mcp-email-server
Click on "Deploy Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type
@followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@mcp-email-server Check my inbox for unread emails from my boss"
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
mcp-email-server
一个能收发邮件的 MCP 服务器。通过标准 IMAP 读信、标准 SMTP 发信,因此 Gmail、QQ、163、Outlook、企业自建邮箱都能接入,不依赖任何单一服务商的私有 API。
用 Python 编写,基于 MCP Python SDK v2。
它能做什么
读信
工具 | 作用 |
| 按发件人、主题、正文、日期、未读状态搜索,返回简要列表 |
| 读取单封邮件全文、头信息与附件清单 |
| 阻塞等待新邮件到达(例如等验证码),超时返回 |
| 列出邮箱文件夹及其特殊用途标记 |
| 把附件保存到本地目录 |
写信
工具 | 作用 |
| 发送邮件,支持抄送、密送、HTML、附件、回复原邮件 |
| 只存草稿不发送,交给人工在自己的客户端里过目 |
管理与诊断
工具 | 作用 |
| 标记已读/未读、加星/取消 |
| 移动到其他文件夹 |
| 移入垃圾箱(是移动不是彻底删除,可恢复) |
| 分别验证 IMAP 与 SMTP 是否可用,且绝不回显密码 |
此外还提供资源 email://{文件夹}/{uid}(把某封邮件当作上下文附件挂进对话),以及提示词 draft_reply(带原文引用地起草回复)。
Related MCP server: IMAP/SMTP Email MCP Server
安装
需要 Python 3.10 及以上。
git clone <this-repo> && cd mcp-email-server
python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install -e .配置
复制 .env.example 为 .env 并填写,或者直接用环境变量。
cp .env.example .env最小可用配置:
IMAP_HOST=imap.qq.com
IMAP_USERNAME=you@qq.com
IMAP_PASSWORD=你的授权码
SMTP_HOST=smtp.qq.com
EMAIL_FROM=you@qq.com
EMAIL_ALLOW_SEND=true填完先自检,不用启动客户端:
.venv/bin/mcp-email-server --check它会分别连接 IMAP 与 SMTP 并报告结果,成功时退出码为 0。
各邮箱服务商参数
服务商 | IMAP | SMTP | 密码填什么 |
Gmail |
|
| 应用专用密码(需先开两步验证) |
QQ 邮箱 |
|
| 授权码(设置 → 账户 → 开启 IMAP/SMTP 服务) |
163 / 126 |
|
| 客户端授权密码(设置 → POP3/SMTP/IMAP) |
Outlook / M365 |
|
| 见下方说明 |
自建(Dovecot 等) |
|
| 账号密码 |
几个务必注意的点:
绝大多数服务商不接受登录密码。Gmail、QQ、163 都要求单独生成一串"授权码"或"应用专用密码",填错了会得到一条含糊的登录失败信息。
Microsoft 已停用个人 Outlook.com 与多数 M365 租户的基本认证(basic auth)。也就是说密码方式在那里多半已经行不通,需要 OAuth2 —— 本项目当前尚未实现完整的 OAuth2 授权流程(见下文"扩展 OAuth2")。
163/126 需要 IMAP
ID命令,否则登录后每条命令都会被拒绝并返回Unsafe Login。本服务器会在服务端声明支持时自动发送该命令,你不需要做任何事。SMTP_USERNAME/SMTP_PASSWORD留空时自动复用IMAP_*的值,同一个账号不必填两遍。
安全开关
默认配置是保守的:装好之后只能读信,不能发信也不能删信。这是刻意的——模型可能误解意图,而发出去的邮件收不回来。
变量 | 默认 | 作用 |
|
| 不显式打开就无法发信 |
|
| 不显式打开就无法移动或删除邮件 |
| 空(放行所有人) | 收件人白名单,可写完整地址或域名 |
|
| 附件读写只允许发生在此目录内 |
|
| 单封正文返回上限,避免撑爆模型上下文 |
|
| 发信后往"已发送"追加一份副本 |
刚接入时强烈建议先把白名单设成你自己的地址,确认整条链路行为符合预期后再放开:
EMAIL_RECIPIENT_ALLOWLIST=me@example.com白名单支持三种写法:完整地址 bob@example.com、域名 @example.com 或 example.com。匹配的是真实地址,不是显示名,所以 me@example.com <attacker@evil.com> 这类伪装会被拒绝。
关于 EMAIL_SAVE_SENT_COPY:Gmail 会在服务端自动保存通过 SMTP 发出的邮件,而 QQ、163 等大多数服务商不会——在那些邮箱上如果不打开这个开关,你发出去的信除了对方收件箱之外哪儿都不存在。
接入 Cursor
在项目里建 .cursor/mcp.json(或用户级 ~/.cursor/mcp.json):
{
"mcpServers": {
"email": {
"command": "/绝对路径/mcp-email-server/.venv/bin/mcp-email-server",
