n24q02m/better-email-mcp

mcp-name: io.github.n24q02m/better-email-mcp

IMAP/SMTP email server for AI agents -- 6 composite tools with multi-account and auto-discovery

CI codecov npm Docker License: MIT

TypeScript Node.js IMAP/SMTP semantic-release Renovate

Sister projects from n24q02m (click to expand)

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better-email-mcp	IMAP/SMTP email server for AI agents -- 6 composite tools with multi-account ...	MCP
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Table of contents

• Features
• Status
• Documentation
• Tools
• Remote (HTTP Mode)
• Outlook OAuth Device Code (HTTP mode)
• Configuration
• Security
• Build from Source
• Trust Model
• License

Features

• Multi-account support -- manage 6+ email accounts (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud, Zoho, ProtonMail, custom IMAP)
• App Passwords -- no OAuth2 setup required for most providers; clone and run in 1 minute
• 6 composite tools with 20 actions -- search, read, send, reply, forward, organize, credential setup in single calls
• Auto-discovery -- provider settings detected from email address, custom IMAP host supported
• Thread-aware -- reply/forward maintains In-Reply-To and References headers
• Tiered token optimization -- compressed descriptions + on-demand help tool + MCP Resources

Status

2026-05-02 -- Architecture stabilization update

Past months saw significant churn around credential handling and the daemon-bridge auto-spawn pattern. This caused multi-process races, browser tab spam, and inconsistent setup UX across plugins. As of v<auto>, the architecture is stable: 2 clean modes (stdio + HTTP), no daemon-bridge layer, no auto-spawn from stdio.

Apologies for the instability period. If you encountered issues with prior versions, please update to v<auto>+ and follow the current Setup guide -- most prior workarounds are no longer needed.

Related plugins from the same author:

• wet-mcp -- Web search + content extraction
• mnemo-mcp -- Persistent AI memory
• imagine-mcp -- Image/video understanding + generation
• better-notion-mcp -- Notion API
• better-email-mcp -- Email management
• better-telegram-mcp -- Telegram
• better-godot-mcp -- Godot Engine
• better-code-review-graph -- Code review knowledge graph

All plugins share the same architecture -- install once, learn pattern transfers.

Documentation

Full docs at mcp.n24q02m.com/servers/better-email-mcp/:

• Setup -- install methods for Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor, Windsurf, mcp.json
• Modes overview -- stdio / local-relay / remote-relay / remote-oauth
• Multi-user setup -- per-JWT-sub credential model

Install with AI agent -- paste this to your AI coding agent:

Install MCP server better-email-mcp following the steps at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/n24q02m/claude-plugins/main/plugins/better-email-mcp/setup-with-agent.md

Tools

Tool	Actions	Description
messages	search, read, mark_read, mark_unread, flag, unflag, move, archive, trash	Search, read, and organize emails
folders	list	List mailbox folders
attachments	list, download	List and download email attachments
send	new, reply, forward	Compose, reply, and forward emails
setup	status, start, reset, complete	Credential setup via browser relay, status check, reset, re-resolve
help	-	Get full documentation for any tool

MCP Resources

URI	Description
email://docs/messages	Message operations reference
email://docs/folders	Folder operations reference
email://docs/attachments	Attachment operations reference
email://docs/send	Send/compose reference
email://docs/help	Full documentation

Remote (HTTP Mode)

Run as a multi-user HTTP server with OAuth 2.1 authentication:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "better-email": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://better-email-mcp.n24q02m.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Self-Hosting (HTTP Mode)

Single multi-user mode (relay form for App-Password providers + bundled Outlook OAuth device-code):

docker run -p 8080:8080 \
  -e PORT=8080 \
  -e PUBLIC_URL=https://your-domain.com \
  -e CREDENTIAL_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32) \
  n24q02m/better-email-mcp:latest

Users provide their own email credentials through the OAuth flow / paste form. No server-side EMAIL_CREDENTIALS needed. Outlook OAuth uses the bundled public Azure client (d56f8c71-9f7c-43f4-9934-be29cb6e77b0, Thunderbird-pattern) -- no user-side Azure app registration needed.

