How do I install the Apple Mail skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/apple-mail in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Apple Mail safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Independent scanners report: SkillSpector: PASS, Skill Scanner: PASS. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Apple Mail?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Apple Mail free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Apple Mail?

tomevault-io (@tomevault-io) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Apple Mail by tomevault-io — Agent Skill

Name: Apple Mail
Author: tomevault-io

Apple Mail

Search, read, and extract attachments from Apple Mail's local storage. Query emails by sender, recipient, subject, body, date, mailbox, and flags. Read raw RFC822 messages and extract file attachments. Use when this capability is needed.

tomevault-io Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Apple Mail Skill

Search, read, and extract attachments from Apple Mail's local storage on macOS.

Tool

apple-mail.sh — a bash script that queries the Apple Mail SQLite envelope index and reads .emlx files from disk. Read-only — it never modifies mail data.

Quick Reference

TOOL=~/Development/agent-stuff/skills/apple-mail/apple-mail.sh

# Search emails
$TOOL search --from "peter@" --subject "dinner" --limit 5
$TOOL search --after 2026-02-01 --has-attachment
$TOOL search --body "invoice" --mailbox "INBOX" --unread
$TOOL search --to "armin@" --before 2025-12-31

# Show message metadata, recipients, attachments, and summary
$TOOL info 783660

# Read the raw RFC822 email (headers + body)
$TOOL read 783660

# Extract attachments to a temp directory (prints the path)
$TOOL attachment 783660                          # all attachments
$TOOL attachment 783660 "Rechnung.pdf"           # specific file

# List all mailboxes with counts
$TOOL mailboxes

Search Options

Flag	Description
`--from <addr>`	Sender address substring
`--to <addr>`	Recipient address substring
`--subject <text>`	Subject substring
`--body <text>`	Body/summary text substring
`--mailbox <name>`	Mailbox URL substring (e.g. `INBOX`, `Sent`, `Trash`)
`--after <YYYY-MM-DD>`	Received after date
`--before <YYYY-MM-DD>`	Received before date
`--unread`	Only unread messages
`--flagged`	Only flagged messages
`--has-attachment`	Only messages with attachments
`--limit <n>`	Max results (default: 20)

Output Format

search returns pipe-delimited table with header row: id|sender|sender_name|subject|received|status|flagged|mailbox|attachments
info returns structured metadata sections
read outputs raw RFC822 email to stdout
attachment prints the temp directory path to stdout, file listing to stderr

Notes

Message IDs are Apple Mail internal ROWIDs (integers), shown in the id column
.partial.emlx files contain headers only (body not downloaded); read warns about this
Attachments are copied to a temp directory under /tmp/; clean up when done
The body search queries the summaries table (Apple Mail's plaintext preview), not the full email body
Mailbox URLs are percent-encoded (e.g., %5BGmail%5D = [Gmail], %20 = space)
Deleted messages are excluded from search by default

Converted and distributed by TomeVault — claim your Tome and manage your conversions.

---name: apple-maildescription: Search, read, and extract attachments from Apple Mail's local storage. Query emails by sender, recipient, subject, body, date, mailbox, and flags. Read raw RFC822 messages and extract file attachments. Use when this capability is needed.---# Apple Mail SkillSearch, read, and extract attachments from Apple Mail's local storage on macOS.## Tool`apple-mail.sh` — a bash script that queries the Apple Mail SQLite envelopeindex and reads `.emlx` files from disk. **Read-only** — it never modifiesmail data.## Quick Reference```bashTOOL=~/Development/agent-stuff/skills/apple-mail/apple-mail.sh# Search emails$TOOL search --from "peter@" --subject "dinner" --limit 5$TOOL search --after 2026-02-01 --has-attachment$TOOL search --body "invoice" --mailbox "INBOX" --unread$TOOL search --to "armin@" --before 2025-12-31# Show message metadata, recipients, attachments, and summary$TOOL info 783660# Read the raw RFC822 email (headers + body)$TOOL read 783660# Extract attachments to a temp directory (prints the path)$TOOL attachment 783660 # all attachments$TOOL attachment 783660 "Rechnung.pdf" # specific file# List all mailboxes with counts$TOOL mailboxes```## Search Options| Flag | Description ||------|-------------|| `--from <addr>` | Sender address substring || `--to <addr>` | Recipient address substring || `--subject <text>` | Subject substring || `--body <text>` | Body/summary text substring || `--mailbox <name>` | Mailbox URL substring (e.g. `INBOX`, `Sent`, `Trash`) || `--after <YYYY-MM-DD>` | Received after date || `--before <YYYY-MM-DD>` | Received before date || `--unread` | Only unread messages || `--flagged` | Only flagged messages || `--has-attachment` | Only messages with attachments || `--limit <n>` | Max results (default: 20) |## Output Format- `search` returns pipe-delimited table with header row: `id|sender|sender_name|subject|received|status|flagged|mailbox|attachments`- `info` returns structured metadata sections- `read` outputs raw RFC822 email to stdout- `attachment` prints the temp directory path to stdout, file listing to stderr## Notes- Message IDs are Apple Mail internal ROWIDs (integers), shown in the `id` column- `.partial.emlx` files contain headers only (body not downloaded); `read` warns about this- Attachments are copied to a temp directory under `/tmp/`; clean up when done- The `body` search queries the `summaries` table (Apple Mail's plaintext preview), not the full email body- Mailbox URLs are percent-encoded (e.g., `%5BGmail%5D` = `[Gmail]`, `%20` = space)- Deleted messages are excluded from search by default---> Converted and distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io/claim/mitsuhiko) — claim your Tome and manage your conversions.

Frequently asked questions