proton contacts

Every command under proton contacts, with the arguments and flags it takes. For these commands in use, see the guide.

Holds create, delete, export, get, groups, import, keys, list, merge and update.

create

Create a contact.

proton contacts create

proton contacts create --name 'Jane Roe' --email jane@example.com
proton contacts create --name 'Jane Roe' --email work:jane@acme.com --phone cell:+43123456 --anniversary 2015-06-20
proton contacts create --name 'Jane Roe' --email jane@example.com --phone '+43 660 1234567' --organization Acme

Flag	Description
--address stringArray	Set a postal address, as ADDRESS or KIND:ADDRESS (repeatable)
--anniversary string	Set the anniversary (e.g. 2015-06-20)
--birthday string	Set the birthday (e.g. 1990-01-31)
--email stringArray	Set an email address, as ADDRESS or KIND:ADDRESS (repeatable)
--first-name string	Set the given name
--gender string	Set the gender
--job-title string	Set the job title
--language string	Set the preferred language (e.g. de-AT)
--last-name string	Set the family name
--name string	Set the name shown in listings
--nickname string	Set the nickname
--note string	Set the note
--organization string	Set the organization
--phone stringArray	Set a phone number, as NUMBER or KIND:NUMBER (repeatable)
--role string	Set the role played in the organization
--timezone string	Set the time zone (e.g. Europe/Vienna)
--website stringArray	Set a website, as URL or KIND:URL (repeatable)

delete

Delete contacts.

proton contacts delete REF...

proton contacts delete jane

export

Write contacts out as .vcf files, or as one stream with –output -.

Named contacts are written; with none named, the whole address book is, narrowed by –keyword. Properties this tool has no flag for travel too, since the stored card goes out whole.

proton contacts export [REF...]

proton contacts export --output-dir ./address-book
proton contacts export jane --output jane.vcf
proton contacts export --output - > contacts.vcf

Flag	Description
--force	Overwrite a file that already exists
--keyword string	Match text in the name or the address
--output string	Write to this path, or - for stdout
--output-dir string	Write into this directory, keeping each item’s own name

get

Show one contact in full.

proton contacts get REF

proton contacts get jane@example.com
proton contacts get 'Jane Roe'

groups

Contact groups.

Holds add, create, delete, get, list, remove and update.

groups add

Add contacts to a group.

Proton groups addresses rather than people, so a colleague’s work address can be in a group while their personal one is not. Naming a contact means all of their addresses; –email narrows it to the ones you name, and then exactly one contact may be named.

proton contacts groups add REF CONTACT_REF...

proton contacts groups add Team jane

Flag	Description
--email stringArray	Act on this address only, rather than all of the contact’s (repeatable)

groups create

Create a contact group.

proton contacts groups create

proton contacts groups create --name Team
proton contacts groups create --name Family --color strawberry

Flag	Description
--color string	Accent color, by name (purple) or hex (#8080FF) (default #8080FF)
--name string	Group name

groups delete

Delete contact groups.

proton contacts groups delete REF...

proton contacts groups delete Team

groups get

Show one group and the addresses in it.

proton contacts groups get REF

proton contacts groups get Team

groups list

List contact groups.

proton contacts groups list

proton contacts groups list

groups remove

Remove contacts from a group.

Proton groups addresses rather than people, so a colleague’s work address can be in a group while their personal one is not. Naming a contact means all of their addresses; –email narrows it to the ones you name, and then exactly one contact may be named.

proton contacts groups remove REF CONTACT_REF...

proton contacts groups remove Team jane

Flag	Description
--email stringArray	Act on this address only, rather than all of the contact’s (repeatable)

groups update

Rename or recolor a contact group.

proton contacts groups update REF

proton contacts groups update Team --name Engineering
proton contacts groups update Team --color reef

Flag	Description
--color string	New accent color, as a hex value
--name string	New group name

import

Read contacts in from a .vcf file, or from stdin with -.

Each card goes in whole, so a property this tool has no flag for survives the trip. A card with no name and no address is skipped and named, since there would be nothing to file it under.

Nothing is merged: importing the same file twice makes duplicates, because nothing here can tell a re-import from a file somebody edited.

proton contacts import PATH

proton contacts import contacts.vcf
proton contacts import - < exported.vcf

keys

Public keys pinned to a contact.

Pinning a key means mail to that address is encrypted to the key you trust, rather than to whatever the server hands back.

Holds list, pin and unpin.

keys list

List the keys pinned to a contact.

proton contacts keys list REF

proton contacts keys list jane

keys pin

Pin a public key so mail to a contact is encrypted to it.

proton contacts keys pin REF

proton contacts keys pin jane --key jane-pubkey.asc
proton contacts keys pin jane --email jane@example.com --key - --no-encrypt

Flag	Description
--email string	Which of the contact’s addresses the key applies to
--key string	Armoured public key file (- for stdin)
--no-encrypt	Store the key for verification only, leaving encryption off
--scheme string	PGP scheme for recipients outside Proton: pgp-mime, pgp-inline

keys unpin

Remove the keys pinned to a contact.

proton contacts keys unpin REF

proton contacts keys unpin jane
proton contacts keys unpin jane --email jane@example.com

Flag	Description
--email string	Which of the contact’s addresses to unpin

list

List contacts.

proton contacts list

proton contacts list
proton contacts list --output json

Flag	Description
--desc	Reverse the order
--keyword string	Match text in the name or the address
--page int	Which page of results, counting from zero
--page-size int	How many contacts per page (default 50)
--sort string	Order by: name, email (default name)

merge

Fold duplicate contacts into one.

A shared address decides, compared case-insensitively; two entries merely sharing a name are not duplicates.

The oldest of each set is kept, so a group or a pinned key referring to it still does. Everything the others had is added, and nothing is overwritten.

proton contacts merge

proton contacts merge --dry-run
proton contacts merge

update

Change a contact’s details.

Only what you pass is replaced. –email and –phone replace the whole list rather than adding to it, so pass every address you want the contact to keep.

proton contacts update REF

proton contacts update jane --job-title 'Head of Design'
proton contacts update jane --email jane.roe@work.example --birthday 1990-04-16

Flag	Description
--address stringArray	Replace a postal address, as ADDRESS or KIND:ADDRESS (repeatable)
--anniversary string	Replace the anniversary (e.g. 2015-06-20)
--birthday string	Replace the birthday (e.g. 1990-01-31)
--email stringArray	Replace an email address, as ADDRESS or KIND:ADDRESS (repeatable)
--first-name string	Replace the given name
--gender string	Replace the gender
--job-title string	Replace the job title
--language string	Replace the preferred language (e.g. de-AT)
--last-name string	Replace the family name
--name string	Replace the name shown in listings
--nickname string	Replace the nickname
--note string	Replace the note
--organization string	Replace the organization
--phone stringArray	Replace a phone number, as NUMBER or KIND:NUMBER (repeatable)
--role string	Replace the role played in the organization
--timezone string	Replace the time zone (e.g. Europe/Vienna)
--website stringArray	Replace a website, as URL or KIND:URL (repeatable)

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Every command also takes the flags that work everywhere.