"env": {
"IMAP_HOST": "imap.qq.com",
"IMAP_USERNAME": "you@qq.com",
"IMAP_PASSWORD": "你的授权码",
"SMTP_HOST": "smtp.qq.com",
"EMAIL_FROM": "you@qq.com",
"EMAIL_ALLOW_SEND": "true",
"EMAIL_RECIPIENT_ALLOWLIST": "you@qq.com"
}
}
}
}Claude Desktop 的 claude_desktop_config.json 格式相同。
如果不想把密码写进配置文件,可以省略 env,改为在项目根目录放一个 .env——服务器启动时会自动读取。此时记得把 .env 加入 .gitignore(本仓库已经加了)。
想通过 HTTP 而不是 stdio 提供服务:
mcp-email-server --transport streamable-http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000注意 HTTP 模式没有内置鉴权,只应绑定在本机或可信网络内。
用起来是什么样
配好之后直接用自然语言指挥即可:
"看看我收件箱里有没有来自财务的未读邮件" →
search_emails"把第二封的完整内容念给我听" →
read_email"帮我回复她,说方案我同意,周五之前给她初稿" →
draft_reply/send_email(带reply_to_uid,回复会正确挂在原会话线程上)"等一下验证码邮件,收到告诉我" →
wait_for_new_emails"把那封带发票的附件下载下来" →
download_attachment
服务器的 instructions 里明确要求模型在调用 send_email 前先把收件人、主题、正文摆给你确认,各工具也带了 readOnlyHint / destructiveHint 标注,支持的客户端会据此决定是否弹出确认框。但这些是提示而非强制——真正的兜底是上面那几个开关和白名单。
开发
.venv/bin/pip install -e ".[dev]"
.venv/bin/python -m pytest测试不需要任何真实邮箱账号:
SMTP 发信路径用
aiosmtpd起一个本地真实 SMTP 服务(含 AUTH),断言信封收件人、MIME 结构、附件内容、中文主题的 RFC 2047 编码。IMAP 路径用真实构造的 RFC 5322 报文喂给假 mailbox,覆盖编码头解码、HTML-only 正文降级、超长截断、附件文件名消毒。
工具契约用 SDK 自带的内存客户端
Client(mcp)直连服务器对象,不起进程不占端口。安全策略单独覆盖:开关关闭时必须拒绝、白名单外必须拒绝、错误信息里绝不出现密码。
用 MCP Inspector 手动点一遍(需要本机有 Node.js):
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector .venv/bin/mcp-email-server这里直接把 Inspector 指向安装好的可执行文件,而不是用 mcp dev src/mcp_email/server.py——后者会按文件路径加载模块,包内的相对导入会因此失效。
代码检查:
.venv/bin/ruff check src tests代码结构
src/mcp_email/
config.py # 环境变量配置与安全策略(白名单、路径限制、密码脱敏)
auth.py # AuthProvider 抽象:PasswordAuth,以及 XOAuth2Auth 的骨架
models.py # 工具返回的 Pydantic 模型,也就是对模型暴露的契约
imap_client.py # 收信:连接、搜索、解析、标记、移动、附件、轮询新邮件
smtp_client.py # 发信:MIME 组装与投递
server.py # MCPServer:全部工具、资源与提示词
__main__.py # CLI 入口每次 IMAP 操作都是"连接 → 干活 → 登出"。IMAP 服务器会主动断开空闲连接,而一个 MCP 服务器可能几小时都没人调用,长连接放在那儿多半已经死了。
扩展 OAuth2
auth.py 里的 AuthProvider 就是为此准备的:imap_client 和 smtp_client 从不直接接触密码,只调用 authenticate_imap / authenticate_smtp。
XOAuth2Auth 已经写好了两侧的 SASL XOAUTH2 报文格式,缺的只是令牌本身——给它一个能返回 access token 的 token_provider 就能工作。还没做的是外围的授权流程:拿到 refresh token、刷新、本地缓存。这部分完成后,build_auth() 里加一个分支即可,IMAP 与 SMTP 客户端一行都不用改。
已知限制
等待新邮件用的是轮询而非 IMAP IDLE 推送。
imaplib的idle()要 Python 3.13 才有,而轮询对所有服务商都可用;代价是最长有一个轮询间隔的延迟。HTML 邮件转纯文本是基于标准库
HTMLParser的朴素实现,能保留段落和列表的换行,但复杂排版(表格布局、内联样式)会被压平。尚未实现 OAuth2 授权流程,因此接不了已停用基本认证的 Microsoft 账号。
许可
MIT
Available Tools
11 toolscheck_connectionCheck the mail connectionARead-only
Verify the IMAP and SMTP credentials and report which actions are permitted.
