Password ManagerBitwarden Send

Send from CLI

Bitwarden Send is available as a set of fully-featured CLI commands. This article documents the breadth of bw send commands, however Send is not a separate tool from the Bitwarden command-line Interface (CLI). Therefore, many of the commands, options, and concepts in the

CLI documentation
are relevant here.

Send's --help text

send

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

Bash
bw send [options] [command] <data>

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

Bash
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:

Bash
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:

Bash
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:

Bash
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:

Bash
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:

Bash
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:

Bash
$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.

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 --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:

Bash
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:

Bash
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:

Bash
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.

note

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:

Bash
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:

    Bash
    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.

Bash
bw send delete <id>
tip

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.

Bash
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:

Bash
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:

Bash
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.