outboundctl alerts

outboundctl alerts lets you see and answer connection alerts from Terminal, for example over SSH or from a script you trust. Each answer goes through Outbound’s background agent and is handled exactly as if you had answered in the alert panel. The agent answers only for the user it runs as, so run these commands as that user, without sudo.

alerts list and alerts answer are refused when outboundctl changes is Off in Settings › Security.

Listing waiting alerts

outboundctl alerts list

Each waiting alert is one line: its id, its revision, the app, the destination and port, the transport, how many seconds are left and, when the alert answers itself at the deadline, whether it will then be allowed or denied. An alert that can only decide this one connection is marked [once only]. With nothing waiting, the command prints “No alerts are waiting for an answer.”

3F2C…  revision 2  Example App → example.com:443 tcp  41s left, then denied

Destinations follow the disclosure policy: you see the website domain, not the full host name. Add --output json for the same list as structured data.

Answering an alert

outboundctl alerts answer <id> allow|deny --revision <n> [lifetime]

--revision is required: pass the revision alerts list showed. If the alert has changed since then, it is left alone and the command exits 65 with “The alert changed since it was listed. Run outboundctl alerts list and answer its current revision.” That way an answer always applies to the alert you saw.

Choose at most one lifetime. Without one, the answer decides this connection only.

Lifetime	What it remembers
--once	This connection only (the default)
--until-quit	Until the app quits
--until-logout	Until you log out
--until-restart	Until the Mac restarts
--for 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 1d or 1w	For that long
--forever	Saves a rule

Allowing asks for Touch ID or your password while unblocking is protected, as the alert panel does. When the settings lock protects rule editing, only --once is accepted.

A successful answer prints “Allowed the connection.” or “Denied the connection.”, and names the rule it saved, if any.

Exit	When
0	The answer was applied
1	The filter did not accept the answer and the alert is still waiting, or the connection was decided but its rule was not saved
65	The alert changed, was already answered, or can only be answered --once
66	No waiting alert has that id
69	The background agent is unavailable, or the request was cancelled. Nothing changed; try again
75	The alert expired, or the filter is not connected and the answer will apply when it reconnects
77	Command-line changes are off, you are not the agent’s user, the settings lock allows only --once, or Touch ID or your password was not given

If the agent stops or the connection closes before the answer finishes, the command exits 69. Run outboundctl alerts list to check whether the alert is still waiting.

Previewing an explanation

outboundctl alerts explain <id> [--provider openai|anthropic|gemini|openrouter|custom|agent:<id>] [--model <id>] [--base-url <url>]

Prints the exact request an explanation of that alert would send, after the disclosure policy is applied. It sends nothing and does not answer the alert. Without --provider, it uses the provider chosen in Settings › Intelligence; with Apple Intelligence chosen, it prints “On-device explanation: nothing is sent off this Mac.” followed by the facts the model would read.

Upload spikes

outboundctl alerts spikes lists the upload spikes Outbound detected recently. It only reads, and never blocks an app.