Himalaya

Himalaya Email CLI

Himalaya is a CLI email client that lets you manage emails from the terminal using IMAP, SMTP, Notmuch, or Sendmail backends.

References

• references/configuration.md (config file setup + IMAP/SMTP authentication)

Prerequisites

1. Himalaya CLI - the himalaya binary must already be on PATH. Check with himalaya --version.
   • Recommended: v1.2.0 or newer. Older releases can fail against some IMAP servers.
2. A configuration file at ~/.config/himalaya/config.toml
3. IMAP/SMTP credentials configured (password stored securely)

Configuration Setup

Run the interactive wizard to set up an account:

himalaya account configure default

Or create ~/.config/himalaya/config.toml manually:

[accounts.personal]
email = "you@example.com"
display-name = "Your Name"
default = true

backend.type = "imap"
backend.host = "imap.example.com"
backend.port = 993
backend.encryption.type = "tls"
backend.login = "you@example.com"
backend.auth.type = "password"
backend.auth.cmd = "pass show email/imap"  # or use keyring

message.send.backend.type = "smtp"
message.send.backend.host = "smtp.example.com"
message.send.backend.port = 587
message.send.backend.encryption.type = "start-tls"
message.send.backend.login = "you@example.com"
message.send.backend.auth.type = "password"
message.send.backend.auth.cmd = "pass show email/smtp"

If using 163 mail, add backend.extensions.id.send-after-auth = true.

Common Operations

List Folders

himalaya folder list

List Emails

himalaya envelope list                           # INBOX (default)
himalaya envelope list --folder "Sent"           # Specific folder
himalaya envelope list --page 1 --page-size 20   # With pagination

Search Emails

himalaya envelope list from john@example.com subject meeting

Read an Email

himalaya message read 42          # Plain text
himalaya message export 42 --full # Raw MIME

Send / Compose Emails

Recommended: Use template write | template send pipeline:

export EDITOR=cat
himalaya template write \
  -H "To: recipient@example.com" \
  -H "Subject: Email Subject" \
  "Email body content" | himalaya template send

With CC:

export EDITOR=cat
himalaya template write \
  -H "To: recipient@example.com" \
  -H "Cc: cc@example.com" \
  -H "Subject: Email Subject" \
  "Email body content" | himalaya template send

With attachments (Python fallback):

import smtplib
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
from email.mime.base import MIMEBase
from email import encoders

msg = MIMEMultipart()
msg['From'] = 'sender@example.com'
msg['To'] = 'recipient@example.com'
msg['Subject'] = 'Email with attachment'
msg.attach(MIMEText('Email body', 'plain'))

with open('/path/to/file.pdf', 'rb') as f:
    part = MIMEBase('application', 'octet-stream')
    part.set_payload(f.read())
    encoders.encode_base64(part)
    part.add_header('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename="file.pdf"')
    msg.attach(part)

server = smtplib.SMTP_SSL('smtp.example.com', 465)
server.login('sender@example.com', 'password')
server.send_message(msg)
server.quit()

Known limitations:

• MML attachment parsing may fail in himalaya v1.1.0 - use Python for attachments
• message write hangs in non-interactive mode - use template write | template send
• message send may fail with header parsing - use template send

Configuration requirement: Set message.send.save-to-folder in config.toml:

[accounts.default]
message.send.save-to-folder = "Sent"

Move/Copy Emails

himalaya message move 42 "Archive"
himalaya message copy 42 "Important"

Delete an Email

himalaya message delete 42

Manage Flags

himalaya flag add 42 --flag seen
himalaya flag remove 42 --flag seen

Multiple Accounts

himalaya account list                      # List accounts
himalaya --account work envelope list      # Use specific account

Attachments

himalaya attachment download 42              # Save attachments
himalaya attachment download 42 --dir ~/dl   # Save to directory

Output Formats

himalaya envelope list --output json
himalaya envelope list --output plain

Debugging

RUST_LOG=debug himalaya envelope list
RUST_LOG=trace RUST_BACKTRACE=1 himalaya envelope list

Tips

• Message IDs are relative to the current folder; re-list after folder changes.
• Store passwords securely using pass, system keyring, or a command.
• For automation: Always use template write | template send with export EDITOR=cat.
• 163 Mail: Set backend.extensions.id.send-after-auth = true and message.send.save-to-folder = "Sent".
• Folder names: Use English folder names for better compatibility.