Imap MCP server

@aiwerk/mcp-server-imap

IMAP/SMTP MCP server that works with any email provider. Set host, user, pass — done.

Unlike Gmail-only or Outlook-only MCP servers, this one speaks standard IMAP/SMTP — so it works with every email provider out of the box.

Why this server?

Most email MCP servers only work with one provider (Gmail, Outlook). This one works with any provider that supports IMAP:

• Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo — yes
• Fastmail, ProtonMail Bridge, Zoho — yes
• Self-hosted (Dovecot, Postfix, hMailServer) — yes
• Corporate/hosted (Hostpoint, Infomaniak, OVH) — yes

One server, every mailbox.

Highlights

• Universal — standard IMAP/SMTP, works everywhere
• Simple setup — just IMAPHOST, IMAPUSER, IMAP_PASS and you're connected
• Safety first — email sending is disabled by default (SMTPSENDENABLED=false). Your AI agent can read emails but can't send anything until you explicitly opt in
• Lazy credentials — the server starts and exposes its tool list without requiring credentials. Auth is only needed when a tool is actually called
• Real MIME parsing — handles multipart, HTML/text, attachments, reply threading

AIWerk hosted service — emailsend and emailreply are local-only

If you use this server through the AIWerk hosted service at aiwerkmcp.com, the two outgoing-mail tools are not exposed:

• ❌ email_send
• ❌ email_reply

The other 8 read-side tools (emaillist, emailread, emailsearch, emailfolders, emailflag, emailmove, emaildelete, emailattachment) work normally on the hosted service.

Why? The hosted service shares an IP across all users. If outgoing mail went out from that shared IP, the IP would appear in every recipient's Received: headers — one bad actor could damage deliverability for every user. There is no shared-IP architecture where arbitrary user sends works safely.

How to send mail then? Run the server locally, where outgoing mail goes from your own IP and your own provider reputation. Three paths:

1. Ad-hoc one-email CLI — see the next section. Zero config, one-shot.
2. Direct stdio MCP server in your client (Cursor, Claude Desktop, OpenClaw) — point your client config at npx -y @aiwerk/mcp-server-imap with your IMAP and SMTP env vars including SMTPSENDENABLED=true.
3. Local @aiwerk/mcp-bridge — npx -y @aiwerk/mcp-bridge install imap-email --catalog aiwerkmcp.com, then point your client at the local bridge endpoint.

In all three cases the mail goes from your home / office IP, not from the hosted service.

Ad-hoc one-email CLI

Note: On the AIWerk hosted service, the emailsend and emailreply MCP tools are not exposed (the service shares an IP across all users, so allowing arbitrary sends would risk every user's deliverability). Use any of the three paths below to send email locally.

Need to send a single email from the command line — for example, to deliver a draft your AI agent composed? Use aiwerk-send-email:

SMTP_HOST=smtp.gmail.com \
SMTP_PORT=587 \
SMTP_USER=me@gmail.com \
SMTP_PASS='app-password' \
SMTP_FROM='Me <me@gmail.com>' \
npx -y @aiwerk/mcp-server-imap aiwerk-send-email \
  --to "alice@example.com" \
  --subject "Re: invoice" \
  --body "Got it, will pay Monday."

On success, exits 0 and prints JSON: {"ok":true,"messageId":"...","envelope":{...}}

On failure, exits 1 with the error on stderr. Credentials are never printed.

All CLI arguments

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.