n24q02m/better-email-mcp

mcp-name: io.github.n24q02m/email

IMAP/SMTP email for AI agents -- read, send, organize, and manage attachments across accounts.

CI codecov npm Docker License: Apache-2.0

TypeScript Node.js IMAP/SMTP semantic-release Renovate

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Table of contents

• Features
• Install
• CLI
• Smithery
• Documentation
• Tools
• Comparison
• 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
• 4 composite tools (plus help) -- search, read, send, reply, forward, organize, and credential status 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

Install

The server runs in two modes: stdio (default, single-user, credentials from env vars) and HTTP (opt-in: one shared bearer token, or several users with separate mailboxes from a users.toml token table). For stdio, add it to your MCP client config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "email": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["--yes", "@n24q02m/email@latest"],
      "env": {
        "EMAIL_CREDENTIALS": "[email protected]:app-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

The package is @n24q02m/email (formerly @n24q02m/better-email-mcp; old package receives one final release then freezes). The MCP Registry id is io.github.n24q02m/email; the entry published earlier as io.github.n24q02m/better-email-mcp stays frozen under that old name, because registry versions are immutable. The legacy better-email-mcp command is kept as an alias of email.

Multiple accounts are comma-separated: [email protected]:pass1,[email protected]:pass2, or listed in an accounts file. See Configuration for all env vars, and Remote (HTTP Mode) to run a hosted server.

Most providers use an App Password (no OAuth setup); Outlook/Hotmail/Live use a bundled OAuth device-code flow in HTTP mode. Settings (IMAP/SMTP host, port) are auto-discovered from the email domain.

Install matrix

Client	Install
Claude Code	/plugin marketplace add n24q02m/claude-plugins + /plugin install email@n24q02m-plugins (stdio; prompts for EMAIL_CREDENTIALS), or an mcpServers entry in .mcp.json / client settings
Codex CLI	[mcp_servers.email] block in ~/.codex/config.toml (stdio command/args or HTTP type/url)
OpenCode	mcpServers block in opencode.json
Cursor / Windsurf / Gemini CLI / any MCP client	mcpServers JSON in the client's config — same shape as the example above

Full per-client walkthroughs: docs.n24q02m.com/servers/email/setup/.

CLI

The package ships one binary, email (run via npx @n24q02m/email), also installed under its legacy name better-email-mcp. With no arguments it starts the MCP server over stdio. Every MCP tool is also a subcommand, so the same handlers run with or without an MCP client.

Server and operator commands

Invocation	Description
email	Start the MCP server over stdio (default). Reads credentials from EMAIL_CREDENTIALS, or from EMAIL_USER + EMAIL_APP_PASSWORD
email --http	Start the server in HTTP mode (auth chosen by MCP_AUTH_MODE, see Remote (HTTP Mode)). Equivalent to MCP_TRANSPORT=http or TRANSPORT_MODE=http
email auth [outlook] <email> [--client-id=<id>] [--user=<namespace>]	Authenticate an Outlook/Hotmail/Live account via OAuth2 Device Code flow. Tokens are saved to ~/.email/tokens.json, or with --user to that HTTP multi-user namespace (~/.email/users/<namespace>/tokens.json). The outlook provider positional is optional (email has a single OAuth2 provider); --client-id overrides OUTLOOK_CLIENT_ID for a self-hosted Azure AD app
email logout [<email>] [--user=<namespace>]	Clear the locally stored Outlook token(s), of one multi-user namespace with --user. Omit <email> to clear every stored token
email config status / email status	Report whether a stored credential file exists (never prints credential values)
email config delete --yes	Delete the stored credential file
email doctor	Node, credential backend, store-directory, and session checks

Tool commands

Each tool keeps its MCP name and actions; its JSON-Schema properties become --flags, so the CLI cannot accept an argument the tool does not take. Output is human-readable text, or the tool's exact JSON envelope with --json. A failure prints one message to stderr and exits 1.

Command	Actions	Example
email messages <action>	search, read, mark_read, mark_unread, flag, unflag, move, archive, trash, new, reply, forward	email messages search --query "UNREAD FROM [email protected]" --limit 5 --json
email folders <action>	list, status	email folders list --account [email protected]
email attachments <action>	list, download	email attachments download --account [email protected] --uid 42 --filename invoice.pdf --json
email config-tool <action>	status, setup_status, setup_start, setup_reset, setup_complete, set, cache_clear	email config-tool cache_clear --json
email help <tool_name>	-	email help messages

config-tool is the MCP config tool; the bare email config command stays the operator command for the stored credential file (its status/delete actions predate the tool surface). email --help lists tool commands and operator commands as separate groups, and email <command> --help prints that command's actions and flags.

