Send from CLI

You can use Bitwarden Send with command-line interface (CLI) commands. Because Send is a feature within the Bitwarden Password Manager, many of the commands, options, and concepts in the Password Manager CLI documentation are relevant here.

Send's --help text *Send's --help text *

send

The send command is the master command used to access all Send-related subcommands:

bw send [options] [command] <data>

The send command can also be used as a shortcut to quickly create a Send, for example:

bw send "Fastest Send in the West."

will create a text Send with the contents Fastest Send in the West. and output the Send link. Or, for example:

bw send -f <path/to/file.ext>

will create a file Send with the specified file at the specified path and output the Send link.

Options:

  • Use -n <name> or --name <name> to specify a name for the Send. If none is specified, name will default to the id for text Sends and file name for file Sends. For multi-word names, use quotations "<name>".
  • Use -d <days> or --deleteInDays <days> to specify a deletion date for the Send (defaults to seven days if unspecified).
  • Use --maxAccessCount or -a to specify the maximum access count for the Send.
  • Use --hidden to specify that a text Send require recipients to toggle visibility.
  • Use --notes <notes> to add private notes to the Send. For multi-word notes, use quotations "<notes>".
  • Use --fullObject to output the full Send object as JSON rather than only the Send link (pair this option with the --pretty option for formatted JSON).

Full example:

bw send -n "My First Send" -d 7 --hidden "The contents of my first Send."

create

The create command creates a Send. create allows more advanced configuration than using only bw send and takes encoded JSON for its argument:

bw send create [options] <encodedJson>

A typical workflow might look something like:

  1. Use the template command (see details) to output the appropriate JSON template for your Send type.
  2. Use a command-line JSON processor like jq to manipulate the outputted template as required.
  3. Use the encode command (see details) to encode the manipulated JSON.
  4. Use the create command to create a Send from the encoded JSON.

For example, to create a text Send:

bw send template send.text | jq '.name="My First Send" | .text.text="Secrets I want to share."' | bw encode | bw send create

For example, to create a password-protected file Send:

bw send template send.file | jq '.name="My File Send" | .type=1 | .file.fileName="paperwork.png" | .password="p@ssw0rd"' | bw encode | bw send create

For example, to create a password-protected file Send with an explicit deletion date. This example is broken out by operating system due to the way .deletionDate= should be specified:

🪟 Windows

$delDate = (Get-Date).AddDays(14) | date -UFormat "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ"

bw send template send.text | jq ".name=\`"My Send\`" | .text.text=\`"Secrets I want to share.\`" | .password=\`"password\`" | .deletionDate=\`"$delDate\`"" | bw encode | bw send create

Notice in this example that the jq invocation must be wrapped in double quotes (" ") and use escapes (\) for each filter due to a nested date variable that configures a .deletionDate in the send.

🍎 macOS

bw send template send.text | jq ".name=\"My Send\" | .text.text=\"Secrets I want to share.\" | .password=\"mypassword\" | .deletionDate=\"$(date -uv+14d +"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ")\"" | bw encode | bw send create

Notice in this example that the jq invocation must be wrapped in double quotes (" ") and use escapes (\) for each filter due to a nested date variable that configures a .deletionDate in the send.

🐧 Linux

bw send template send.text | jq ".name=\"My Send\" | .text.text=\"Secrets I want to share.\" | .password=\"mypassword\" | .deletionDate=\"$(date "+%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ" -d "+14 days")\"" | bw encode | bw send create

Notice in this example that the jq invocation must be wrapped in double quotes (" ") and use escapes (\) for each filter due to a nested date variable that configures a .deletionDate in the send.

Options:

  • Use --file <path> to specify the file to Send (this can also be specified in encoded JSON).
  • Use --text <text> to specify the text to Send (this can also be specified in encoded JSON).
  • Use --hidden to specify that a text Send require recipients to toggle visibility.
  • Use --password <password> to specify the password needed to access password-protected.
  • use --emails <emails> to specify the email addresses of recipients to enforce email-verification. This is a premium feature.
  • Use --fullObject to output the full Send object as JSON rather than only the Send link (pair this option with the --pretty option for formatted JSON).

get

The get command will retrieve a Send owned by you and output it as a JSON object. get takes an exact id value or any string for its argument. If you use a string, get will search your Sends for one with a value that matches:

bw send get [options] <id / string>

If you create a Send in another Bitwarden app while this session is still active, use the bw sync command to pull recent Sends. For more information, refer to our CLI documentation.

Options:

  • Use --text to output only the text contents of a text Send.
  • Use --file to output only the file of a file Send. Pair --file with --output to specify a directory, or with --raw to output to stdout.
  • Use --output <output> to specify the output directory for the --file option.

edit

The edit command edits an existing Send. edit takes encoded JSON for its argument:

bw send edit <encodedJson>

A typical workflow might look something like:

  1. Use the get command (see details) to retrieve the desired Send according to its <id>.
  2. Use a command-line JSON processor like jq to manipulate the retrieved Send as required.
  3. Use the encode command (see details) to encode the manipulated JSON.
  4. Use the edit command to write the edits to the send.

For example:

bw send get <id> | jq '.name="New Name" | .password=null' | bw encode | bw send edit

Options:

  • Use --itemid <itemid> to overwrite the id value provided of the Send with a new one.

[!TIP] Can't edit a Send's file. You can't edit a file Send's file. To do this, you will need to delete the Send and re-create it with the appropriate file.

list

The list command will list all Sends owned by you and output them as JSON:

bw send list [options]

If you create a Send in another Bitwarden app while this session is still active, use the bw sync command to pull recent sends. For more information, refer to our CLI documentation.

Options:

  • Use --pretty to format the JSON the output.
  • Pipe stdout to a file using the > operator, for example:
bw send list --pretty > /Users/myaccount/Documents/pretty_list_of_sends.json

delete

The delete command will delete a Send owned by you. delete takes only an exact id value for its argument.

bw send delete <id>

[!TIP] Finding a Send's id. If you don't know the exact id of the Send you want to delete, use bw send get <search term> to find it.

template

The template command returns the expected JSON formatting for a Send object. template takes an <object> specification for its argument, either send.text or send.file.

bw send template <object>

While you can use template to output the format to your screen, the most common use-case is to pipe the output into a bw send create operation, using a command-line JSON processor like jq and bw encode to manipulate the values retrieved from the template, for example:

bw send template send.text | jq '.name="My First Send" | .text.text="Secrets I want to share."' | bw encode | bw send create

receive

The receive command accesses a Send. receive takes a Send <url> for its argument:

bw send receive [options] <url>
  • For text Sends, receive will return the text contents of the Send.
  • For file Sends, receive will download the file to the current working directory.

Options:

  • Use --password <password> to provide the password needed to access password-protected Sends as a string.
  • Use --passwordenv <passwordenv> to specify the password needed to access password-protected Sends as a stored environment variable.
  • Use --passwordfile <passwordfile> to specify the password needed to access password-protected Sends as a file with the password as its first line.
  • Use --obj to output the full Send object as JSON rather than only the Send link (pair this option with the --pretty option for formatted JSON).
  • Use --ouput <output> to specify the output directory for the contents of a file Send.

To receive a Send that requires email-verification, you will be prompted to enter your email address, and then the verification code send to that email address. For example:

$ bw send receive <Send URL>
? Enter your email address:
? Enter the verification code send to your email: