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Box CLI

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The Box CLI is a user-friendly command line tool which allows both technical and non-technical users to leverage the Box API to perform routine or bulk actions. There is no need to write any code, as these actions are executed through a set of commands.

Among other features, Box CLI includes the following functionality:

  • Bulk actions - A csv file can be used to execute commands in bulk, and each row of the spreadsheet is treated as an individual API call.
  • As-User header - Act on behalf of another user.
  • Search API - Search for files and folders in your Box Enterprise account.

Table of contents

Getting Started

CLI Installation

Installers are available for Windows and macOS. However, the raw source-code is available if you would like to build the CLI in other environments.

Windows & macOS Installers

To install the latest CLI on your machine, download the latest .exe for Windows or .pkg for macOS for the latest release.

Linux & Node install

Additionally, the CLI can be installed as a Node package on any platform, including Linux. For this to work, you will need to have Node JS installed on your machine.

npm install --global @box/cli

Quick Login with the Official Box CLI App

After installation, run box login to sign in. You will be prompted with three options:

  • [1] Official Box CLI App — No app setup required. Uses predefined scopes limited to content actions.
  • [2] Your own Platform OAuth app — Enter your Client ID and Client Secret for custom scopes or specific configuration.
  • [q] Quit — Exit the login flow.

You can also paste a Client ID directly at the prompt (any input between 16 and 99 characters is recognized as a Client ID).

Quick start — skip the prompt and go directly to authorization with the Official Box CLI App:

A browser window opens for authorization. Once you grant access, the CLI creates a new environment and you're ready to go. See the authentication docs for more details.

Platform App — run box login, choose [2], and enter your credentials from the Box Developer Console. See the Box CLI with OAuth 2.0 guide and the authentication docs for setup instructions.

CLI and Server Authentication with JWT

Alternatively, to get started with the Box CLI, download and install CLI, set up a Box application using Server Authentication with JWT and download the JSON configuration file from the Configuration page of your Platform App in the Box Developer Console following JWT CLI Guide. Then, set up the CLI by pointing it to your configuration file:

$ box configure:environments:add PATH_TO_CONFIG_FILE
Successfully added CLI environment "default"

If you manually generated your own private key to use with JWT authentication, you will need to point the CLI to the location of your private key file:

$ box configure:environments:add PATH_TO_CONFIG_FILE --private-key-path PATH_TO_PRIVATE_KEY --name ManualKey
Successfully added CLI environment "ManualKey"

Logout

To sign out from the current environment, run:

This revokes the access token on Box and clears the local token cache. For OAuth, run box login to authorize again. For CCG and JWT, a new token is fetched automatically on the next command. Use -f to skip the confirmation prompt, or --on-revoke-failure=clear / --on-revoke-failure=abort to control behavior when token revocation fails. See box logout for full details.

Secure Storage

The Box CLI uses secure storage to protect your sensitive data:

What is Stored Securely

  • Environment Configuration: Client IDs, client secrets, and enterprise IDs, private keys and public keys
  • Authentication Tokens: Access tokens and refresh tokens for all configured environments

Platform Support

Platform Secure Storage Installation Required
macOS Keychain Built-in
Windows Credential Manager Built-in
Linux Secret Service (libsecret) May require installation

Linux Installation

On Linux systems, you need to install libsecret-1-dev for secure storage.

Note: If libsecret is not installed, the CLI will automatically fall back to storing credentials in plain text files in ~/.box/. You can still use the CLI, but for security, we recommend installing libsecret.

Automatic Migration

When you upgrade to a version with secure storage support:

  • Existing plaintext credentials are automatically read
  • On the next token refresh or configuration update, credentials are migrated to secure storage
  • Old plaintext files are automatically deleted after successful migration
  • No manual action required!

Data Location

  • Secure Storage: Credentials stored in your OS keychain/credential manager
  • Fallback (if secure storage unavailable): ~/.box/box_environments.json and ~/.box/{environment}_token_cache.json

Usage

$ box --version
box-cli/0.0.0 darwin-x64 node-v10.10.0
$ box users:get --help
Get information about a Box user

USAGE
  $ box users:get [ID]

ARGUMENTS
  ID  [default: me] ID of the user to get; defaults to the current user

OPTIONS
  -h, --help                             Show CLI help
  -s, --save                             Save report to default reports folder on disk
  -t, --token=token                      Provide a token to perform this call
  -v, --verbose                          Show verbose output, which can be helpful for debugging
  -y, --yes                              Automatically respond yes to all confirmation prompts
  --as-user=as-user                      Provide an ID for a user
  --bulk-file-path=bulk-file-path        File path to bulk .csv or .json objects
  --csv                                  Output formatted CSV
  --fields=fields                        Comma separated list of fields to show
  --json                                 Output formatted JSON
  --no-color                             Turn off colors for logging
  --save-to-file-path=save-to-file-path  Override default file path to save report
$ box users:get
Type: user
ID: '77777'
Name: Example User
Login: user@example.com
Created At: '2016-12-07T17:30:40-08:00'
Modified At: '2018-11-15T17:33:06-08:00'
Language: en
Timezone: America/Los_Angeles
Space Amount: 10737418240
Space Used: 53569393
Max Upload Size: 5368709120
Status: active
Job Title: ''
Phone: ''
Address: ''
Avatar URL: 'https://app.box.com/api/avatar/large/77777'

Command Topics

Questions, Bugs, and Feature Requests?

Browse the issues tickets! Or, if that doesn't work, file a new one and someone will get back to you. If you have general questions about the Box API, you can post to the Box Developer Forum.

Versions

We use a modified version of Semantic Versioning for all changes. See version strategy for details which is effective from 30 July 2022.

Supported Version

Only the current MAJOR version of SDK is supported. New features, functionality, bug fixes, and security updates will only be added to the current MAJOR version.

A current release is on the leading edge of our SDK development, and is intended for customers who are in active development and want the latest and greatest features. Instead of stating a release date for a new feature, we set a fixed minor or patch release cadence of maximum 2-3 months (while we may release more often). At the same time, there is no schedule for major or breaking release. Instead, we will communicate one quarter in advance the upcoming breaking change to allow customers to plan for the upgrade. We always recommend that all users run the latest available minor release for whatever major version is in use. We highly recommend upgrading to the latest SDK major release at the earliest convenient time and before the EOL date.

Version schedule

Version Supported Environments State First Release EOL/Terminated
4 Node.js >= 18
3 Node.js >= 16 Supported 01 Feb 2022 TBD
2 EOL 14 Dec 2018 01 Feb 2022
1 EOL 01 Nov 2017 14 Dec 2018

Contributing to the Box CLI

  1. Clone this repo.
  2. Run npm install.
  3. Run npm test to ensure everything is working.
  4. Make the changes you want in the src/ directory. Be sure to add corresponding tests in the test/ directory!
  5. Create a pull request with your changes — we'll review it and help you get it merged.

For more information, please see the Contribution guidelines.

Copyright and License

Copyright 2018 Box, Inc. All rights reserved.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

This software includes third party libraries, which are distributed under their own licenses' terms; see LICENSE-THIRD-PARTY.txt for details.