# stdio server (normally launched by your MCP client, not by hand)
EMAIL_CREDENTIALS="[email protected]:app-password" npx @n24q02m/email

# HTTP server, several users with separate mailboxes (see Remote (HTTP Mode))
MCP_AUTH_MODE=multi npx @n24q02m/email --http

# One-off Outlook OAuth device-code sign-in
npx @n24q02m/email auth [email protected]

# Sign out of a single account (or omit the email to clear all)
npx @n24q02m/email logout [email protected]

# Search, read, and organize mail through the same handlers the MCP tools use
npx @n24q02m/email messages search --query UNREAD --limit 5 --json
npx @n24q02m/email messages read --uid 4211 --preview --max_chars 800
npx @n24q02m/email messages mark_read --uids 12,13,14
npx @n24q02m/email folders list --account [email protected]

# Attachments and credential state
npx @n24q02m/email attachments list --account [email protected] --uid 42 --json
npx @n24q02m/email config-tool status --json

# Per-command actions and flags come from the tool schema
npx @n24q02m/email messages --help

auth/logout are only for Outlook/Hotmail/Live addresses -- other providers use an App Password in EMAIL_CREDENTIALS. See Remote (HTTP Mode) for the HTTP config.

Smithery

Published with a Smithery config (smithery.yaml). Smithery runs the server over stdio with no build config required; credentials come from the environment (see Configuration). The start command is:

startCommand:
  type: stdio
  commandFunction: |-
    (config) => ({ command: 'npx', args: ['-y', '@n24q02m/email'] })

Documentation

Full docs at docs.n24q02m.com/servers/email/:

• Setup -- install methods for Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor, Windsurf, mcp.json

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

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

Tools

Public tool rename

The public send tool is replaced by messages with action: new, reply, or forward. This follows the MCP N+2 standard: sending is an action in the messages domain, so keeping a separate send entry would duplicate that domain and add redundant tool-list and help-topic surface. The old name is removed directly; there is no compatibility alias.

Old public name	New public name	Reason	Alias removal
send	messages (action: new | reply | forward)	N+2 domain-tool rule: outbound mail is part of the messages mega-tool, not a second action-level tool.	Removed directly in the Unreleased release; no alias

Tool	Actions	Description
messages	search, read, mark_read, mark_unread, flag, unflag, move, archive, trash, new, reply, forward	Search, read, organize, compose, reply to, and forward emails
folders	list, status	List mailbox folders or read targeted IMAP STATUS metadata
attachments	list, download	List and download email attachments
config	status, setup_status, setup_start, setup_reset, setup_complete, set, cache_clear	Credential status and setup guidance, reset, re-resolve, cache clear
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/help	Full documentation
email://docs/config	Credential setup and runtime configuration reference

Comparison

How email stacks up against direct competitors in each pillar:

Capability	email	email-mcp	Gmail-MCP-Server	mcp-mail-server
IMAP/SMTP (provider-agnostic)	Yes	Yes	No (Gmail API only)	Yes
Multi-account	Yes (comma-separated creds)	Yes	No (single global credential)	No (single account per instance)
App Passwords	Yes (no OAuth setup)	Yes	No (OAuth2 only)	Yes
Auto-discovery from email address	Yes	Yes (8 providers)	n/a (Gmail only)	No (manual host/port)
Bundled Outlook OAuth (no user Azure app)	Yes (device-code, Thunderbird-pattern client)	partial (OAuth2 XOAUTH2, experimental)	No (user-supplied Google OAuth)	No
Attachments (list + download)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
HTTP mode (bearer token or per-user tokens with isolated mailboxes; self-hostable)	Yes	No (stdio only)	No (stdio only)	No (stdio only)

Remote (HTTP Mode)

Run as an HTTP server. Clients send a bearer token; what the token reaches depends on the auth mode:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "email": {
      "type": "http",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <your-token>" },
      "url": "https://<your-host>/mcp"
    }
  }
}

MCP_AUTH_MODE	Who can call	Which mailboxes a call reaches
token (or unset with a hash)	anyone holding the one shared token (MCP_AUTH_TOKEN_HASH)	the server-wide accounts (accounts file, env vars, email auth outlook)
multi	each user in a hull users.toml token table (MCP_USERS_FILE)	only that user's own namespace: users/<namespace>/accounts.toml and users/<namespace>/tokens.json under the data directory
no-auth (or unset, no hash, loopback bind)	anything that can reach the loopback port	the server-wide accounts

A request with no token or a wrong one gets 401. With no mode and no hash the server refuses to start on a non-loopback bind.

