CLI

papermark is the official command-line client. It wraps the same REST API the dashboard uses, with first-class support for piping, machine-readable output, and CI environments.

npm install -g papermark
papermark login
papermark documents list

When to use it (and when not to)

Use the CLI	Use the API directly
One-off scripts, cron jobs, CI tasks	A backend service in your stack
Scripted dataroom population for customers	A web UI you control
Per-customer link minting in a CRM workflow	A worker fleet running thousands of QPS
Local exploration ("what's in this dataroom?")	Anything performance-sensitive
Ad-hoc analytics pulls (`--json` then `jq`)

The CLI shells out to your local Node, so per-call overhead is on the order of 50–150 ms. Fine for scripts, not great for hot paths.

Command tree

Group	Purpose
`papermark login` / `logout` / `whoami`	Auth lifecycle
`papermark auth export` / `auth set`	Move credentials between machines
`papermark documents`	List, get, search, upload, delete documents
`papermark datarooms`	Create, list, configure datarooms; read viewers and aggregate analytics
`papermark links`	Create, list, get, delete share links (document- or dataroom-bound)
`papermark views`	Read view analytics for a link
`papermark config`	Per-machine settings (e.g. API URL override)
`papermark doctor`	Health checks: config, token, API reachability

Run any command with --help for the full flag list. The Commands page has per-command pages with examples.

Global flags

These work on every command:

Flag	Effect
`--json`	Force machine-readable JSON output. Auto-enabled when stdout is not a TTY (i.e., when piped).
`--dry-run`	Print the HTTP request that would be sent (with the token redacted) and exit `0`. Useful for debugging permissions and request shapes.
`--no-color`	Disable ANSI color. Equivalent to `NO_COLOR=1`.

Output is a contract

When you pass --json (or pipe to anything), the CLI emits a stable envelope:

{ "ok": true, "data": { … }, "meta": { "next_cursor": "…" } }

On failure:

{
  "ok": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "AUTH_INVALID",
    "message": "Token rejected.",
    "status": 401,
    "retryable": false,
    "doc_url": "https://papermark.com/docs/cli/output-contract#auth-invalid"
  }
}

Exit codes are tied to the error class — 2 for auth, 3 for validation, 4 for network, 1 for everything else, 5 for an internal CLI bug. See the output contract for the full table.

Install — Node 24 requirements, alternative install paths
Getting started — log in, run your first three commands
Authentication — env vars, credentials files, CI patterns
Output contract — every error code, every exit code

When to use it (and when not to)

Command tree

Global flags

Output is a contract

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