Vapi CLI
Overview
The Vapi CLI is the official command-line interface that brings world-class developer experience to your terminal and IDE. Build, test, and deploy voice AI applications without leaving your development environment.
In this guide, you’ll learn to:
- Install and authenticate with the Vapi CLI
- Initialize Vapi in existing projects
- Manage assistants, phone numbers, and workflows from your terminal
- Forward webhooks to your local development server
- Turn your IDE into a Vapi expert with MCP integration
Installation
Install the Vapi CLI in seconds with our automated scripts:
macOS/Linux
Windows
Docker
Quick start
Key features
🚀 Project integration
Drop Vapi into any existing codebase with intelligent auto-detection:
Supports React, Vue, Next.js, Python, Go, Flutter, React Native, and dozens more frameworks.
🤖 MCP integration
Turn your IDE into a Vapi expert with Model Context Protocol:
Your IDE’s AI assistant (Cursor, Windsurf, VSCode) gains complete, accurate knowledge of Vapi’s APIs and best practices. No more hallucinated code or outdated examples.
🔗 Local webhook testing
Forward webhooks to your local server for debugging:
Important: vapi listen
is a local forwarder only - it does NOT provide a public URL. You need a separate tunneling service (like ngrok) to expose the CLI’s port to the internet. Update your webhook URLs in Vapi to use the tunnel’s public URL.
🔐 Multi-account management
Switch between organizations and environments seamlessly:
📱 Complete feature parity
Everything you can do in the dashboard, now in your terminal:
- Assistants: Create, update, list, and delete voice assistants
- Phone numbers: Purchase, configure, and manage phone numbers
- Calls: Make outbound calls and view call history
- Workflows: Manage conversation flows (visual editing in dashboard)
- Campaigns: Create and manage AI phone campaigns at scale
- Tools: Configure custom functions and integrations
- Webhooks: Set up and test event delivery
- Logs: View system logs, call logs, and debug issues
Common commands
Assistant management
Phone number management
Call operations
Debugging and logs
Configuration
The CLI stores configuration in ~/.vapi-cli.yaml
. You can also use environment variables:
Auto-updates
The CLI automatically checks for updates and notifies you when new versions are available:
Next steps
Now that you have the Vapi CLI installed:
- Initialize a project: Add Vapi to your existing codebase
- Set up MCP: Enhance your IDE with Vapi intelligence
- Test webhooks locally: Debug webhooks with tunneling services
- Manage authentication: Work with multiple accounts
Resources: