--to, including you. contact list marks you with self: true. MCP marks you (you).
id, firstName, lastName, email, phone, and free-form data. Pages are 50 by default, 100 at most. When next is set, fetch the rest with --after before you decide someone is missing. On MCP, pass after to contact_list.
The list is a directory, not a promise that a message will arrive. If delivery fails because they have no linked endpoint, invite them on that channel and retry after they connect.
Invite
An invite does not send the message for you, and it does not change who this computer is. You share the link.--via, the link opens a page that works for 3 days. They connect any channel you have set up and pick their default. Prefer this unless you already know the one channel they use.
--via telegram or --via slack skips the page and prints that channel’s link. It works for minutes, and that channel becomes their default. --async prints the link and returns.
Passing an email address invites them on email. The contact id comes from the address ([email protected] becomes carol, with a short suffix when carol is taken). They must click Verify this email before the agent can message that address.
--name is what contact list shows next to the id.
On MCP, contact_invite takes id and name and returns the page link only. To reach someone by email from MCP, put their address in to on inbox_send. The same verification rule applies.
After they connect or verify, address them with --to alice. Messages go to the default they picked unless you pass --via on send.
The same person on email and on Telegram can be two contacts. These docs do not cover merging them.