imsg

imsg is a macOS CLI for Apple Messages that reads the local chat database and sends through Messages.app. It covers inbox inspection, live message streaming, and outbound texting from the shell.

• List recent chats, inspect message history, and filter messages by participants or time range.
• Stream new messages, attachments, and optional tapback reaction events as JSON lines for automations.
• Send texts, files, and tapback reactions to direct or group chats, or keep a stdio JSON-RPC process open for longer-lived workflows.

• --json output is implemented across the main read paths plus send and react acknowledgements, so agents can parse chats, messages, and event streams without scraping text.
• imsg rpc exposes chats, history, watch subscriptions, and send over JSON-RPC 2.0 on stdin/stdout, which fits subprocess-based agent loops well.
• Fit is local-Mac only: it depends on Messages.app state and macOS permissions, and reaction sending uses UI automation rather than a fully headless API.

• Requires macOS 14+, Messages signed in, and Full Disk Access to read ~/Library/Messages/chat.db.
• Sending needs Automation permission, SMS relay is optional for SMS, and react also depends on UI automation with Messages.app running.