Self-Hosting (HTTP Mode)

Shared-token mode: one principal. Accounts come from an accounts file, the env vars, or email auth outlook <address>. The account mode (single/multi) applies here too: with several accounts, a single-target tool requires account, and a fan-out read still returns the healthy accounts when one fails.

export MCP_AUTH_TOKEN_HASH='scrypt$...'  # required: the container binds 0.0.0.0 and refuses to start without auth
export EMAIL_CREDENTIALS='[email protected]:app-password'
docker run -p 8080:8080 \
  -e PORT=8080 \
  -e MCP_AUTH_TOKEN_HASH \
  -e EMAIL_CREDENTIALS \
  -e HOME=/data \
  -v email-data:/data \
  n24q02m/email:latest

Mint the hash with printf '%s' "$TOKEN" | email token hash; the token is read from stdin, never argv. Clients send the raw token as Authorization: Bearer <token>. Saved Outlook tokens live under /data/.email/ and persist when the /data volume is kept. EMAIL_MCP_TOKEN_HASH is the older name of MCP_AUTH_TOKEN_HASH and still works.

Self-Hosting for several users (multi mode)

Each user gets their own bearer token and their own mailboxes; no user can see another's, and the server-wide accounts (EMAIL_ACCOUNTS_FILE, EMAIL_CREDENTIALS, EMAIL_USER) are not served to anyone in this mode. Provisioning is host-side:

# users.toml (MCP_USERS_FILE, default ~/.hull/users.toml)
[users.alice]
token_hash = "scrypt$..."   # printf '%s' "$ALICE_TOKEN" | email token hash
namespace = "alice"

[users.bob]
token_hash = "scrypt$..."
namespace = "bob"
[users.bob.limits]
rpm = 60

Then give each namespace its mailboxes under the data directory, in the accounts file schema:

# <data dir>/users/alice/accounts.toml  (in Docker: /data/.email/users/alice/accounts.toml)
# and/or an Outlook grant for one namespace:
email auth outlook [email protected] --user alice
MCP_AUTH_MODE=multi MCP_USERS_FILE=/data/users.toml email --http

Accounts are re-read on every tool call, so an edited accounts.toml applies without a restart. A namespace is one path segment (letters, digits, _, -). The config tool reports a caller's own accounts; setup_reset and setup_complete are refused for a multi-user caller.

Self-Hosting with Docker Compose

The repository ships docker-compose.http.yml, which builds the http image target and publishes it on host loopback only (127.0.0.1:8082):

export MCP_AUTH_TOKEN_HASH='scrypt$...'   # required; see the note above
export EMAIL_CREDENTIALS='[email protected]:app-password'
docker compose -f docker-compose.http.yml up

The server is then reachable at http://localhost:8082. To serve other machines, put your own TLS reverse proxy on the same host in front of the loopback port. Prebuilt multi-arch images are published to Docker Hub (n24q02m/email) and GHCR (ghcr.io/n24q02m/email).

Outlook OAuth Device Code

Outlook/Hotmail/Live accounts use OAuth2 device-code. Run email auth outlook <address> once. On first use:

1. The CLI 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 saved to ~/.email/tokens.json (created with mode 0600 on POSIX). In Docker that path is /data/.email/tokens.json. A token file from an earlier release (~/.better-email-mcp/tokens.json) is copied forward on the next start; the old file is left in place.

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

To trust mise configuration automatically, set trusted_config_paths in the user-level config at ~/.config/mise/config.toml; do not add it to this project's .mise.toml.

