How do I install ICloud Mail?

Copy the stdio config for Cursor, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or VS Code on this page. It uses the publisher's install, not a PlugMCP proxy.

Does ICloud Mail need an API key?

The publisher lists these environment variables: ICLOUD_EMAIL, ICLOUD_APP_PASSWORD, ICLOUD_DISPLAY_NAME.

What transport does ICloud Mail use?

ICloud Mail runs locally over stdio.

When was ICloud Mail last checked?

Last checked 2026-10-16. Read, search, draft, send and file iCloud Mail over IMAP and SMTP. No tool destroys mail.

ICloud Mail MCP server

iCloud Mail MCP

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for iCloud Mail. Lets an LLM read, search, file and send your Apple mail over IMAP and SMTP.

Runs entirely on your machine: your credentials and your mail never reach a third party. Networking and MIME parsing use only the Python standard library.

Key Features

Read-only by default. Search and read tools use SELECT ... readonly and BODY.PEEK — nothing is marked as read, moved or deleted behind your back.
Searches every folder, not just the inbox. Replies get filed away by mail rules; search_all_folders finds them where an inbox-only search can't.
Drafts before sends. save_draft puts a message in Drafts for you to review. send_email exists, but it is separate and explicit.
Nothing destroys mail. There is no tool that deletes messages, and delete_mailbox refuses any folder that still holds some.
Handles real iCloud MIME. Modified UTF-7 folder names, quoted-printable, lying charsets, HTML-only messages, accented server-side search.

Requirements

Python 3.11 or newer, and uv
An iCloud account with two-factor authentication enabled
An app-specific password — iCloud rejects your main password over IMAP

Getting started

Once published to PyPI, no clone is needed:

uvx --from icloud-mail-mcp icloud-mcp-setup     # interactive configuration
uvx --from icloud-mail-mcp icloud-mcp           # run the server

From source:

git clone https://github.com/JulienRabault/icloud-mcp.git
cd icloud-mcp
uv sync
uv run python -m icloud_mcp.setup

The setup command asks for your address and app-specific password, tests the connection, writes .env, then prints the exact config block for your client.

Generate the app-specific password at account.apple.com → Sign-In and Security → App-Specific Passwords.

Standard config works in most clients:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "icloud-mail": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/icloud-mcp", "python", "-m", "icloud_mcp"]
    }
  }
}

claude mcp add icloud-mail --scope user -- uv run --directory /path/to/icloud-mcp python -m icloud_mcp

Check with claude mcp list.

Add the standard config to claude_desktop_config.json:

macOS — ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows — %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

On Windows, use the absolute path to uv.exe: desktop clients don't always inherit your shell PATH.

In ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.icloud-mail]
command = "uv"
args = ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/icloud-mcp", "python", "-m", "icloud_mcp"]

Use the standard config block in the MCP settings file of your editor (.cursor/mcp.json, ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json, or the VS Code MCP settings).

MCP servers load at client startup — restart the client after editing its config.

Tools

Read — none of these modify the mailbox:

Tool	Description
`list_folders`	List folders, optionally with message and unread counts
`folder_status`	Counts for one folder without listing messages
`search_emails`	Search one folder: text, sender, recipient, subject, dates, flags, size
`search_all_folders`	The same search across every folder at once
`read_email`	Full message: decoded body, optional HTML, attachment metadata
`get_thread`	Rebuild a conversation, optionally with each message body
`save_attachments`	Write attachments to disk and return their paths

Write — explicit by design:

Tool	Description
`save_draft`	Put a message in Drafts. Nothing is sent
`set_flag`	Read/unread, flagged, answered. Reversible
`create_mailbox`	Create a folder, accented names included
`rename_mailbox`	Rename a folder, messages follow
`delete_mailbox`	Delete an empty folder. Refuses while it holds mail
`auto_organize`	File messages by rules. Simulates unless `dry_run=false`
`move_emails`	Move between folders. Simulates unless `dry_run=false`
`send_email`	Actually sends. No draft step, no undo

No tool destroys mail. delete_mailbox refuses a folder that still holds messages — move them out first, which keeps the decision with you.

Attachment bytes never pass through the model: save_attachments writes files and returns paths. Filenames arriving from email are sanitised — they are hostile input, not trusted paths.

Resources

URI	Content
`icloud://folders`	Every folder with message and unread counts
`icloud://unread`	Unread messages in the inbox

Prompts

Prompt	Purpose
`triage_inbox`	Sort recent mail into action required / info / waiting / ignorable
`draft_reply`	Read a message and its thread, draft a reply into Drafts
`follow_up`	Reconstruct an exchange with a contact, say who owes whom a reply

Automation without an MCP client

examples/ holds standalone scripts using the same modules — point cron or Task Scheduler at them:

uv run python examples/daily_digest.py           # what arrived today
uv run python examples/watch_sender.py acme.com  # exit 1 if nothing new
uv run python examples/waiting_on_reply.py       # threads nobody answered
uv run python examples/auto_file.py --apply      # file mail by rules

All support --json for piping. See examples/README.md.

