Apple Mail

Name: Apple Mail
Author: redpop

by redpopversion 0.3.0i★ –iRuns on your computer

Registry nameio.github.redpop/apple-mail-mcp

Install

Overview

Description from the maker (original English)

Search and read Apple Mail on macOS, read-only: mailboxes, messages and threads.

PopNx MCP’s three pillars

These three are never merged into one score: opinions, measurements and popularity are different things.

User voiceiNo reviews yetReviews open together with accounts in a later step
Our basic checksi1 of 1 passedChecked from public information; code not scanned yet
UsageiNot measured yet★ –

What you can do with it

We have not written a plain-language summary for this one yet. Below are the facts we read from the registry.

Connection: Runs on your computer
Transport: stdio
Category: Search & AI memory

Install

Pick the AI app you use, then copy the settings.

Before you install

Basic checks: 1 of 1 passed
Runs on your computer with your user’s permissions (files, network, apps).
The registry lists no key to fill in.

You need

npmNode.js installed (for the npx command)

Which app do you use?

ClaudeClaude CodeCursorVS CodeChatGPT

Pick your app above. We remember it, so next time the button says “Install in …”.

Download the maker’s .mcpb file

The link goes to the maker’s own file; we do not host or repackage it. Open the file and Claude Desktop installs it.

Run this in your terminal

claude mcp add apple-mail -- npx -y @redpop/apple-mail-mcp

Open in Cursor

Or copy the settings yourself

Paste into .cursor/mcp.json in your project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apple-mail": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@redpop/apple-mail-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Your browser asks to open the app, then the app shows the settings and asks you to confirm. Key values are left empty for you to fill in.

Open in VS Code

Or copy the settings yourself

Paste into .vscode/mcp.json in your project

{
  "servers": {
    "apple-mail": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@redpop/apple-mail-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Your browser asks to open the app, then the app shows the settings and asks you to confirm. Key values are left empty for you to fill in.

This one runs on your computer, and ChatGPT can only connect to servers on the internet. Pick another app.

Your choice stays on this device in a cookie; no account needed.

These settings are generated from the maker’s registry entry. If the README says otherwise, follow the README.

What it can do

Runs on your computer; the tool list appears in your AI app after you install it.

Basic checksi

We check information anyone can see; we have not read the code. Checks that do not apply are left out of the count. · Checked Nov 8, 2026

✓ Pass
Maker matches the repo
The registry name was verified with the GitHub account redpop, which owns the repo
… Not checked yet
Still maintained
We have not read this repo from GitHub yet
… Not checked yet
Has a licence
We have not read this repo from GitHub yet
– Not applicable
Endpoint responds
This one runs on your computer; there is no internet endpoint
– Not applicable
Sign-in with OAuth
Runs on your computer and uses local settings instead
… Not checked yet
No hidden instructions in tool descriptions
Runs on your computer; we can only read tool lists from internet endpoints

Compared with others in Search & AI memoryi

More stars than 0% of the other 5676 servers in this category
Published to the registry more recently than 90% of the other 5676 servers in this category
Basic checks equal to or better than 100% of the other 5676 servers in this category

Compared with every active server in this category in the registry. Stars count only when the publisher owns the repo.

Common questions

Is Apple Mail safe?

It passed 1 of 1 applicable basic checks. We have not read the code. Before adding a key or token, see what access the server asks for and use a key with only the permissions you need.

What keys or codes does it need?

The registry does not list a required key, though some servers ask you to sign in on first use.

Does it run on my computer or in the cloud?

It runs on your computer. Your AI app starts it when needed, and data does not pass through the maker’s servers (unless it calls an online service itself).

Is it still maintained?

The GitHub repo last changed –, and the latest version (0.3.0) reached the registry 4 days ago.

Which apps can use it?

Apps that support MCP, such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor and VS Code. You also need Node.js, MCPB on your computer.

What can I use instead?

In the same category: Context7, Codebase Memory, Exa

Alternatives

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Reading a card:★ GitHub starsiThree pillars: reviews · checks · usageiUpdated = latest version published to the registryi

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Codebase Memory

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Exa

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Connect AI agents to Exa for web search, content fetching, and multi-step research.

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Install

README from the maker

Open the README

Copied from the maker’s repo as written. PopNx MCP has not reviewed or endorsed it. HTML, images and scripts are removed. Links lead off this site.

apple-mail-mcp

A read-only MCP server that lets an AI assistant search and read the mail in Apple Mail.

macOS only. It reads the local index that Mail.app keeps on your Mac.

claude mcp add apple-mail -- npx -y @redpop/apple-mail-mcp

Then grant Full Disk Access once with npx -y @redpop/apple-mail-mcp setup. For Claude Desktop there is a one-click bundle: see Install.

What it does

The main use is "find the mail about X":

"Find the mail from the landlord about the heating bill"

"What did Anna send me last week with an attachment?" "Show the whole thread about the contract renewal"

Four tools: list_mailboxes, search_messages, get_message, get_thread. Search covers sender, recipient, subject, free text, mailbox, date range, unread, flagged and attachments, and can also look inside message bodies. Results carry a message:// link that opens the mail in Mail.app, where Mail stores the Message-ID (not on macOS 15). Details: docs/tools.md.

