First time with the Nylas CLI? nylas init is where everything starts.

The nylas init command walks you through setting up the Nylas CLI in four steps: creating or logging into your Nylas account, selecting or creating an application, generating an API key, and syncing your connected email accounts. If you already have an API key, pass --api-key to skip the interactive wizard.

Syntax

nylas init [--api-key KEY] [--region us|eu] [--google|--microsoft|--github]

Examples

Interactive guided setup:

nylas init
# Follow the 4-step wizard:
#   Step 1: Create account or log in
#   Step 2: Select or create application
#   Step 3: Generate API key
#   Step 4: Sync email accounts

Quick setup with existing API key:

nylas init --api-key nyl_abc123

Quick setup for EU region:

nylas init --api-key nyl_abc123 --region eu

Start with Google SSO:

nylas init --google

How It Works

The setup wizard detects your environment and offers the fastest path to a working CLI installation. On macOS it uses Keychain for credential storage, on Linux it uses Secret Service, and in Docker/CI it falls back to encrypted file storage.

Key Flags

Run nylas init --help to see all available flags. Add --json for machine-readable output — useful when piping into jq or feeding data to scripts.

nylas init --help

Common Issues

Wizard fails with 'non-interactive mode requires --api-key'
The wizard needs a terminal (TTY). In CI/CD or scripts, pass --api-key directly.

SSO browser window doesn't open
Copy the URL printed in the terminal and open it manually in your browser.

API key verification fails
Check the key at dashboard-v3.nylas.com. Ensure no extra whitespace when pasting.

Full docs: nylas init reference — all flags, advanced examples, and troubleshooting.

All commands: Nylas CLI Command Reference

Get started: brew install nylas/nylas-cli/nylas — other install methods