Outlook OAuth Device Code (HTTP mode)

In HTTP mode, Outlook/Hotmail/Live accounts use OAuth2 device-code automatically. On first use:

1. The server prints a device code and a Microsoft login URL
2. Open the URL in a browser and enter the code
3. Sign in and authorize the app
4. Tokens are persisted per JWT sub (tokens/<sub>.json)

OAuth uses the bundled public Azure client (d56f8c71-9f7c-43f4-9934-be29cb6e77b0, Thunderbird-pattern) -- no user-side Azure registration needed.

In stdio mode, Outlook accounts use an App Password instead (Outlook Account Settings → Security → Advanced security options → App passwords).

Configuration

Variable	Required	Default	Description
EMAIL_PROVIDER	Yes (stdio, single-account)	-	Provider key: gmail, outlook, yahoo, icloud, zoho, custom
EMAIL_USER	Yes (stdio, single-account)	-	Email address
EMAIL_APP_PASSWORD	Yes (stdio, single-account)	-	App password (Gmail/Yahoo/iCloud) or Outlook App Password
EMAIL_IMAP_HOST	No (custom only)	-	Custom IMAP hostname when EMAIL_PROVIDER=custom
EMAIL_CREDENTIALS	Alternative (multi-account)	-	Legacy [email protected]:app-password (comma-separated for multi-account)
PUBLIC_URL	No (http)	-	Server's public URL for relay / OAuth redirect links
CREDENTIAL_SECRET	No (http)	auto-generated	Secret used to encrypt the per-user credential store; if unset, a random 32-byte secret is generated and persisted to a 0600 file
PORT	No	0 (OS-assigned)	Server port (http mode); set explicitly (e.g. 8080) to bind a fixed port
HOST	No	-	Bind address (http mode)
MCP_AUTH_DISABLE	No (http)	-	Set to 1 to skip Bearer JWT verification when behind an external auth gateway
OUTLOOK_CLIENT_ID	No	d56f8c71-9f7c-43f4-9934-be29cb6e77b0 (bundled public client)	Override the bundled Azure AD public client for self-hosted Outlook OAuth2
OUTLOOK_EMAIL	No	-	Workaround when Microsoft device-code response omits the email field

Multiple Accounts

[email protected]:pass1,[email protected]:pass2,[email protected]:pass3

Custom IMAP Host

# Custom hostname (default port 993, implicit TLS)
[email protected]:password:imap.custom.com

# Custom hostname with a custom port
[email protected]:password:imap.custom.com:1993

# Local IMAP proxy -- "localhost" is accepted as a host, even without a dot
[email protected]:password:localhost:1993

Each account can use its own host and port. A non-993 port is treated as plaintext/STARTTLS -- the usual shape for a local IMAP proxy (for example email-oauth2-proxy).

Search Query Language

Query	Description
UNREAD	Unread emails
FLAGGED	Starred emails
SINCE 2024-01-01	Emails after date
FROM [email protected]	Emails from sender
SUBJECT meeting	Emails matching subject
UNREAD SINCE 2024-06-01	Compound filter

Supported Providers

Provider	Auth	Save-to-Sent
Gmail	App Password	Auto (skipped)
Yahoo	App Password	Auto (skipped)
iCloud/Me.com	App-Specific Password	Auto (skipped)
Outlook/Hotmail/Live	OAuth2 (Device Code)	IMAP APPEND
Zoho	App Password	IMAP APPEND
ProtonMail	ProtonMail Bridge	IMAP APPEND
Custom	Via email:pass:imap.host	IMAP APPEND

Security

• Credential sanitization -- Passwords never leaked in error messages
• App Passwords -- Uses app-specific passwords, not regular passwords
• Token storage -- Outlook OAuth tokens saved with 600 permissions
• IMAP validation -- Search queries validated before execution

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/n24q02m/better-email-mcp.git
cd better-email-mcp
bun install
bun run dev

Trust Model

This plugin implements TC-NearZK (in-memory, ephemeral). See mcp-core/docs/TRUST-MODEL.md for full classification.

Mode	Storage	Encryption	Who can read your data?
HTTP n24q02m-hosted (default)	In-memory Map<sub, OAuthToken>	In-process only	Server process (cleared on restart)
HTTP self-host	Same as hosted	Same	Only you (admin = user)
stdio proxy	~/.better-email-mcp/config.json	AES-GCM, machine-bound key	Only your OS user (file perm 0600)

License

MIT -- See LICENSE.