Email Management

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

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 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

# Forward
himalaya message forward <id>

Search Emails

# Search by subject
himalaya envelope list --query "subject:meeting"

# Search by sender
himalaya envelope list --query "from:boss@company.com"

# Search by date
himalaya envelope list --query "since:2024-01-01"

# Combined search
himalaya envelope list --query "from:client subject:invoice unseen"

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>

Attachments

# List attachments
himalaya attachment list <id>

# Download attachment
himalaya attachment download <id> <attachment-id>

# Download all attachments
himalaya attachment download <id> --all

Multi-Account Workflows

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 --query "unseen" --page-size 5
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)

To: recipient@example.com
Subject: Document attached

Please find the document attached.

<#part filename=/path/to/document.pdf><#/part>

Inline Images

To: recipient@example.com
Subject: Screenshot

Here's the screenshot:
<#part disposition=inline filename=/path/to/image.png><#/part>

Quick Reference

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