Variable	Required	Default	Description
EMAIL_ACCOUNTS_FILE	Alternative (stdio)	~/.email/accounts.toml when it exists	Path to the accounts file. off, none, false or 0 disables file lookup entirely. When a file is found it wins over EMAIL_CREDENTIALS and EMAIL_USER
EMAIL_CREDENTIALS	Alternative (stdio)	-	Email credentials, email:app-password per account, comma-separated for multi-account. Optional custom IMAP host/port: email:password:imap_host:imap_port
EMAIL_USER	Alternative (stdio, single-account)	-	Email address. Used with EMAIL_APP_PASSWORD as a per-field alternative to EMAIL_CREDENTIALS; merged into EMAIL_CREDENTIALS at boot
EMAIL_APP_PASSWORD	Alternative (stdio, single-account)	-	App password (Gmail/Yahoo/iCloud) or Outlook App Password; used with EMAIL_USER
EMAIL_DATA_DIR	No	$HOME	Base directory for this server's own files. Saved Outlook tokens live in <dir>/.email/tokens.json, so the default is ~/.email/tokens.json (the Docker image sets HOME=/data); a file an earlier release wrote under <dir>/.better-email-mcp/ is copied forward on startup. A relative value is resolved under $HOME and must stay inside it; use an absolute path to point at a mounted volume
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_MODE	No (http)	-	token, multi or no-auth. Unset: a token hash selects token; without one HTTP runs unauthenticated only on loopback and refuses any other bind
MCP_AUTH_TOKEN_HASH	No (http token; required when not bound to loopback)	-	scrypt hash of the shared bearer token, minted with email token hash. EMAIL_MCP_TOKEN_HASH is the older name and still works
MCP_RPM	No (http token)	-	Per-minute request cap for the shared token
MCP_USERS_FILE	No (http multi)	~/.hull/users.toml	users.toml token table: one [users.<id>] row per user with token_hash, namespace, optional enabled and [users.<id>.limits] rpm
EMAIL_MCP_DRAFT_ONLY	No	-	Set to 1 for agents that read untrusted mail: every new/reply/forward is saved to the account's Drafts folder instead of being sent (as if called with draft: true), and move/archive/trash/setup_reset are removed from the tool list (and refused if called anyway). Search, read and flag changes still work
OUTLOOK_CLIENT_ID	No	d56f8c71-9f7c-43f4-9934-be29cb6e77b0 (bundled public client)	Override the bundled Azure AD public client for self-hosted Outlook OAuth2 (or --client-id=<id> on auth, which overrides this env var)
OUTLOOK_EMAIL	No	-	Workaround when Microsoft device-code response omits the email field
OUTLOOK_TENANT	No	consumers (stdio/CLI), common (http device-code)	Microsoft directory to sign in against, used for both the device-code and the token-refresh endpoint. Set common for a work/school (Entra ID) mailbox, or a tenant GUID / verified domain to pin one directory
OUTLOOK_SCOPES	No	https://outlook.office.com/IMAP.AccessAsUser.All https://outlook.office.com/SMTP.Send offline_access	Space-separated scope list. Narrow it (e.g. drop SMTP.Send) for a read-only deployment — a grant consented with fewer scopes cannot be refreshed against the full list
OUTLOOK_EXTRA_DOMAINS	No	-	Comma-separated domains routed to OAuth in addition to outlook.com/hotmail.com/live.com. Needed for a Microsoft 365 mailbox on your own domain, which otherwise looks like a password account

Account modes

Whatever the credential source, the server runs in one of two account modes, and reports which one is active:

Mode	When	Behaviour
single	exactly one enabled account	Every tool uses that account. account may be omitted, and is used to name it when given
multi	two or more enabled accounts	Read tools (folders list, messages search, messages read) fan out over every enabled account. A tool that acts on one mailbox (send, reply, forward, move, trash, attachments) requires account; omitting it is rejected with the list of accounts to choose from instead of guessing

config status returns mode (single, multi, or none when nothing is configured or every row is disabled), accounts with the enabled addresses, and disabled_accounts when the accounts file opts a row out.

Isolation guarantee. In multi mode one failing account never hides the others: a fan-out read that fails for one account (wrong password, IMAP connect error, missing or expired OAuth token) still returns every other account's results, and the failed entry carries its own account_id/account_email and error message. A single-target action is only rejected when the account is genuinely ambiguous, and the rejection names the accounts.

