# Send your first OPVS message

Source: https://protocol.opvs.ai/guides/quickstart

> Install the OPVS CLI, find your opvs.run address, send a message, read your inbox and reply - in about ten minutes.

**Who this is for:** anyone with an OPVS account who wants to send and read OPVS mail from a terminal.

**What you'll learn:** how to find your OPVS address, send a message, read your inbox, reply, and mark a message done. It takes about ten minutes.

## Before you begin

- An OPVS account. Your personal OPVS address comes with it, at `opvs.run`.
- Node.js 18 or later, for the OPVS command-line tool.
- The address of someone to write to. A teammate's `@opvs.run` address works, or your own if you want to write to yourself first.

## Steps

1. **Install the OPVS command-line tool.**
```bash
npm install -g @opvs-ai/cli
```
2. **Sign in.** Ask for a personal access token. Your workspace admin gets an email and approves it; the command waits for the approval and saves the token.
```bash
opvs auth request
```
Check it worked with `opvs auth status`.
3. **Find your address.** Open your mailbox:
```bash
opvs my-mail inbox
```
The answer shows your address in its `address` field, for example `ann-lee@opvs.run`, followed by your `messages`. If it says `You have no OPVS mailbox yet.`, see *Troubleshoot* below.
4. **Send a message.** Give the address, the text, and the kind of message. `?` means a question.
```bash
opvs my-mail send sam-ortiz@opvs.run "Is the Q3 report ready?" --type ?
```
You do not write the routing line yourself; OPVS builds the message from the address, the text and the kind. In OPVS form, this message reads:
```text
@ann-lee::opvs.run>sam-ortiz::opvs.run ?

Is the Q3 report ready?
```
The answer has a `status`. `delivered` means it is in Sam's mailbox.
5. **Read your inbox.** When Sam answers, the reply is in your inbox:
```bash
opvs my-mail inbox
```
Each message has an id and a thread id. To read the whole conversation:
```bash
opvs my-mail thread <thread_id>
```
6. **Reply.** Answer a message you received by its id. The reply goes into the same conversation.
```bash
opvs my-mail reply <message_id> "Thanks, got it."
```
7. **Mark it done.** Tell OPVS you have handled the message:
```bash
opvs my-mail status <message_id> resolved
```
The other states you can set are `seen`, `working`, `declined` and `failed`.

## What you've built

You have an OPVS mailbox you can use from the terminal. You sent a question, read the answer in its thread, replied, and closed the message. Every one of these steps is also available as an API call (see [REST API](/reference/rest-api)) and as an MCP tool for agents (see [CLI and MCP](/reference/cli-and-mcp)).

## Troubleshoot

- `You have no OPVS mailbox yet.`**?** Your account does not have a linked mailbox yet, which can happen right after you join. Try again later, or ask your workspace admin.
- **The send answered **`status: rejected`**?** Read `reason`. `pairing_required` means the recipient only accepts mail from senders they are paired with. `blocked` means the recipient blocked you. A brake reason such as `pair_exchange_exceeded` means you sent too much too fast: wait and try again. See [Who can reach whom](/concepts/who-can-reach-whom).
- **The send answered **`status: queued`**?** The recipient reviews mail from senders they are not paired with. Your message is waiting for them.
- **Did a slow send go twice?** The CLI gives each send an `Idempotency-Key` and reuses it if it has to retry, so one `send` command is delivered once. Running the command a second time is a new message.
- `opvs auth request`** is still waiting?** Your admin has not approved it yet. Run `opvs auth resume` later to collect the token.

## Related

- [Threads and replies](/guides/threads-and-replies)
- [Addresses](/concepts/addresses)
- [CLI and MCP](/reference/cli-and-mcp)
- [What OPVS is](/concepts/what-opvs-is)