems/architectures
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see: [Provide native lib for libsignal](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Provide-native-lib-for-libsignal)
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### Install system-wide on Linux
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See [latest version](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/releases).
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```sh
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export VERSION=<latest version, format "x.y.z">
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wget https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/releases/download/v"${VERSION}"/signal-cli-"${VERSION}".tar.gz
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sudo tar xf signal-cli-"${VERSION}".tar.gz -C /opt
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sudo ln -sf /opt/signal-cli-"${VERSION}"/bin/signal-cli /usr/local/bin/
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```
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You can find further instructions on the Wiki:
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- [Quickstart](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Quickstart)
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## Usage
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For a complete usage overview please read
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the [man page](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/blob/master/man/signal-cli.1.adoc) and
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the [wiki](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki).
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Important: The ACCOUNT is your phone number in international format and must include the country calling code. Hence it
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should start with a "+" sign. (See [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_calling_codes) for a list
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of all country codes.)
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* Register a number (with SMS verification)
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signal-cli -a ACCOUNT register
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You can register Signal using a landline number. In this case, you need to follow the procedure below:
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* Attempt a SMS verification process first (`signal-cli -a ACCOUNT register`)
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* You will get an error `400 (InvalidTransportModeException)`, this is normal
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* Wait 60 seconds
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* Attempt a voice call verification by adding the `--voice` switch and wait for the call:
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```sh
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signal-cli -a ACCOUNT register --voice
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```
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Registering may require solving a CAPTCHA
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challenge: [Registration with captcha](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Registration-with-captcha)
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* Verify the number using the code received via SMS or voice, optionally add `--pin PIN_CODE` if you've added a pin code
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to your account
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signal-cli -a ACCOUNT verify CODE
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* Send a message
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```sh
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signal-cli -a ACCOUNT send -m "This is a message" RECIPIENT
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```
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* Send a message to a username, usernames need to be prefixed with `u:`
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```sh
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signal-cli -a ACCOUNT send -m "This is a message" u:USERNAME.000
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```
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* Pipe the message content from another process.
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uname -a | signal-cli -a ACCOUNT send --message-from-stdin RECIPIENT
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* Receive messages
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signal-cli -a ACCOUNT receive
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**Hint**: The Signal protocol expects that incoming messages are regularly received (using `daemon` or `receive`
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command). This is required for the encryption to work efficiently and for getting updates to groups, expiration timer
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and other features.
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## Storage
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The password and cryptographic keys are created when registering and stored in the current users home directory:
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$XDG_DATA_HOME/signal-cli/data/
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$HOME/.local/share/signal-cli/data/
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## Building
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This project uses [Gradle](http://gradle.org) for building and maintaining dependencies. If you have a recent gradle
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version installed, you can replace `./gradlew` with `gradle` in the following steps.
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1. Checkout the source somewhere on your filesystem with
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git clone https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli.git
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2. Execute Gradle:
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./gradlew build
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2a. Create shell wrapper in *build/install/signal-cli/bin*:
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./gradlew installDist
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2b. Create tar file in *build/distributions*:
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./gradlew distTar
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2c. Create a fat tar file in *build/libs/signal-cli-fat*:
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./gradlew fatJar
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2d. Compile and run signal-cli:
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```sh
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./gradlew run --args="--help"
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```
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### Building a native binary with GraalVM (EXPERIMENTAL)
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It is possible to build a native binary with [GraalVM](https://www.graalvm.org). This is still experimental and will not
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work in all situations.
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1. [Install GraalVM and setup the environment](https://www.graalvm.org/docs/getting-started/#install-graalvm)
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2. Execute Gradle:
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./gradlew nativeCompile
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The binary is available at *build/native/nativeCompile/signal-cli*
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## FAQ and Troubleshooting
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For frequently asked questions and issues have a look at the [wiki](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/FAQ).
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## License
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This project uses libsignal-service-java from Open Whisper Systems:
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https://github.com/WhisperSystems/libsignal-service-java
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Licensed under the GPLv3: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html
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