GitHub - wildsurfer/your-mail-mcp: Self-hosted, read-only MCP server that serves IMAP mail from a local notmuch index over authenticated HTTP
Your mail already holds the answers: booking references, gate codes, invoices, warranty periods, promises people made in writing. This server lets your AI assistant find them, and it can only read.
**Ask it things like:**
- "Find the booking reference for the June ferry."
- "What was the wifi password the hotel sent last summer?"
- "What did the accountant answer about VAT, and when?"
- "Collect everything between me and the builder about the roof, in order, and summarize who promised what."
- "What arrived this morning, across all my accounts, that actually needs me?"
**Use it for:**
- **Search that understands questions.** Full-text search over your whole history, every account in one index, phrased the way you think.
- **Triage from your phone.** A morning summary of what came in overnight, with junk already filtered out, from wherever you are.
- **Mail as context for other work.** Pull the client's requirements out of the thread and into your coding or writing session.
- **Agents you can leave running.** The process has no path that sends, deletes or moves a message. A malicious email that reaches your assistant gets read, and that is all that can happen to it. Scheduled digests and always-on agents are a calm thing to run.
Setup is two files and `docker compose up -d`. See Quick start.
How it works
[](https://github.com/wildsurfer/your-mail-mcp#how-it-works)
A self-hosted MCP server. It mirrors one or more IMAP accounts into a local maildir with mbsync, indexes them with notmuch, and answers tool calls from that index. The Claude and ChatGPT apps attach over HTTPS with OAuth; Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Claude Desktop attach over stdio on the same machine.
[](https://github.com/wildsurfer/your-mail-mcp/blob/main/docs/diagrams/how-it-works.png)
Mail only ever moves left to right in that picture. The mirror is pull-only by configuration. The one connection the Go code makes toward a provider is an IMAP `LIST` per account, to learn what that server calls its junk and trash folders; it never selects a mailbox and never fetches a message. Security has the full list of what the process cannot do. The diagram source is `docs/diagrams/how-it-works.html`.
Quick start
[](https://github.com/wildsurfer/your-mail-mcp#quick-start) On your machine, for your machine. Docker is the only requirement; the image at `ghcr.io/wildsurfer/your-mail-mcp` is built by CI for amd64 and arm64.
mkdir your-mail && cd your-mail curl -fsSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wildsurfer/your-mail-mcp/main/compose.yaml curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wildsurfer/your-mail-mcp/main/accounts.example.json -o accounts.json
Put your accounts in `accounts.json`. `${WORK_PASS}` is replaced from the environment, so the file itself holds no password:
{ "accounts": [ { "name": "work", "host": "imap.gmail.com", "user": "you@example.com", "password": "${WORK_PASS}" }, { "name": "personal", "host": "imap.mail.me.com", "user": "you", "password": "${PERSONAL_PASS}" } ] }
Put the passwords in `.env` next to `compose.yaml`:
.env
WORK_PASS=your-gmail-app-password PERSONAL_PASS=your-icloud-app-specific-password
`compose.yaml` passes `WORK_PASS` and `PERSONAL_PASS` into the container. An account with another variable name needs that name added under `environment:` there as well.
Two provider details cost people the most time. Gmail accepts only an app password over IMAP, and app passwords need 2-step verification turned on first. iCloud wants the short name before `@icloud.com` as `user`; the full address fails to log in. Every key of the file is in the reference.
These two files hold your mail passwords. Keep the directory out of version control and out of backups that leave the machine.
docker compose up -d docker compose logs -f # watch the first sync
Today's INBOX mail is searchable within minutes. The full history follows at whatever pace the provider allows, and the `status` tool reports how far it has got. A large Gmail account takes days, because Google caps IMAP downloads at about 2.5GB per day; set `SYNC_TIMEOUT=8h` in `.env` for that first mirror. Provider notes has the details.
Then connect a client. Claude Code:
claude mcp add your-mail -- docker exec -i your-mail-mcp your-mail-mcp stdio
Cursor and VS Code add it in one click, once the stack is up:
Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex and other stdio clients Any client that starts an MCP server as a command:
{ "command": "docker", "args": ["exec", "-i", "your-mail-mcp", "your-mail-mcp", "stdio"] }
Each session is a bridge into the running container, so every client sees the same index and the same sync. Close the client and the session goes with it.
Claude Code can also take it as a plugin, which adds the server and an `email` skill that knows the query syntax:
``` /plugin marketplace add wildsurfer/your-mail-mcp /plugin install your-mail@your-mail-mcp ```
Without a running stack, `docker run -i --rm --env-file .env -v index:/index -v mail:/mail -v ./accounts.json:/config/accounts.json:ro ghcr.io/wildsurfer/your-mail-mcp` starts a daemon for the life of one session. Fine for a look; use compose for anything you want kept fresh.
Use it from your phone
[](https://github.com/wildsurfer/your-mail-mcp#use-it-from-your-phone)
The Claude and ChatGPT smartphone apps reach a connector through the vendor's servers, so the server needs a public HTTPS address. A tunnel gives it one: the tunnel dials out, nothing listens on your home network, and the mail stays on your machine.