Accounts file (single and multi account)

For a deployment that keeps its mailboxes in a file rather than a comma-separated env var, point EMAIL_ACCOUNTS_FILE at a TOML file (the same shape hull uses for its users.toml):

[accounts.personal]
email = "[email protected]"
password = "app-password"

[accounts.work]
email = "[email protected]"
password = "app-password"
imap_host = "imap.company.com"    # optional; skips provider auto-discovery
imap_port = 993                   # optional, default 993 with a custom host
smtp_host = "smtp.company.com"    # optional, default: guessed from imap_host
smtp_port = 587                   # optional
smtp_security = "starttls"        # optional: tls | ssl | starttls | none
aliases = ["[email protected]"]    # optional; other addresses this mailbox may send as
enabled = true                    # optional; false keeps the row but skips it

When EMAIL_ACCOUNTS_FILE is unset, ~/.email/accounts.toml is used if it exists (relative paths resolve against $HOME; the directory is $EMAIL_DATA_DIR/.email/ when EMAIL_DATA_DIR is set). Set EMAIL_ACCOUNTS_FILE=off (or none/false/0) to disable file lookup and use the env vars only. A file that is selected explicitly and cannot be read is a boot error rather than a silent fallback.

Validation is strict, so a typo cannot degrade into "no accounts configured": unknown keys, a duplicate mailbox, an empty file, a file with no [accounts.<id>] table, and a row whose IMAP/SMTP cannot be resolved are all errors that name the file (and the offending account id).

Precedence, highest first: accounts file → EMAIL_CREDENTIALS → EMAIL_USER + EMAIL_APP_PASSWORD → legacy encrypted config.enc → saved Outlook tokens.

Sender aliases

Many mailboxes receive mail for more than one address: iCloud+ custom email domains, Gmail "Send mail as" addresses, Fastmail or Zoho aliases. List them as aliases on the account, and messages new/reply/forward can send as any of them with from:

[accounts.icloud]
email = "[email protected]"
password = "app-specific-password"
aliases = ["[email protected]", "[email protected]"]

{"action": "new", "from": "Support <[email protected]>", "to": "[email protected]", "subject": "Hi", "body": "..."}

• The login stays email; an alias changes only the From header and the SMTP envelope sender, so the provider must allow sending as that address.
• from alone picks the account that owns the address, so multi-account setups do not need account as well.
• A reply without from answers from the alias the original was addressed to.
• Any other from is rejected with SENDER_NOT_ALLOWED; an alias belongs to one account only.
• Mail sent to an alias already lands in the account's mailbox, so search and read need nothing extra (TO [email protected] narrows a search).

Multiple Accounts

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

For more than a couple of mailboxes, prefer the accounts file: it carries per-account host/port/security settings and can disable a row without deleting it.

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).

Microsoft 365 work/school accounts

A mailbox in a Microsoft 365 organisation -- including one on your own domain -- signs in through Entra ID rather than the consumer directory, and Microsoft disabled basic auth for Exchange Online in 2024, so an App Password is not an option. Two settings make it work:

# Sign in against the directory that owns the mailbox
OUTLOOK_TENANT=common                      # or a tenant GUID / verified domain

# Route your own domain to OAuth instead of asking for a password
OUTLOOK_EXTRA_DOMAINS=company.com

OUTLOOK_TENANT applies to the token refresh as well as the initial sign-in -- refreshing a work/school token against the consumer directory fails with AADSTS7000012: The grant was obtained for a different tenant.

If the mailbox was consented with a narrower grant (say IMAP but no SMTP), match it with OUTLOOK_SCOPES so the refresh does not ask for more than was granted.

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 are written with mode 0600 on POSIX (not enforced on Windows)
• IMAP validation -- Search queries validated before execution

Build from Source

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

Trust Model

Whoever runs the server (or your OS user for stdio) can read every credential it stores. In HTTP multi mode each caller reaches only its own namespace, but the operator still holds all of them. Storage depends on the deployment mode:

Mode	Storage	Encryption	Who can read your data?
HTTP (Docker)	Env vars (EMAIL_CREDENTIALS) and saved Outlook tokens in $HOME/.email/tokens.json (the /data volume)	Tokens: plain JSON, POSIX file mode 0600	Server operator
HTTP multi	Per user: $HOME/.email/users/<namespace>/accounts.toml and tokens.json (the /data volume)	Plain files, POSIX file mode 0600 for tokens	Server operator; each caller sees only its own namespace
stdio	Env vars; saved Outlook tokens in ~/.email/tokens.json; legacy config.enc from earlier releases is still read	Tokens: plain JSON, POSIX file mode 0600	Only your OS user

License

Apache-2.0 -- See LICENSE.