# 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-coverage body search** — reliable on large mailboxes where AppleScript-based servers timeout. 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
### Claude Code (plugin)
```bash
claude plugin marketplace add imdinu/apple-mail-mcp
claude plugin install apple-mail@imdinu
```
### Claude Desktop (one-click bundle)
Download `apple-mail-mcp-.mcpb` from the
[latest release](https://github.com/imdinu/apple-mail-mcp/releases/latest)
and double-click it.
Both the plugin and the bundle run the released PyPI package via a thin
launcher (uvx → pipx → private venv, whichever is available) — no
vendored code, identical behavior to a manual install. They start the
server with `--watch`; grant Full Disk Access to the launching app
(Claude Code / Claude Desktop) so the index stays fresh.
### Any MCP client
```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
```
### Configure (Optional)
```bash
apple-mail-mcp init # writes ~/.apple-mail-mcp/config.toml
```
Writes a commented config file you can edit to set defaults like your
primary account or mailbox. Every key has a matching `APPLE_MAIL_*` env
var if you prefer environment-based config. See
[Configuration](https://imdinu.github.io/apple-mail-mcp/configuration/)
for the full schema and precedence rules.
## 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 [6 other Apple Mail MCP servers](https://imdinu.github.io/apple-mail-mcp/benchmarks/) on a real **~73K-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).
- **~1ms `list_accounts` and ~5ms 50-email listing** via direct Envelope-Index SQLite reads (0.4+) — same path BastianZim/rusty/pl-lyfx use, with JXA as the correctness fallback.
- **~7ms subject search** via FTS5 — competitive with native Rust on the same operation.
- **Reliable across all 6 benchmarked operations** on a 73K mailbox; AppleScript-based servers timeout, throw syntax errors, or skip operations they don't support.
## Configuration
Apple Mail MCP works out of the box. To customize defaults, run
`apple-mail-mcp init` to generate a `config.toml` template — or use
the matching `APPLE_MAIL_*` environment variables. See the
[Configuration docs](https://imdinu.github.io/apple-mail-mcp/configuration/)
for the full schema and the CLI > env > file > default precedence.
Per-client env overrides via the MCP client's launch config also work:
```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