3 signal-cli is a commandline interface
4 for
[libsignal-service-java](https://github.com/WhisperSystems/libsignal-service-java). It supports registering,
5 verifying, sending and receiving messages. To be able to link to an existing Signal-Android/signal-cli instance,
6 signal-cli uses a
[patched libsignal-service-java](https://github.com/AsamK/libsignal-service-java), because
7 libsignal-service-java does not yet
8 support
[provisioning as a linked device](https://github.com/WhisperSystems/libsignal-service-java/pull/21). For
9 registering you need a phone number where you can receive SMS or incoming calls.
11 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 D-BUS
12 interface (
[man page](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/blob/master/man/signal-cli-dbus.5.adoc)) and JSON-PRC interface (
[documentation](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/JSON-RPC-service)). For the JSON-RPC interface there's also a simple
[example client](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/tree/master/client), written in Rust.
16 You can [build signal-cli](#building) yourself or use
17 the
[provided binary files](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/releases/latest), which should work on Linux, macOS and
18 Windows. There's also a
[docker image and some Linux packages](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Binary-distributions) provided by the community.
22 - at least Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
17
23 - native library: libsignal-client
25 The native libs are bundled for x86_64 Linux (with recent enough glibc), Windows and MacOS. For other
27 see:
[Provide native lib for libsignal](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Provide-native-lib-for-libsignal)
29 ### Install system-wide on Linux
31 See
[latest version](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/releases).
34 export VERSION=<latest version, format "x.y.z">
35 wget https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/releases/download/v"${VERSION}"/signal-cli-"${VERSION}"-Linux.tar.gz
36 sudo tar xf signal-cli-"${VERSION}"-Linux.tar.gz -C /opt
37 sudo ln -sf /opt/signal-cli-"${VERSION}"/bin/signal-cli /usr/local/bin/
40 You can find further instructions on the Wiki:
42 - [Quickstart](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Quickstart)
43 - [DBus Service](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/DBus-service)
47 For a complete usage overview please read
48 the
[man page](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/blob/master/man/signal-cli.1.adoc) and
49 the
[wiki](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki).
51 Important: The ACCOUNT is your phone number in international format and must include the country calling code. Hence it
52 should start with a "+" sign. (See
[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_calling_codes) for a list
53 of all country codes.)
55 * Register a number (with SMS verification)
57 signal-cli -a ACCOUNT register
59 You can register Signal using a land line number. In this case you can skip SMS verification process and jump directly
60 to the voice call verification by adding the
`--voice` switch at the end of above register command.
62 Registering may require solving a CAPTCHA
63 challenge:
[Registration with captcha](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Registration-with-captcha)
65 * Verify the number using the code received via SMS or voice, optionally add
`--pin PIN_CODE` if you've added a pin code
68 signal-cli -a ACCOUNT verify CODE
72 signal-cli -a ACCOUNT send -m "This is a message" RECIPIENT
74 * Pipe the message content from another process.
76 uname -a | signal-cli -a ACCOUNT send --message-from-stdin RECIPIENT
80 signal-cli -a ACCOUNT receive
82 **Hint**: The Signal protocol expects that incoming messages are regularly received (using
`daemon` or
`receive`
83 command). This is required for the encryption to work efficiently and for getting updates to groups, expiration timer
88 The password and cryptographic keys are created when registering and stored in the current users home directory:
90 $XDG_DATA_HOME/signal-cli/data/
91 $HOME/.local/share/signal-cli/data/
95 This project uses
[Gradle](http://gradle.org) for building and maintaining dependencies. If you have a recent gradle
96 version installed, you can replace
`./gradlew` with
`gradle` in the following steps.
98 1. Checkout the source somewhere on your filesystem with
100 git clone https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli.git
106 2a. Create shell wrapper in *build/install/signal-cli/bin*:
108 ./gradlew installDist
110 2b. Create tar file in *build/distributions*:
114 2c. Create a fat tar file in *build/libs/signal-cli-fat*:
118 2d. Compile and run signal-cli:
120 ./gradlew run --args="--help"
122 ### Building a native binary with GraalVM (EXPERIMENTAL)
124 It is possible to build a native binary with
[GraalVM](https://www.graalvm.org). This is still experimental and will not
125 work in all situations.
127 1.
[Install GraalVM and setup the enviroment](https://www.graalvm.org/docs/getting-started/#install-graalvm)
128 2.
[Install prerequisites](https://www.graalvm.org/reference-manual/native-image/#prerequisites)
131 ./gradlew nativeCompile
133 The binary is available at *build/native/nativeCompile/signal-cli*
135 ## FAQ and Troubleshooting
137 For frequently asked questions and issues have a look at the
[wiki](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/FAQ)
141 This project uses libsignal-service-java from Open Whisper Systems:
143 https://github.com/WhisperSystems/libsignal-service-java
145 Licensed under the GPLv3: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-
3.0.html