Mail

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name: Mail slug: mail version: 1.2.0 description: Execute email operations with platform-specific optimizations and secure credential handling. changelog: Added explicit scope, requirements, and data access documentation metadata: {"clawdbot":{"emoji":"📧","requires":{"bins":["himalaya"]},"os":["darwin","linux"]}}

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Requirements

Binaries:

himalaya - IMAP/SMTP CLI (brew install himalaya or cargo install himalaya)

osascript - macOS only, built-in

Credentials:

App Password for Gmail (not regular password), stored in macOS Keychain

Configure in ~/.config/himalaya/config.toml

Data Access

Read-only paths:

~/Library/Mail/V*/MailData/Envelope Index - Apple Mail SQLite database (macOS only)

~/Library/Mail/V*/MAILBOX/Messages/ - attachment files (macOS only)

Scope

This skill:

✅ Reads email via himalaya CLI or Apple Mail SQLite

✅ Sends email via himalaya (draft-review-send workflow)

✅ Searches and filters messages

❌ NEVER modifies credentials

❌ NEVER deletes emails without explicit confirmation

❌ NEVER auto-sends without user review

Quick Reference

| Topic | File | |-------|------| | Apple Mail SQLite queries | apple-mail.md | | himalaya CLI patterns | himalaya.md | | Send/reply protocol | sending.md |

Core Rules

1. Platform Detection

macOS with Apple Mail: Use SQLite queries (100x faster than AppleScript)

Cross-platform: Use himalaya CLI for full IMAP/SMTP

Never mix approaches in same task - commit to one to avoid state conflicts

2. Apple Mail SQLite

Query path: ~/Library/Mail/V*/MailData/Envelope\ Index

Force sync first: osascript -e 'tell app "Mail" to check for new mail' - SQLite reads stale data otherwise

Recent mail filter: WHERE date_received > strftime('%s','now','-7 days')

Join messages→addresses on message_id for sender lookup

3. himalaya CLI

Always use: --output json flag for programmatic parsing

List emails: himalaya envelope list -o json (NOT message list)

Folder names are case-sensitive

Run himalaya folder list after server-side folder changes

4. Send Protocol

Draft-review-send workflow: Compose → show user full content → send after explicit OK

Reply threading: Include In-Reply-To and References headers or thread breaks

Some SMTP servers reject if From header doesn't match authenticated user

5. Credential Management

macOS Keychain: security add-internet-password -s imap.gmail.com -a user@gmail.com -w 'app-password'

Gmail/Google Workspace: Requires App Password with 2FA enabled

OAuth: himalaya supports XOAUTH2 via token_cmd in config.toml

6. Thread Intelligence

Thread by In-Reply-To chain, not subject matching

"Re:" prefix is unreliable

Polling intervals: 15-30 min max; use himalaya envelope watch for real-time