# First commands

Sign in once, then read your mail, move files in and out of Drive, check your calendar and pull a two-factor code. This is the five minutes from a fresh install to a useful command.

## Sign in

```console
$ proton account login
Email: you@proton.me
Password:
Two-factor code: 123456

✓ Signed in as you@proton.me.
```

That is the whole setup. Signing in saves the session **and** unlocks your keys, so your password is needed once on this machine and not again.

If there is no terminal to answer the prompts, name the account and point at a file holding the password. A password is never a flag value:

```bash
proton account login --user you@proton.me --password-file /run/secrets/proton
```

## Check where you stand

```console
$ proton account get
Email:       you@proton.me
Name:        Roman
Storage:     ━━━━━───────────────   26%  128.4 GB of 500.0 GB
Max Upload:  5.0 GB
Profile:     default
Session:     valid
Unlocked:    yes
ID:          Kd91mQxT…
```

## Run your first commands

```bash
proton mail messages list --unread
proton mail messages get "Invoice #2291"
proton drive items list /Documents
proton calendar events list
proton pass items get github.com
proton contacts list
```

Every command reads the same way, `proton <app> <collection> <verb>`, and anywhere one wants an ID, a subject, name, path or address works too.

That grammar is the whole trick: [learn it once](commands.md) and you can guess the rest.

## Turn on completion

Package installs come with it. For a script or manual install, run the line for your shell from [Shell completions](install.md#shell-completions). Tab then offers folder names, item types, and the IDs and subjects your last listing showed.

## Preview a change before making it

Every command that changes something takes `--dry-run`. It resolves references, applies filters, and shows you the rows it would touch:

```bash
proton mail messages trash --from newsletter@example.com --older-than 90d --dry-run
```

Anything that removes permanently, or removes what a filter picked out rather than what you named, shows those rows and asks first. See [Dry runs and confirmations](using/confirmations.md).

## Sign out

```bash
proton account logout             # forget the session on this machine
proton account logout --revoke    # and invalidate it at Proton
```

Revoking also makes the credentials saved on this machine useless, even to someone who already copied them.

## Where to go next

| Page | What it covers |
| --- | --- |
| [How a command is built](commands.md) | The grammar, and the verbs |
| [Mail](mail/README.md) · [Drive](drive/README.md) · [Calendar](calendar/README.md) · [Pass](pass/README.md) · [Contacts](contacts/README.md) | One guide per app, task by task |
| [Account](account/README.md) | Two accounts side by side, unattended sign-in, revoking a device |
| [Scripting](using/scripting.md) | Pipelines, `jq`, cron and systemd |
| [All commands](about/commands.md) | Every command in one table |
| [FAQ](about/faq.md) | Is this official? How does it differ from Bridge? Is my password safe? |