# Pocket Alert CLI 2.1: levels, exec, watch and an inbox in your terminal > The Pocket Alert CLI is rewritten and open source. Send with levels, buttons, images and schedules, wrap any command with exec, turn log lines into pushes with watch, and browse everything in a full-screen terminal UI. *17.10.2026* The first Pocket Alert CLI could send a title and a message. That was enough to prove the idea and not much more: no priority levels, no buttons, no scheduling, and nothing for the most common job of all, telling you when a long command finishes. Version 2 is a rewrite. It lives in its own repository under the MIT licence, installs with one command, and covers everything the API can do. Version 2.1, out today, adds `pocketalert ui`: a full-screen terminal app for your inbox, scheduled messages, applications, devices and webhooks. ![The Pocket Alert CLI inbox in the terminal](https://cdn.pocketalert.app/blog/pocketalert-cli-2-inbox.jpg) ## Install **macOS and Linux:** ```bash curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PocketAlert/cli/main/install.sh | sh ``` **Homebrew:** ```bash brew install pocketalert/tap/pocketalert ``` **Go:** ```bash go install github.com/PocketAlert/cli/cmd/pocketalert@latest ``` **Windows:** download [pocketalert_windows_amd64.zip](https://github.com/PocketAlert/cli/releases/latest/download/pocketalert_windows_amd64.zip) from the latest release and put `pocketalert.exe` on your PATH. Every release ships archives for macOS, Linux and Windows on Intel and ARM, with checksums. Then sign in once with an API key from [API Keys](/account/apikeys): ```bash pocketalert auth ``` The key is entered at a hidden prompt, checked against the API, and saved to `~/.pocketalert/config.json` with mode `600`. In CI, set `POCKETALERT_API_KEY` instead; it takes precedence over the saved key. ## Send, with everything the API offers The basic form is now two arguments: ```bash pocketalert send "Deploy finished" "v1.4.2 is live" ``` The message can come from stdin, so command output goes straight to your phone: ```bash df -h | pocketalert send "Disk report" ``` Everything else is a flag: - **Levels.** `-l silent|low|default|high|critical`, or `-2` to `2`. `critical` gets through Do Not Disturb on paid plans; free plans receive it as `high`. - **Scheduling.** `--at "2026-10-20 09:50"` in your account's timezone, or `--in 1d12h`. Up to 30 days ahead, on paid plans. `pocketalert scheduled list` and `scheduled cancel ` manage what is queued. - **Action buttons.** Up to three `--action type:label:value`, where the type is `view`, `http` or `copy`. On paid plans. - **Images.** `--image ./screenshot.png` or an `https://` URL. On paid plans. - **Targets.** `-a` for an application, `-d` for one device. - **Scripting.** `-q` prints only the message ID, and every command accepts `--json` for the raw API response. A failed deploy with all of it at once: ```bash pocketalert send "Deploy failed" "main@4f2c" -l critical \ --action "view:Open logs:https://ci.example.com/run/1" \ --action "http:Retry:https://ci.example.com/run/1/retry" \ --action "copy:Copy SHA:4f2c9e1" ``` An `http` button sends a POST by default. Write `http:Ack:GET https://…` for another method, or pass the full JSON form with headers and a body. ## exec: a push when a command ends The thing most people wrote a wrapper script for is now built in. `exec` runs a command, streams its output as usual, and sends a push when it ends: ```bash pocketalert exec -- ./backup.sh ``` The push title is the command with a ✓ or a ✗ and the exit code. The body has the duration, the host name and the last ten lines of output. Failures are sent at `high` unless you set a level, and the command's exit code is passed through, so `exec` is safe in scripts, cron and CI. ```bash pocketalert exec --on failure -l critical -- terraform apply -auto-approve pocketalert exec -t "Nightly import" --tail 20 -- python import.py ``` `--on` picks when to notify: `always`, `success` or `failure`. `--tail` sets how many lines of output to include, or `0` for none. ## watch: log lines as pushes `watch` reads lines from a pipe and sends them as notifications: ```bash tail -f app.log | grep --line-buffered ERROR | pocketalert watch -t "app errors" journalctl -fu nginx | pocketalert watch --batch 1m -l