https://github.com/imdinu/apple-mail-mcp
Apple Mail MCP server with full-text email search — the only one that works reliably on large mailboxes. 6 tools for Claude Desktop & Claude Code.
https://github.com/imdinu/apple-mail-mcp
apple-mail automation claude email fts5 jxa macos mcp mcp-server model-context-protocol
Last synced: about 2 months ago
JSON representation
Apple Mail MCP server with full-text email search — the only one that works reliably on large mailboxes. 6 tools for Claude Desktop & Claude Code.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/imdinu/apple-mail-mcp
- Owner: imdinu
- License: gpl-3.0
- Created: 2026-01-27T01:12:53.000Z (5 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-04-01T14:24:04.000Z (3 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-04-03T06:47:50.794Z (3 months ago)
- Topics: apple-mail, automation, claude, email, fts5, jxa, macos, mcp, mcp-server, model-context-protocol
- Language: Python
- Homepage: https://imdinu.github.io/apple-mail-mcp/
- Size: 2.04 MB
- Stars: 10
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 6
- Open Issues: 21
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
- Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# Apple Mail MCP
[](https://www.python.org/downloads/)
[](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0)
[](https://www.apple.com/macos/)
[](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/)
[](https://github.com/astral-sh/ruff)
[](https://github.com/imdinu/apple-mail-mcp/actions/workflows/lint.yml)
The only Apple Mail MCP server with **full-text email search**. Reliable on large mailboxes where other servers timeout — with 8 tools for reading, searching, and extracting email content.
**[Read the docs](https://imdinu.github.io/apple-mail-mcp/)** for the full guide.
## Quick Start
```bash
pipx install apple-mail-mcp
```
Add to your MCP client:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"mail": {
"command": "apple-mail-mcp"
}
}
}
```
### Build the Search Index (Recommended)
```bash
# Requires Full Disk Access for Terminal
# System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access → Add Terminal
apple-mail-mcp index --verbose
```
## Tools
| Tool | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `list_accounts()` | List email accounts |
| `list_mailboxes(account?)` | List mailboxes |
| `get_emails(filter?, limit?)` | Get emails — all, unread, flagged, today, last_7_days |
| `get_email(message_id)` | Get single email with full content + attachments |
| `search(query, scope?, before?, after?, highlight?)` | Search — all, subject, sender, body, attachments |
| `get_email_links(message_id)` | Extract links from an email |
| `get_email_attachment(message_id, filename)` | Extract attachment content |
| `get_attachment(message_id, filename)` | *Deprecated* — use `get_email_attachment()` |
## Performance
Tested against [8 other Apple Mail MCP servers](https://imdinu.github.io/apple-mail-mcp/benchmarks/) on a real **~72K-message** mailbox:
- **Only server with full-coverage body search.** Most competitors don't support body search at all; the one that does (BastianZim) live-scans only the 5000 most recent messages — silent miss on anything older. Our FTS5 index covers the entire mailbox.
- **~3ms single email fetch** via disk-first `.emlx` reading (no JXA round-trip).
- **~7ms subject search** via FTS5 — competitive with native Rust on the same operation.
- **Reliable across all 6 benchmarked operations** on a 72K mailbox; AppleScript-based servers timeout, throw syntax errors, or skip operations they don't support.
## Configuration
| Variable | Default | Description |
|----------|---------|-------------|
| `APPLE_MAIL_DEFAULT_ACCOUNT` | First account | Default email account |
| `APPLE_MAIL_DEFAULT_MAILBOX` | `INBOX` | Default mailbox |
| `APPLE_MAIL_INDEX_PATH` | `~/.apple-mail-mcp/index.db` | Index location |
| `APPLE_MAIL_INDEX_MAX_EMAILS` | _unset_ | Optional per-mailbox ceiling (default: uncapped) |
| `APPLE_MAIL_INDEX_EXCLUDE_MAILBOXES` | `Drafts` | Mailboxes to skip in search |
| `APPLE_MAIL_READ_ONLY` | `false` | Disable write operations |
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"mail": {
"command": "apple-mail-mcp",
"args": ["--watch"],
"env": {
"APPLE_MAIL_DEFAULT_ACCOUNT": "Work"
}
}
}
}
```
## CLI Usage
All tools are also available as standalone CLI commands (no MCP server needed):
```bash
apple-mail-mcp search "quarterly report" --scope subject
apple-mail-mcp search "invoice" --after 2026-01-01 --limit 10
apple-mail-mcp read 12345
apple-mail-mcp emails --filter unread --limit 10
apple-mail-mcp accounts
apple-mail-mcp mailboxes --account Work
apple-mail-mcp extract 12345 invoice.pdf
```
All commands output JSON. Generate a [Claude Code skill](https://imdinu.github.io/apple-mail-mcp/configuration/#cli-commands) for CLI-based access:
```bash
apple-mail-mcp integrate claude > ~/.claude/skills/apple-mail.md
```
## Development
```bash
git clone https://github.com/imdinu/apple-mail-mcp
cd apple-mail-mcp
uv sync
uv run ruff check src/
uv run pytest
```
## License
GPL-3.0-or-later