With Tailscale installed, one command, the same on macOS and Linux:
tailscale funnel --bg 8080
It prints a hostname like `https://your-machine.your-tailnet.ts.net`, and `--bg` keeps it running across reboots. Put that hostname in `.env` together with a passphrase, then restart:
.env
PUBLIC_URL=https://your-machine.your-tailnet.ts.net OAUTH_PASSPHRASE=pick-a-long-one-you-can-type-on-a-smartphone
docker compose up -d
`OAUTH_PASSPHRASE` is the only credential between the internet and your mail. A wrong guess costs one second and guesses are serialised, and neither of those saves a short passphrase. Use a long one you can still type on a phone.
Funnel needs HTTPS certificates and the Funnel node attribute enabled for your tailnet; the CLI offers to add the policy line the first time. `tailscale funnel status` shows what is exposed, and `tailscale funnel --https=443 off` takes it down.
Now add the connector. Neither the Claude nor the ChatGPT smartphone app can add one, so you do it once on the web, and it then appears on the phone.
1. On claude.ai or in Claude Desktop, open **Settings → Connectors** and add a custom connector. 2. Give it a name and the URL `<PUBLIC_URL>/mcp`. Leave the advanced OAuth fields empty; the server registers clients itself. 3. Claude opens the consent page. Enter your `OAUTH_PASSPHRASE`. 4. Open the Claude app on your phone. The connector is already there; turn it on for a conversation from the tools menu in the composer.
`PUBLIC_URL` has to match what you type into the client exactly. The server publishes `PUBLIC_URL + /mcp` as the `resource` in its OAuth metadata, and a mismatch there is the most common reason a connector refuses to add.
Cloudflare Tunnel instead of Tailscale, on your own domain Use this for a hostname on a domain you own. `mail.example.com` below has to be **your** domain, already added to your Cloudflare account; Cloudflare does not hand out hostnames for named tunnels.
cloudflared tunnel login cloudflared tunnel create your-mail
`create` prints the tunnel's UUID and the path of the credentials file it wrote; `cloudflared tunnel list` prints the UUID again if you lose it. Route the hostname, then write `~/.cloudflared/config.yml`:
cloudflared tunnel route dns your-mail mail.example.com
tunnel: your-mail credentials-file: /Users/you/.cloudflared/f9e2….json # the path create printed url: http://localhost:8080
cloudflared tunnel run your-mail
To keep it running: on Linux, `sudo cloudflared service install`. On macOS, install it through Homebrew and use `brew services start cloudflared`, because the `sudo` install path looks for its certificate under the root user's home and will not find the one `cloudflared tunnel login` wrote to yours.
Then set `PUBLIC_URL=https://mail.example.com` in `.env` and `docker compose up -d`.
ChatGPT, and Claude Code or Codex from another machine **ChatGPT.** Custom MCP connectors live behind developer mode, which needs a Pro, Plus, Business, Enterprise or Education account and is only available on the web.
1. In ChatGPT on the web, open **Settings → Security and login** and turn on **Developer mode**. On Business and Enterprise workspaces an admin may have to allow it first. 2. Add a connector for a remote MCP server with the URL `<PUBLIC_URL>/mcp` and OAuth as the authentication. ChatGPT supports dynamic client registration, so there is nothing to paste. 3. Approve the consent page with your `OAUTH_PASSPHRASE`. 4. Open ChatGPT on your phone and enable the connector in a chat.
These menus move. If the names above do not match what you see, look for developer mode in settings, then for the place that adds a connector by URL. ChatGPT disables some MCP write actions on mobile, which changes nothing here because this server has none.
**Claude Code:**
claude mcp add --transport http your-mail https://your-host/mcp
**Codex:**
codex mcp add your-mail --url https://your-host/mcp codex mcp login your-mail
Run it on a server
[](https://github.com/wildsurfer/your-mail-mcp#run-it-on-a-server)
Pick this when the mirror should stay up whether or not your machine is on. It costs a few dollars a month and one real trade-off: a full plaintext copy of your mail moves onto a rented disk, with the app passwords next to it. The install is the quick start plus a tunnel, on someone else's computer, and the box needs hardening before it holds your mail. Both are in docs/server.md.
