nextcloud-cli

nxcloud is a modern command-line client for self-hosted Nextcloud. Manage files, notes, calendar events, tasks, and contacts from the terminal — over HTTPS only, no desktop sync client required.

It speaks WebDAV via webdav4, CalDAV via caldav, CardDAV via raw httpx + vobject, and the Nextcloud Notes REST API via httpx. Credentials are stored in your OS keyring.

Features

• Files — list, upload, download, move, delete, mkdir, recursive search
• Notes — create, read, update, delete (Nextcloud Notes app required)
• Calendar — list calendars, list/create/edit/delete events, with attendees and organizer
• Tasks — list/create/complete/edit/delete VTODO items
• Contacts — list address books, list/get/export vCards
• Login wizard that validates the credentials with a PROPFIND and stores the password in the OS keyring (with a chmod 0600 JSON fallback)
• JSON output everywhere so you can pipe into jq and friends
• -h / --help available on every command and subcommand

Installation

pip install nextcloud-cli

Or from source:

git clone https://github.com/AlexMili/nextcloud-cli
cd nextcloud-cli
pip install -e .

The installed binary is nxcloud.

Login

Create a Nextcloud app password first (Settings → Security → App passwords), then:

nxcloud login

You'll only be prompted for what's missing. Values are resolved in this order:

1. CLI flag (--url, --username, --password, --timezone)
2. Environment variable (NEXTCLOUD_URL, NEXTCLOUD_USER, NEXTCLOUD_TOKEN, NEXTCLOUD_TIMEZONE)
3. Interactive prompt

So all of these work:

# Fully interactive
nxcloud login

# Mixed: URL from env, prompt for the rest
NEXTCLOUD_URL=https://nc.example.com nxcloud login

# Fully non-interactive (no prompts)
nxcloud login \
    --url https://nc.example.com \
    --username alice \
    --password 'app-pass-here' \
    --timezone Europe/Paris

You can also skip persistence entirely and rely on environment variables for every command:

export NEXTCLOUD_URL=https://nc.example.com
export NEXTCLOUD_USER=alice
export NEXTCLOUD_TOKEN=app-pass-here
export NEXTCLOUD_TIMEZONE=Europe/Paris
nxcloud check

To remove stored credentials:

nxcloud logout

Usage

Every command emits JSON on stdout for easy scripting. Use -h on any command or subcommand for built-in help.

Connectivity check

nxcloud check

Files

nxcloud files list --path /Documents
nxcloud files upload --local ./report.pdf --remote /Documents/report.pdf
nxcloud files download --remote /Documents/report.pdf --local ./report.pdf
nxcloud files move --src /tmp/a.txt --dst /archive/a.txt
nxcloud files mkdir --path /new-folder
nxcloud files delete --path /old.txt
nxcloud files search --query report --limit 20    # OCS unified search (server-side)

Notes (requires the Nextcloud Notes app)

nxcloud notes list
nxcloud notes list --category Work              # notes in the "Work" folder
nxcloud notes list --category "Work/Projects"   # nested folder (subdirectory)
nxcloud notes list --category=""                # only notes at the Notes/ root (no category)
nxcloud notes list --limit 10                   # cap the number of notes fetched
nxcloud notes get --id 941
nxcloud notes create --title "Meeting" --content "Q3 roadmap." --category Work
nxcloud notes edit --id 941 --title "Updated"
nxcloud notes delete --id 941

In the Nextcloud Notes app, category = folder: notes are stored as Markdown files under Notes/<category>/, and / separates subdirectories. --category matches exactly — --category Work does not include Work/Projects. Use --category="" to list only notes at the root.

Calendar

List calendars and events:

nxcloud calendar list
nxcloud calendar events --calendar Personal --start 2026-05-01 --end 2026-05-31

Date-range shortcuts (server-side filtering, in your configured timezone):

nxcloud calendar events --calendar Personal --today
nxcloud calendar events --calendar Personal --this-week     # current Mon → Mon
nxcloud calendar events --calendar Personal --next-week     # upcoming Mon → Mon
nxcloud calendar events --calendar Personal --this-month    # 1st → 1st of next month
nxcloud calendar events --calendar Personal --next-month
nxcloud calendar events --calendar Personal --next 7d       # also: 48h, 2w

Shortcuts are mutually exclusive with each other and with --start/--end.

Create an event with attendees and an organizer:

nxcloud calendar create \
    --calendar Work \
    --summary "Project sync" \
    --start 2026-07-01T14:00:00 \
    --end   2026-07-01T15:00:00 \
    --location "Room 4B" \
    --description "Quarterly review" \
    --organizer "Alice <alice@example.com>" \
    --attendee "Bob <bob@example.com>" \
    --attendee carol@example.com

--attendee is repeatable and accepts either a bare email or the Name <email> form.

Edit an event (including adding/removing invitees):

nxcloud calendar edit --calendar Work --uid <uid> --summary "New title"
nxcloud calendar edit --calendar Work --uid <uid> \
    --add-attendee "Dan <dan@example.com>" \
    --remove-attendee carol@example.com

Delete an event:

nxcloud calendar delete --calendar Work --uid <uid>

Search events server-side (CalDAV text-match). Combine with date filters:

nxcloud calendar search --calendar Work --query standup
nxcloud calendar search --calendar Work --query roadmap --in description
nxcloud calendar search --calendar Work --query "1:1" --this-week
# --in: summary | description | location | category | all  (default: summary)

Tasks (VTODO)

nxcloud tasks list
nxcloud tasks list --include-completed
nxcloud tasks create --summary "Review PR" --due 2026-07-05 --priority 1
nxcloud tasks complete --uid <uid>
nxcloud tasks edit --uid <uid> --summary "Updated summary"
nxcloud tasks delete --uid <uid>
nxcloud tasks search --query "deploy" --include-completed
nxcloud tasks search --query "fix" --in description --list Work
# --in: summary | description | category | all  (default: summary)

Contacts

nxcloud contacts list
nxcloud contacts cards --addressbook contacts
nxcloud contacts get --addressbook contacts --uid <uid>
nxcloud contacts export --addressbook contacts --uid <uid> --local ./alice.vcf
nxcloud contacts search --addressbook contacts --query alex
nxcloud contacts search --addressbook contacts --query "@example.com" --in email
# --in: name | email | phone | all  (default: all)

Configuration files

File	Purpose	Permissions
~/.config/nextcloud-cli/config.json	URL, username, timezone	0600
OS keyring (entry nextcloud-cli)	App password	OS-managed
~/.config/nextcloud-cli/secrets.json	Password fallback when no keyring backend is available	0600

Override the config directory with the NEXTCLOUD_CLI_HOME environment variable.

Help

-h and --help are wired up at every level:

nxcloud --help
nxcloud calendar --help
nxcloud calendar create --help

License

MIT