How do I install the Imsg skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add joelhooks-joelclaw/imsg in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Capability flags: makes network calls. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Imsg?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

joelhooks (@joelhooks-joelclaw) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Imsg by joelhooks-joelclaw — Agent Skill

Name: Imsg
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: joelhooks

File contents

iMessage

Read and send iMessages and SMS from the terminal via the imsg CLI.

Setup (Panda)

Messages.app signed in as: the agent Apple ID (see USER.md)
Joel's iMessage address: see USER.md → imessage
Full Disk Access must be granted to the terminal for read operations (chats, history, watch)
Automation permission for Messages.app required for send
imsg send returns "sent" optimistically — this means AppleScript fired, not delivery confirmed

Commands

List chats

imsg chats --limit 10 --json

Read history

imsg history --chat-id <id> --limit 20 --attachments --json

Watch for new messages

imsg watch --chat-id <id> --attachments

Send

# By email (iMessage)
imsg send --to "user@example.com" --text "hello"

# By phone number (iMessage or SMS)
imsg send --to "+18005551234" --text "hello"

# With file attachment
imsg send --to "user@example.com" --text "see attached" --file /path/to/file.jpg

Delivery Notes

"sent" from CLI = AppleScript successfully handed off to Messages.app
"Not delivered" in Messages.app = actual delivery failure (auth issue, recipient offline, etc.)
Full Disk Access missing = read commands fail with permissionDenied; send still works via AppleScript
Messages appear as coming from the agent Apple ID, not from Joel

Sending to Joel

Joel's iMessage address is in USER.md (imessage field). Use it to notify him directly:

imsg send --to "<joel-imessage>" --text "your message"

Safety

Read-only by default — use chats and history before sending
Always confirm recipient and message text before imsg send
--json flag preferred for all read operations (deterministic parsing)

Install

brew install steipete/tap/imsg

Credit

CLI by steipete. Adopted per ADR-0067.

---name: imsgdescription: iMessage/SMS CLI for listing chats, reading message history, watching for new messages, and sending messages. Triggers on: check messages, read imessage, send text, imsg, message history, sms, who texted me.--- # iMessage Read and send iMessages and SMS from the terminal via the `imsg` CLI. ## Setup (Panda) - **Messages.app signed in as**: the agent Apple ID (see USER.md) - **Joel's iMessage address**: see USER.md → `imessage` - Full Disk Access must be granted to the terminal for **read** operations (`chats`, `history`, `watch`) - Automation permission for Messages.app required for **send** - `imsg send` returns `"sent"` optimistically — this means AppleScript fired, not delivery confirmed ## Commands ### List chats ```bash imsg chats --limit 10 --json ``` ### Read history ```bash imsg history --chat-id <id> --limit 20 --attachments --json ``` ### Watch for new messages ```bash imsg watch --chat-id <id> --attachments ``` ### Send ```bash # By email (iMessage) imsg send --to "user@example.com" --text "hello" # By phone number (iMessage or SMS) imsg send --to "+18005551234" --text "hello" # With file attachment imsg send --to "user@example.com" --text "see attached" --file /path/to/file.jpg ``` ## Delivery Notes - `"sent"` from CLI = AppleScript successfully handed off to Messages.app - "Not delivered" in Messages.app = actual delivery failure (auth issue, recipient offline, etc.) - Full Disk Access missing = read commands fail with `permissionDenied`; send still works via AppleScript - Messages appear as coming from the agent Apple ID, not from Joel ## Sending to Joel Joel's iMessage address is in USER.md (`imessage` field). Use it to notify him directly: ```bash imsg send --to "<joel-imessage>" --text "your message" ``` ## Safety - Read-only by default — use `chats` and `history` before sending - Always confirm recipient and message text before `imsg send` - `--json` flag preferred for all read operations (deterministic parsing) ## Install ```bash brew install steipete/tap/imsg ``` ## Credit CLI by [steipete](https://github.com/steipete/imsg). Adopted per ADR-0067.

Frequently asked questions

Imsg