The tools
[](https://github.com/wildsurfer/your-mail-mcp#the-tools) Eleven tools, all read-only:
| Tool | What it does | | --- | --- | | `search` | Search mail. Returns thread summaries as JSON. | | `ids` | Return the message ids matching a query. | | `files` | Return the maildir file paths matching a query. | | `count` | Count the messages matching a query. | | `show` | Show one message: headers and decoded body, as JSON. | | `thread` | Show the whole thread containing a message. Excludes junk/trash replies by default; set `include_excluded` to include them. | | `text` | Return the plain-text body of one message, converting HTML. | | `folders` | List accounts, their folders, index tags, and each account's last sync and last error. | | `refresh` | Sync every folder of one account or all accounts now, then reindex. Waits up to 20 seconds; if the pass is still running it says so. | | `status` | Sync health per account: first-sync completion, last sync, messages indexed, errors and backoff. | | `attachment` | One attachment or MIME part of a message, by part number from `show`. Images inline, text (JSON and XML included) as a marked block, other binaries as a signed download link. |
`search`, `ids`, `files` and `count` take a notmuch query (`from:`, `to:`, `subject:`, `tag:`, `folder:`, `date:2026-01-01..2026-06-30`, combined with and/or/not), an optional `account` to scope to one account, and can include junk and trash with `include_excluded`. Junk and trash are discovered per account over RFC 6154 SPECIAL-USE, so the exclusion works whatever those folders are named and in whatever language. While an account's mirror is still filling, these four tools prepend a note naming the account and how many messages are indexed so far.
Attachments are listed in `show` and `thread` and served by the `attachment` tool one part at a time: images inline up to 5MB, textual parts as marked text, and other binaries as a short-lived signed link to `GET /attachment/{id}/{part}` (a bearer token works there too). Without an HTTP listener, an oversized binary is saved under `/index/attachments/` and the tool returns the path to `docker cp`. That directory is capped at 1GB; the oldest files go first.
Why not one of the others
[](https://github.com/wildsurfer/your-mail-mcp#why-not-one-of-the-others) There are around forty email MCP servers on GitHub. Nearly all of them talk live IMAP and ship a send path, which is the opposite of both choices this server rests on. Two are close enough to name.
igor47/notmuchproxy is the nearest thing that already existed, and a large part of why this one has the shape it does. It reads a notmuch archive you keep up to date yourself, has no write path, and takes a bearer token or full OIDC. Its query validation, which rejects an unknown prefix with an explanation, is reimplemented here as `validateQuery`. Two things differ: it assumes you already run mbsync and notmuch, where this server generates the mbsync configuration, syncs every account in parallel and discovers junk and trash over IMAP; and it has no `account` parameter. If you already run a notmuch setup you are happy with, notmuchproxy is the smaller thing to deploy and you should use it instead of this.
hgn/mcp-server-notmuch is stdio only, so one client on one machine, and its handling of untrusted content is the best in the survey. The single `render()` chokepoint here, which marks every byte of mail text in one place so that no individual tool can forget to, comes from its `render.py`.
The full survey, including which claims were read in source and which were taken from a README, is in `docs/research/email-mcp-landscape.md`.
Security
[](https://github.com/wildsurfer/your-mail-mcp#security) Read this before you point it at a mailbox you care about.
**It cannot write.** The generated mbsync configuration for every account carries `Sync Pull`, `Create Near`, `Remove None`, `Expunge None`, and the program writes that file itself, so nothing in it can be edited into a push. The only IMAP operation in the Go code is `LIST`, issued per account at startup and hourly to find the junk and trash folders; an account with `exclude_folders` set by hand skips even that. The process has no path that sends, deletes, moves or tags a message, and nothing in it holds write access to any account.
**How proven this is.** One author, one operator, three real accounts: one iCloud and two Gmail. No third-party security review, and nobody else has deployed it. notmuchproxy has zero stars and a more convincing production story than this does.
**Passwords are plain text inside the container.** Account passwords come from the environment and are written at startup into a generated mbsync configuration at file mode `0600`. That file is not encrypted. Anything that can read the container's environment, or that file, can read them. Disk encryption, who can exec into the container and access to the host are the operator's responsibility; the server makes no claim of encrypting credentials at rest.
**One passphrase, one consent.**`OAUTH_PASSPHRASE` is checked in constant time and gates the whole server with a single shared secret. It is not a per-user credential system, and everyone holding the passphrase sees the whole mailbox. It does not encrypt anything at rest. Treat it and the mail passwords with the same care.
**A mailbox is a secret store.** Password resets, sign-in codes and magic links all arrive by mail, so read access alone is enough to take over accounts if it lands in the wrong hands or the wrong AI session. The read-only design and the untrusted-content markers remove the write path and the instruction channel; they do not make mail contents harmless. Connect clients you trust. Agent workflows that need their own inboxes need their own addresses, which is a different tool.
**A known gap.**`search`'s thread summaries include a display name for every message in a matching thread, which the sender controls. A message in a folder excluded by default (junk, trash) can still put its own attacker-chosen name in front of you this way, even though its body never does. `thread` and `show` are not subject to this. It is not fixed in this release.
For a server that faces the internet, docs/server.md lists the hardening steps in the order of how much each buys you.
Reference
[](https://github.com/wildsurfer/your-mail-mcp#reference)
- The accounts file: every key, with defaults.
- Environment variables: sync interval and timeout, listener address, `INIT_MIRROR`.
- Provider notes: iCloud, Gmail, Dovecot.
- Troubleshooting: the startup refusals, and why junk is sometimes not excluded.
- Without Docker: release binaries and what they shell out to.
- Running it on a server: install script, hardening, your own domain with Caddy.