Run this first when a tool fails or the account setup is unknown. Credentials are never included in the result.
Inputs: no named parameters. Returns: Result of ``check_connection``. Never contains credentials.
delete_emailDelete an emailADestructive
Move a message to Trash. Requires EMAIL_ALLOW_DELETE=true.
This is a move, not an expunge, so the user can still recover the message from their Trash folder.
Inputs: uid (required), folder. Returns: Outcome of a state change such as flagging, moving, or deleting.
download_attachmentDownload an attachmentA
Save an attachment into the server's attachment directory and return its path.
Writes are confined to EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_DIR, and the sender's filename is sanitised before use.
Inputs: uid (required), folder, filename. Returns: Where an attachment ended up on disk.
list_foldersList mail foldersARead-only
List the folders in the mailbox, with their IMAP special-use flags.
Inputs: no named parameters. Returns: result
mark_emailFlag an emailAIdempotent
Mark a message read or unread, and flag or unflag it.
Inputs: uid (required), seen, folder, flagged. Returns: Outcome of a state change such as flagging, moving, or deleting.
move_emailMove an emailADestructive
Move a message to another folder. Requires EMAIL_ALLOW_DELETE=true.
Inputs: uid (required), destination (required), folder. Returns: Outcome of a state change such as flagging, moving, or deleting.
read_emailRead an emailARead-only
Open one message and return its body, headers, and attachment list.
Bodies are returned as plain text; HTML-only messages are converted, and long bodies are truncated with a marker rather than silently cut.
Inputs: uid (required), folder, mark_as_read, max_body_chars. Returns: A single message with its body.
save_draftSave a draftA
Write a message to the Drafts folder without sending it.
This is the safe way to prepare mail: the user opens their own mail client, reviews it, and sends it themselves. It works even when EMAIL_ALLOW_SEND is false, because nothing leaves the account.
Inputs: body (required), subject (required), cc, to, +5 more. Returns: Outcome of saving a draft.
search_emailsSearch emailARead-only
Find messages, newest first, returning short summaries rather than full bodies.
Every filter is combined with AND, and omitting all of them returns the most recent messages in the folder. Reading a message costs a separate read_email call, using the uid from these results.
Inputs: limit, since, before, folder, +6 more. Returns: result
send_emailSend an emailA
Send an email. This is irreversible: confirm the content with the user first.
Sending only works when EMAIL_ALLOW_SEND=true, and every recipient must pass the configured allowlist. Pass reply_to_uid to answer an existing message: the reply is threaded correctly and the recipient and subject are filled in from the original.
Inputs: body (required), subject (required), cc, to, +5 more. Returns: Outcome of a send. ``accepted`` is what the SMTP server agreed to deliver.
wait_for_new_emailsWait for new emailARead-only
Block until mail arrives in the folder, then return the new messages.
Use this to wait for something expected, such as a verification code. It returns as soon as anything arrives, or empty-handed when the timeout elapses; nothing already in the folder is reported.
Inputs: limit, folder, timeout_seconds, poll_interval_seconds. Returns: Outcome of waiting for new mail.
Tool Schema Changelog
Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.
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TDQS
Scored across 11 tools
Each tool maps cleanly to a distinct action in the email workflow: read, search, wait, send, draft, mark, move, delete, download, list folders, and check connection. Even similar operations like move_email and delete_email are clearly separated by delete targeting Trash.
All tools use a consistent snake_case verb_noun pattern: read_email, list_folders, send_email, save_draft, etc. Multi-word verbs like wait_for_new_emails follow the same clear convention without mixing styles.
The 11 tools are well-scoped for an email server covering sending, receiving, searching, drafts, attachments, folders, and account health. Each tool has a clear purpose and none feel redundant.
Core email workflows are well covered: read, search, send, draft, move, delete, mark, and attachment download. Minor gaps exist, such as no explicit attachment support when sending and no folder creation or management, but these are not critical dead ends.
Maintenance
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