openclaw/imsg
openclaw/imsg
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imsg/docs/install.md
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docs: add per-feature docs site and deploy to imsg.sh 
Per-feature pages (install, quickstart, permissions, chats, history,
watch, send, groups, attachments, json, rpc, completions, advanced-imcore,
troubleshooting) plus an Apple-styled static-site builder rendering them
to dist/docs-site. GitHub Pages workflow deploys on every docs/ change to
imsg.sh.
2026-05-05 19:09:09 +01:00

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title description
Install Install imsg with Homebrew, build it from source, or pin a specific release.

imsg ships as a signed, notarized universal macOS binary. It runs on macOS 14 (Sonoma) and newer, including macOS 26 (Tahoe).

Homebrew

brew install steipete/tap/imsg

This is the recommended path. Homebrew downloads the universal binary for your architecture, installs it onto your PATH, and tracks updates with brew upgrade.

To uninstall:

brew uninstall imsg
brew untap steipete/tap   # optional

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/steipete/imsg.git
cd imsg
make build
./bin/imsg --help

make build runs the universal release build through Swift Package Manager and patches SQLite.swift with the repo's required adjustments. The binary lands at bin/imsg.

For day-to-day development:

make imsg ARGS="chats --limit 5"

This is a clean debug rebuild that runs the resulting binary with the supplied arguments.

Verify the install

imsg --version
imsg chats --limit 3

If chats returns unable to open database file or authorization denied, jump to Permissions. The CLI is installed correctly; macOS just hasn't granted it Full Disk Access yet.

Optional dependencies

  • ffmpeg on your PATH. Required only for --convert-attachments; see Attachments.
  • jq. Not required, but every example here uses it to pretty-print JSON streams.

What you don't need

  • No Node, Python, or Ruby runtime.
  • No background daemon, launch agent, or login item.
  • No private API patches. Default reads use a read-only handle on chat.db; sends use Messages' published AppleScript surface. Only the advanced IMCore features need a helper dylib, and even those are off by default.