Email

Email Management

Manage emails using Himalaya CLI - a powerful command-line email client supporting IMAP, SMTP, Maildir, and Notmuch backends.

Agent Usage (Power User Patterns)

When using this skill as an agent, run commands via execute_command. Prefer these patterns:

1. Always use --output json when you need to parse results (subject, from, id). Example:

   himalaya envelope list --folder INBOX --page-size 20 --output json | jq '.[] | {id, subject, from, date}'
   

2. Non-interactive send: message write opens $EDITOR. For automation, pipe a full RFC-style message to himalaya template send (if available), or use a temp file:

   echo -e "To: recipient@example.com\nSubject: Subject\n\nBody text" | himalaya template send
   

   If template send is not available, use himalaya message write --to "recipient" --subject "Subject" and note that it may open an editor—check himalaya --help for your version.

3. Extract message IDs for follow-up actions: himalaya envelope list --output json | jq -r '.[].id'

4. Batch operations: Pass multiple IDs to move/delete: himalaya message move <id1> <id2> <id3> --folder "Archives"

5. Check before acting: Run himalaya account list and himalaya folder list first if the user has multiple accounts or folders.

6. Use --account <name> when the user has multiple accounts (e.g., himalaya --account work envelope list).

Prerequisites Check

Before any email operation, verify Himalaya is installed and configured:

# Check if installed
which himalaya

# Check if configured (lists accounts)
himalaya account list

If not installed → Guide through Installation If no accounts → Guide through Account Setup

Installation

pre-built binary

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pimalaya/himalaya/master/install.sh | PREFIX=~/.local sh

macOS (Homebrew)

brew install himalaya

Arch Linux

pacman -S himalaya

Cargo (Any OS)

cargo install himalaya --locked

Other Methods

Direct user to: https://github.com/pimalaya/himalaya#installation

Account Setup

Recommended approach: Use Himalaya's built-in wizard which auto-discovers settings.

Interactive Setup (Easiest)

# First-time setup - wizard starts automatically
himalaya

# Or configure a specific account
himalaya account configure <account-name>

The wizard will:

1. Ask for email address
2. Auto-discover IMAP/SMTP settings
3. Prompt for password (stored securely in system keyring)
4. Test the connection

Provider-Specific Notes

💡 Tip: Many providers use the same app-specific password for both email and calendar. Store credentials in pass with consistent naming (e.g., google/app-password, icloud/app-password) to reuse them across both email and calendar skills. For multiple accounts, use a hierarchical structure (e.g., google/personal/app-password, google/work/app-password)—the / creates folders to keep things organized.

For detailed provider configs, see references/providers.md

Common Operations

List Emails

# List recent emails in INBOX
himalaya envelope list

# List from specific folder
himalaya envelope list --folder "Archives"

# List with specific account
himalaya envelope list --account gmail

# Paginate results
himalaya envelope list --page 2 --page-size 20

Read Email

# Read by ID
himalaya message read <id>

# Read in plain text (no HTML)
himalaya message read <id> --plain

# Read headers only
himalaya message read <id> --headers

Send Email

# Compose new email (opens $EDITOR)
himalaya message write

# Send with pre-filled fields
himalaya message write --to "recipient@example.com" --subject "Hello"

# Reply to a message
himalaya message reply <id>

# Reply all
himalaya message reply <id> --all

Search Emails

# NOTE: `envelope list` does NOT support a `--query` flag.
# Any trailing arguments are interpreted as the search query.
# Put options FIRST (e.g., --folder/--output/--page-size), then query tokens.
# NOTE: There is no `--max-size` flag. To limit results, use `--page-size` (and optionally `--page`).


# Basic filters (direct Himalaya query syntax)

# Search by subject
himalaya envelope list --folder INBOX subject "meeting"

# Search by sender
himalaya envelope list --folder INBOX from "boss@company.com"

# Unread (not seen)
himalaya envelope list --folder INBOX not flag seen

# Search by exact date (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY/MM/DD)
himalaya envelope list --folder INBOX date 2026-02-09

# Combine filters with and/or (quote the expression to keep it as one arg)
himalaya envelope list --folder INBOX "from client@example.com and subject invoice and not flag seen"

# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Shell-level helpers (useful patterns for LLMs)
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Count emails received TODAY in INBOX
# 1) List all envelopes
# 2) Skip the header lines
# 3) Grep for today's ISO date string
# 4) Count lines
TODAY=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
himalaya envelope list --folder INBOX \
  | tail -n +3 \
  | grep "${TODAY}" \
  | wc -l

# Count unread emails in INBOX
himalaya envelope list --folder INBOX not flag seen \
  | tail -n +3 \
  | wc -l

# Show latest N emails in INBOX (for quick inspection)
# Use pagination flags (not `tail`) to reliably fetch only N messages.
himalaya envelope list --folder INBOX --page 1 --page-size 10

# Show latest N *unread* emails
himalaya envelope list --folder INBOX --page 1 --page-size 10 not flag seen

Manage Folders

# List folders
himalaya folder list

# Create folder
himalaya folder create "Projects/ClientA"

# Move message to folder
himalaya message move <id> --folder "Archives"

# Copy message
himalaya message copy <id> --folder "Important"

Manage Flags

# Mark as read
himalaya flag add <id> seen

# Mark as unread
himalaya flag remove <id> seen

# Star/flag message
himalaya flag add <id> flagged

# Delete (move to trash)
himalaya message delete <id>

Switch Between Accounts

# Use specific account for any command
himalaya --account work envelope list
himalaya --account personal message write

Check All Accounts

# List configured accounts
himalaya account list

# Check unread across accounts
for account in $(himalaya account list --output json | jq -r '.[].name'); do
  echo "=== $account ==="
  himalaya --account "$account" envelope list --page-size 5 not flag seen
done

Output Formats

Himalaya supports JSON output for scripting:

# JSON output
himalaya envelope list --output json

# Parse with jq
himalaya envelope list --output json | jq '.[].subject'

Troubleshooting

Connection Issues

# Enable debug logging
RUST_LOG=debug himalaya envelope list

# Full trace
himalaya --debug envelope list

Common Errors

Reset Configuration

Config file location: ~/.config/himalaya/config.toml (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/himalaya/config.toml)

# View current config
cat ~/.config/himalaya/config.toml

# Edit config manually
$EDITOR ~/.config/himalaya/config.toml

# Reconfigure account interactively
himalaya account configure <name>

# Use alternative config file
himalaya --config /path/to/custom/config.toml envelope list

Environment variable override:

export HIMALAYA_CONFIG=~/.config/himalaya/custom-config.toml
himalaya envelope list

Composing Emails

Himalaya uses your $EDITOR for composing. The format is:

To: recipient@example.com
Cc: other@example.com
Subject: Your subject here

Your message body here.

Adding Attachments (MML Syntax)

Searching emails

Himalaya’s search uses a positional query expression, not a --query flag.

Date filters

# Envelopes strictly after a given date
himalaya envelope list "after 2026-02-10"

# Envelopes strictly before a given date
himalaya envelope list "before 2026-02-10"

# All emails received today (from local date)
himalaya envelope list "after $(date +%Y-%m-%d)"

Other common filters

# From a specific sender
himalaya envelope list "from me@example.com"

# To a specific recipient
himalaya envelope list "to someone@example.com"

# Subject contains words
himalaya envelope list "subject report"

# Combine filters (AND semantics)
himalaya envelope list "from me@example.com and subject report"

Quick Reference

• For provider-specific setup, see references/providers.md
• Official docs: https://github.com/pimalaya/himalaya

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