revenuecat-cli: driving RevenueCat from the terminal

rc is the official RevenueCat command line interface. It covers most of the same project, app, product, entitlement, offering, paywall, chart, and store-state operations as the RevenueCat MCP server (the CLI adds paywall generate/edit and paywall image/font upload; the MCP server has some SDK feature-gate and experiment tools the CLI does not). Use whichever surface is available; this skill is the reference for the CLI path.

Before the first command

The CLI needs a shell. Without one (for example in a chat app with only the MCP server), use MCP, or tell the user which rc command to run or which dashboard page to use.

1. Check it is installed: rc --version. If that fails, pick one:

   • Run without installing: npx @revenuecat/cli <command> everywhere rc appears below. Needs Node. Best for CI and agent sandboxes.
   • Install on macOS/Linux: brew install RevenueCat/tap/rc.
   • Install with npm: npm install -g @revenuecat/cli.

   Installing changes the user's machine, so ask before running brew or npm install -g. npx needs no permission beyond running the command.

2. Check it is logged in: rc auth status --json. The CLI does not share the MCP server's login. If no credential is active, ask the user to run rc auth login themselves: it opens a browser for OAuth. In CI, set RC_API_KEY or pass --api-key.

3. Check the project: pass --project-id <id>, or have the user set a default with rc projects use.

The CLI authenticates with a RevenueCat secret key (sk_...); that is correct because the CLI is a server-side tool. This is not the same as the public SDK keys (appl_/goog_/amzn_) you fetch for client app code. Never put a secret key in an app, and never ask the user to paste one into the chat.

Discover the surface

The CLI is self-describing. Don't guess a command or flag, ask the binary:

• rc commands --json lists the full command tree. Capability IDs appear in colon form (apps:create, products:store:plan).
• rc commands --schemas --json returns every command's flags, args, and examples in one call. This is the most reliable way for an agent to discover per-command detail.
• rc schema <command> --json returns detail for a single command, but the command must be space-separated tokens (rc schema apps create), not the colon form from rc commands. rc schema apps:create silently returns the root schema, so when in doubt use rc commands --schemas.
• rc --help and rc <noun> --help give human-readable help.

Output conventions

• --json gives stable, machine-readable output. Data goes to stdout, progress and chatter to stderr.
• The envelope is { "data": ... }, but the shape under data varies by command: lists are usually data.items[], though some commands use other keys (charts use data.names[]). Inspect the schema or the response rather than assuming data.items.
• --no-input never prompts, it fails instead. Use it in scripts, CI, and agents.
• --yes / -y skips confirmation prompts on mutating commands.
• --project-id <id> selects the project (or set a default with rc projects use). Pass it explicitly in scripts.
• Exit codes: 0 success, 1 error, 2 bad usage, 4 auth, 5 not found, 6 rate limited.

Common operations

Look up exact flags with rc commands --schemas --json (or rc schema <space-separated command>). The common nouns:

• Projects and apps: rc projects list|create|use, rc apps list|create|keys
• Catalog: rc products ..., rc entitlements ..., rc offerings ..., rc packages ...
• Store credentials and state: rc setup apple|google, rc products store plan|apply|sync
• Data: rc charts list|show, rc customers ...
• Paywalls: rc paywalls generate|edit|publish (dashboard design/audit playbook: revenuecat-paywall-design)
• Paywall media and fonts: rc media-assets list|upload <file>, rc fonts list|upload <file>. MCP cannot upload these; do not use the dashboard in a browser.
• Dashboard: rc open [section] [id] --print (resource URLs: revenuecat-dashboard-links)

Images: jpg/png/webp/avif/heic/heif, up to 2 MiB. Fonts: ttf/otf, up to 5 MiB. Write or generate the file on disk first, then pass that path. Confirm flags with rc schema media-assets upload / rc schema fonts upload.

Prefer the specific command. Drop to rc api <METHOD> <path> only for endpoints not yet in the CLI surface.