CLI reference: contacts

Search, create, and update contacts across every Thunderbird address book. Part of the CLI reference.

Command	What it does
contacts books	List address books (for contacts create --book)
contacts list	List contacts
contacts search [query]	Search across all fields (name, emails, phone, org, title, address, note); omit the query to list all
contacts show <query>	Full details for one contact
contacts create --book <id>	Create a contact
contacts update <id>	Set or clear properties
contacts delete <id>	Delete a contact by card id
contacts lists	List mailing lists / groups (--book to scope)
contacts list-create --book <id> --name <n>	Create a mailing list (--nick-name, --desc)
contacts list-add --list <id-or-name> --contact <card-id>	Add a contact to a list
contacts list-remove --list <id-or-name> --contact <card-id>	Remove a contact from a list
contacts list-members <id-or-name>	List a mailing list’s members
contacts list-delete <id-or-name>	Delete a mailing list (contacts kept)

atbridge contacts search "ada" --pretty

Mailing lists let you address a whole group by name. Create one, add members, then just put the list name in --to — mail send/reply/forward and compose expand it to every member:

atbridge contacts list-create --book <book-id> --name "Team"
atbridge contacts list-add --list "Team" --contact <card-id>
atbridge mail send --to "Team" --subject "Standup notes" --text "…"   # → all members