Why this one

Fast. It queries Mail's SQLite index instead of scripting Mail.app with AppleScript. On one real mailbox with about 240,000 message rows, a page of search results takes 4 to 90 ms in the helper, a subject search 25 ms after the first one; see docs/architecture.md for the measurements and their limits.
Full Disk Access goes to a small helper, not to your terminal or your AI client. The server reaches Mail's files through a small app, "Mail MCP Helper", and macOS binds the permission to that app alone. Node, Terminal and Claude never get it.
Read-only by construction, not by a flag. There is no code that sends, drafts, moves, deletes or flags mail, none that opens the database for writing, and none that opens a network connection.
Mail.app does not have to be running and no Automation prompt appears. Your data is only as fresh as Mail's last sync, though, and a message that Mail never downloaded has no body.
Threads and deep links. get_thread returns a conversation; messages carry a message:// link (not on macOS 15).
Security mails are withheld by default. Messages that look like verification codes, password resets or sign-in links are shown without their body, with digits in the subject masked, and cannot be found by body search. Detection is best effort, not a guarantee.
Settings come from configuration, never from tool parameters, so a malicious mail cannot ask the model to switch them off.
Works with [apple-calendar-mcp](https://github.com/redpop/apple-calendar-mcp): "find the mail about Thursday's meeting". Same conventions: timestamps in ISO 8601 with offset, and errors as an isError result with one plain-English sentence per error code.

Requirements

macOS 15 or later. Verified with a real mailbox only on macOS 27.0.1 with Mail 16.0. The database layout of macOS 15.8 and 26.6 passes the helper's column check, taken from runners without a mail account. On macOS 15 Mail stores no Message-ID header, so results there carry no message:// link. Support depends on the layout of Mail's database, not on the version number: doctor checks it. Reports from other versions are welcome, see Reporting problems.
Node.js 22.16 or newer in the 22 line, or 24 and newer.
Mail set up with at least one account.
Exchange accounts are untested. Mailboxes and message metadata are listed, but bodies of Exchange mail are not read yet: get_message reports file_not_found. See docs/exchange.md.

Security model in short

A mailbox holds secrets: codes, reset links, contracts. Read this before connecting it to a model that can also reach the internet.

The helper holds Full Disk Access and runs only fixed commands. It has no free-form SQL and no path parameter, and it never parses mail content. Untrusted MIME is parsed in Node, which has no special permission.
Mail text is untrusted input. The server tells the model so, but cannot force it.
If your client also has a web or send tool, a malicious mail could try to make the model leak what it read. Use confirmations for those tools, or keep this server in a client without them.
Any program running as your user can start the helper and read your mail with it. This is less than giving Full Disk Access to Terminal, but it is not nothing.
The optional body index is a plain-text copy of your mail that any program of your user can read, without Full Disk Access. It is off by default; see Body index.

The full threat model and both residual risks: SECURITY.md.

Install

Claude Code and Cowork, as a plugin (settings in a dialog, updates with each release):

/plugin install apple-mail-mcp --marketplace redpop/apple-mail-mcp

The plugin runs the npm package below at the plugin's version. Grant Full Disk Access once with npx -y @redpop/apple-mail-mcp setup.

Claude Code without the plugin (or any client that starts a command):

claude mcp add apple-mail -- npx -y @redpop/apple-mail-mcp

npx -y @redpop/apple-mail-mcp setup

setup walks you through the Full Disk Access grant. Settings are environment variables, see Configuration.

Claude Desktop: download apple-mail-mcp- .mcpb from the latest release and open it. Claude Desktop installs the extension and shows its settings page; the settings there are the same as the environment variables. The first tool call without access opens System Settings and the Finder window for the grant.

Each release lists SHA256SUMS and carries build provenance attestations for the bundle and the helper zip.

Install from source

For development, or to run unreleased changes. You need the Xcode Command Line Tools (for Swift) and an Apple Development certificate in your keychain for a build that keeps its permission across rebuilds; without one the build is ad hoc and gets its own, weaker identity.

git clone https://github.com/redpop/apple-mail-mcp.git

cd apple-mail-mcp npm ci npm run build # TypeScript -> dist/ npm run build:helper # Swift helper -> bin/Mail MCP Helper (Dev).app

Then give the helper Full Disk Access (next section) and register the server:

claude mcp add apple-mail \

-e APPLE_MAIL_HELPER_PATH="$PWD/bin/Mail MCP Helper (Dev).app" \ -- node "$PWD/dist/index.js"

APPLE_MAIL_HELPER_PATH points the server at your local build. Without it the server looks for the release bundle Mail MCP Helper.app inside the package, which only the release pipeline produces. A local build is named "Mail MCP Helper (Dev)" (Apple Development signature) or "Mail MCP Helper (Ad hoc)" (no certificate). Both use their own bundle id, so they never disturb the permission of the release app.

The build script never signs with a Developer ID certificate outside CI.