high ``` Lines that arrive within the batch window, five seconds by default, are grouped into one push with a line count in the title. A burst of two hundred errors costs one message from your daily allowance, not two hundred. ## pocketalert ui Run `pocketalert ui` and the terminal becomes a Pocket Alert client. Five tabs, switched with `tab` or `1` to `5`: Inbox, Scheduled, Applications, Devices and Webhooks. The **Inbox** lists messages with their level, application and time, unread ones marked with a dot. The pane on the right shows the selected message in full, including its action buttons and their targets. Search with `/`, show only unread with `u`, mark one read with `r` or all with `a`. New messages appear on their own while the app is open. ![A message with action buttons in the preview pane](https://cdn.pocketalert.app/blog/pocketalert-cli-2-actions.jpg) `n` opens the **composer**: title and message, then application, device, level, delivery time, image and up to three action buttons, each in the same `type:label:value` form as the `send` flags. `ctrl+s` sends. `f` on an existing message opens it in the composer again, to resend it or to use it as a template. ![Composing a new message in the terminal](https://cdn.pocketalert.app/blog/pocketalert-cli-2-compose.jpg) The other tabs manage the rest of the account. **Applications** shows each one with its default level; create, rename, change the level or delete without leaving the keyboard, and press `enter` to see that application's messages. **Devices** lists your phones and lets you rename or remove them. **Webhooks** lists your webhooks with their request history, and `y` copies a webhook URL. **Scheduled** shows what is queued and cancels it with `d`. ![Applications in the terminal UI](https://cdn.pocketalert.app/blog/pocketalert-cli-2-applications.jpg) Every destructive action asks first, and `?` shows all shortcuts. ## Managing the account from scripts The rest of the API is covered too, and every command takes `--json`: ```bash pocketalert usage # today's quota pocketalert messages list -n 20 pocketalert messages read --all pocketalert apps create -n "Production" -c "#EF4444" -l high pocketalert webhooks create -n Grafana -m "%title%: %message%" -l high pocketalert webhooks history --status error pocketalert devices rename "Work phone" ``` From the CLI you can now set a default level on applications and webhooks, and action buttons on webhooks with `%field.path%` placeholders filled from the payload, so a Grafana alert can arrive as `high` with a button that opens that exact panel. Shell completion for zsh, bash and fish comes with `pocketalert completion`. ## Upgrading from 1.x Install 2.1 with any of the methods above; it replaces the old binary and keeps your saved key. Three changes may affect existing scripts: - **A message is now required.** `pocketalert send -t "Cron OK"` without `-m` returns an error. Add a message, pipe one in, or use `exec`, which writes one for you. - **Don't mix the forms.** Use either `send "Title" "Message"` or `send -t "Title" -m "Message"`. `send -t "Title" "Message"` reads the second argument as a title and stops. - **Prefer `-m` for generated text.** A positional message that starts with a dash, such as a Markdown list from an AI agent, is read as an option. `-m "$text"` is always safe. Release archives are now named `pocketalert__.tar.gz`, `.zip` on Windows, if you download them in a provisioning script. Several bugs from 1.x are fixed along the way: `webhooks create` now respects `--application` and `--device`, webhook URLs point to the right host, errors go to stderr instead of stdout, non-Latin titles are no longer cut mid-character, and hitting the daily limit shows your usage and the reset time instead of a bare `429`. ## Where it fits The CLI is now the shortest path from a terminal to your phone, and the guides on this blog use it where it saves lines. For coding agents, the hook scripts in the [Claude Code](/blog/claude-code-push-notifications), [Codex](/blog/codex-notifications) and [Cline and Aider](/blog/cline-aider-notifications) guides can call `pocketalert send` instead of curl. For cron and CI, `exec` replaces most `|| curl` one-liners. [Install the CLI](/tools/cli), run `pocketalert auth`, and try `pocketalert ui`.