IMAP Mini MCP Server

IMAP Mini MCP

A lightweight MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for reading IMAP email and creating draft replies. Works with any standard IMAP server (Gmail, Outlook, Fastmail, etc.) and local bridges like ProtonMail Bridge.

Agents can read, search, move, star, and organize emails, and compose drafts — but cannot send or delete emails.

See CHANGELOG.md for recently added features.

Workflow Recommendation

I highly recommend using a speech-to-text tool (e.g. SuperWhisper on Mac or Whisperflow on Windows) and connecting your AI desktop application (Claude, Codex, etc.) to this MCP server. That way you can converse with your email inbox using speech, which will dramatically speed up your workflow.

How to Use

Agent configuration

Add to your MCP client config (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "imap-mini-mcp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/imap-mini-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "IMAP_HOST": "imap.example.com",
        "IMAP_USER": "[email protected]",
        "IMAP_PASS": "your-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

The args path must point to the built dist/index.js. Add any optional variables to the env block as needed.

Environment variables

For most providers (Gmail, Outlook, Fastmail), the defaults work — just set host, user, and password.

For ProtonMail Bridge — all five settings below are required (the bridge listens on localhost without TLS, uses a self-signed certificate, and does not support STARTTLS):

IMAP_HOST=127.0.0.1
IMAP_PORT=1143
IMAP_SECURE=false
IMAP_STARTTLS=false
IMAP_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=false

Or as MCP client config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "imap-mini-mcp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/imap-mini-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "IMAP_HOST": "127.0.0.1",
        "IMAP_PORT": "1143",
        "IMAP_SECURE": "false",
        "IMAP_STARTTLS": "false",
        "IMAP_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED": "false",
        "IMAP_USER": "[email protected]",
        "IMAP_PASS": "your-bridge-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tools

Every email is identified by a composite id (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.<Message-ID>) that is globally unique and stable across folder moves. Use the id returned by find_emails to fetch content, download attachments, move emails, or create reply drafts. Action tools accept an optional mailbox hint for faster lookup; if omitted, all folders are searched.

`find_emails`

Search and filter emails. All parameters are optional — calling with no parameters returns all emails from INBOX, sorted newest-first.

Examples:

Other tools