Grant Full Disk Access

macOS protects ~/Library/Mail and offers no dialog to ask for access. You grant it once, to the helper app:

Run setup (from source: APPLE_MAIL_HELPER_PATH="$PWD/bin/Mail MCP Helper (Dev).app" node dist/index.js setup; from npm: npx -y @redpop/apple-mail-mcp setup). It opens System Settings at Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access, shows the helper in Finder, and waits until access works.
Drag Mail MCP Helper from the Finder window into the list and switch it on. (For a local build the name is "Mail MCP Helper (Dev)".) Alternatively click +, press Cmd-Shift-G and paste the path that setup prints.
setup reports success and prints the command to add the server to Claude Code.

Without a terminal (for example with the MCPB bundle) the first tool call that is denied opens System Settings and the Finder window by itself, once per server process, and the error message lists the same steps.

Notes:

The permission belongs to the app's bundle id, not to its location. You can move the package or update it without granting again.
If "Mail MCP Helper" is listed and switched on but access is still denied, the entry is stale. Remove it with the minus button and add it again.
No restart is needed after granting.

More cases: docs/troubleshooting.md.

Configuration

Set these in the environment of the server, for example with claude mcp add -e NAME=value. They cannot be changed through tool parameters. Booleans accept true, false, 1, 0. An empty value counts as not set. An invalid value does not stop the server; every tool call then fails with CONFIG_INVALID naming the setting, and nothing falls back to "allow all".

The server reads these settings once, at startup. After changing them, restart the client. In Claude Desktop, quit the app (Cmd-Q) and open it again: switching the extension off and on, or saving its settings, keeps the running server and its old settings.

Variable	Default	Meaning
`APPLE_MAIL_ACCOUNTS`	empty (all accounts)	Comma-separated allowlist. An entry matches an account's UUID, address or name, ignoring case. A name shared by two accounts matches both; use the address or UUID to pick one.
`APPLE_MAIL_INCLUDE_JUNK`	`false`	Include mailboxes with the junk role and their subfolders.
`APPLE_MAIL_INCLUDE_TRASH`	`false`	Include mailboxes with the trash role and their subfolders.
`APPLE_MAIL_EXCLUDE_MAILBOXES`	empty	Comma-separated mailboxes to hide. An entry matches a mailbox name (exact, ignoring case) or a path with `/`.
`APPLE_MAIL_SHOW_SECURITY_MAILS`	`false`	Show messages detected as security mails without withholding the body or masking the subject.
`APPLE_MAIL_BODY_SEARCH`	`true`	Allow `bodyContains` in `search_messages`. When `false`, using it is an `INVALID_INPUT` error.
`APPLE_MAIL_BODY_INDEX`	`false`	Build a full-text index of message bodies on disk, so `bodyContains` can search every message. Takes effect only with `APPLE_MAIL_BODY_SEARCH`. Turning it off deletes the index at the next start.
`APPLE_MAIL_MAX_RESULTS`	`50`	Upper bound for the `limit` of a search (1 to 100).
`APPLE_MAIL_MAX_BODY_CHARS`	`20000`	Upper bound for `maxChars` in `get_message` (1000 to 100000).
`APPLE_MAIL_HELPER_PATH`	not set	Development only: path to a helper bundle (Dev or Ad hoc). A bundle with the release bundle id is refused.
`APPLE_MAIL_MCP_DEBUG`	`false`	Write one line per helper request to stderr: command, duration and result code, for example `apple-mail-mcp: search 42 ms ok`. Never payloads or results.

Example: only the work account, no mailbox called Archive.

claude mcp add apple-mail \

-e APPLE_MAIL_ACCOUNTS=work@example.com \ -e APPLE_MAIL_EXCLUDE_MAILBOXES=Archive \ -- npx -y @redpop/apple-mail-mcp

Body index

Without an index, bodyContains decodes messages while it searches, so one call looks at no more than the 2,000 newest candidates or 3 seconds of work. A mail from years ago can take many pages to reach. With APPLE_MAIL_BODY_INDEX=true the server keeps a full-text index of the message bodies and searches all of them in one call, with the same matches, order and matchContext as the scan.

Disk space: about 14 KiB per mail. On the test mailbox, 121,000 mails took 1.7 GiB.
Build time: about 3 ms per mail, just under 6 minutes for 120,000 mails. The server builds it in the background after its first successful tool call and continues after a restart. Tool calls go first.
Until it is complete bodyContains scans as before, and the note says how far the build is. Terms shorter than 3 characters are always scanned.
It keeps itself current: new mail is added before each body search and every mi

Only the beginning is shown; read the rest in the repo

Apple Mail

Overview

PopNx MCP’s three pillars

What you can do with it

Install

Before you install

What it can do

Basic checksi

Maker matches the repo

Still maintained

Has a licence

Endpoint responds

Sign-in with OAuth

No hidden instructions in tool descriptions

Compared with others in Search & AI memoryi

Common questions

Alternatives

Context7

Codebase Memory

Exa

README from the maker

apple-mail-mcp

What it does

Why this one

Requirements

Security model in short

Install

Install from source

Grant Full Disk Access

Configuration

Body index