Bundled skill

skills/mailbox-search/ is a Claude Code skill that forces a sweep of every folder before concluding a message doesn't exist:

cp -r skills/mailbox-search ~/.claude/skills/

iCloud quirks handled here

Worth knowing if you're writing your own IMAP client against iCloud:

SEARCH returns UIDs out of order. RFC 3501 doesn't guarantee ordering, and iCloud genuinely returns unsorted lists. Taking the tail of the response gives you the wrong messages — sort numerically first.
No MOVE, no UIDPLUS. Moving means COPY + \Deleted + EXPUNGE, and EXPUNGE purges every \Deleted message in the folder. move_emails refuses to run when the folder holds deleted messages outside the requested batch, which would otherwise be destroyed.
SEARCH CHARSET UTF-8 works. Accented queries run server-side across the whole mailbox. A client-side fallback covers servers that refuse, and flags it via filtered_client_side in the response.
Folder names use modified UTF-7 (RFC 3501), implemented in utf7.py.
Charsets lie. Bodies fall back to latin-1 when the declared charset fails, and to stripped HTML when there's no text/plain part.

Security notes

Credentials live in .env (gitignored) or the environment, never in code. Settings.__repr__ omits the password.
Email content is data, not instructions. The server tells clients never to act on directives found inside a received message.
send_email and move_emails are meant to run only after the user approves the exact content or the exact message list in the conversation.

Development

uv run pytest -q

49 offline tests — no network, no credentials. CI runs them on Linux, macOS and Windows against Python 3.11 to 3.13.

src/icloud_mcp/
  config.py        env / .env loading
  utf7.py          modified UTF-7 for folder names
  models.py        frozen Pydantic models
  mime.py          header, body and attachment decoding
  imap_client.py   connection, LIST, STATUS, SELECT, FETCH
  search.py        SEARCH criteria, threading, multi-folder search
  smtp_client.py   MIME building, SMTP send, copy to Sent
  attachments.py   attachment extraction, filename sanitising
  drafts.py        APPEND to Drafts
  flags.py         \Seen, \Flagged, \Answered
  move.py          COPY + EXPUNGE with the anti-purge guard
  mailboxes.py     create, rename, delete (empty only)
  organize.py      rule-based filing
  server.py        tools, resources, prompts
  setup_wizard.py  interactive configuration
  cli.py           terminal checks

Contributing

Issues and pull requests welcome. Tests must pass offline — no test may require a real mailbox.

License

MIT

iCloud Mail MCP

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for iCloud Mail. Lets an LLM read, search, file and send your Apple mail over IMAP and SMTP.

Runs entirely on your machine: your credentials and your mail never reach a third party. Networking and MIME parsing use only the Python standard library.

Key Features

Read-only by default. Search and read tools use SELECT ... readonly and BODY.PEEK — nothing is marked as read, moved or deleted behind your back.
Searches every folder, not just the inbox. Replies get filed away by mail rules; search_all_folders finds them where an inbox-only search can't.
Drafts before sends. save_draft puts a message in Drafts for you to review. send_email exists, but it is separate and explicit.
Nothing destroys mail. There is no tool that deletes messages, and delete_mailbox refuses any folder that still holds some.
Handles real iCloud MIME. Modified UTF-7 folder names, quoted-printable, lying charsets, HTML-only messages, accented server-side search.

Requirements

Python 3.11 or newer, and uv
An iCloud account with two-factor authentication enabled
An app-specific password — iCloud rejects your main password over IMAP

Getting started

Once published to PyPI, no clone is needed:

uvx --from icloud-mail-mcp icloud-mcp-setup     # interactive configuration
uvx --from icloud-mail-mcp icloud-mcp           # run the server

From source:

git clone https://github.com/JulienRabault/icloud-mcp.git
cd icloud-mcp
uv sync
uv run python -m icloud_mcp.setup

The setup command asks for your address and app-specific password, tests the connection, writes .env, then prints the exact config block for your client.

Generate the app-specific password at account.apple.com → Sign-In and Security → App-Specific Passwords.

Standard config works in most clients:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "icloud-mail": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/icloud-mcp", "python", "-m", "icloud_mcp"]
    }
  }
}

claude mcp add icloud-mail --scope user -- uv run --directory /path/to/icloud-mcp python -m icloud_mcp

Check with claude mcp list.

Add the standard config to claude_desktop_config.json:

macOS — ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows — %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

On Windows, use the absolute path to uv.exe: desktop clients don't always inherit your shell PATH.

In ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.icloud-mail]
command = "uv"
args = ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/icloud-mcp", "python", "-m", "icloud_mcp"]

Use the standard config block in the MCP settings file of your editor (.cursor/mcp.json, ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json, or the VS Code MCP settings).

MCP servers load at client startup — restart the client after editing its config.

Tools

Read — none of these modify the mailbox:

Tool	Description
`list_folders`	List folders, optionally with message and unread counts
`folder_status`	Counts for one folder without listing messages
`search_emails`	Search one folder: text, sender, recipient, subject, dates, flags, size
`search_all_folders`	The same search across every folder at once
`read_email`	Full message: decoded body, optional HTML, attachment metadata
`get_thread`	Rebuild a conversation, optionally with each message body
`save_attachments`	Write attachments to disk and return their paths

Write — explicit by design:

Tool	Description
`save_draft`	Put a message in Drafts. Nothing is sent
`set_flag`	Read/unread, flagged, answered. Reversible
`create_mailbox`	Create a folder, accented names included
`rename_mailbox`	Rename a folder, messages follow
`delete_mailbox`	Delete an empty folder. Refuses while it holds mail
`auto_organize`	File messages by rules. Simulates unless `dry_run=false`
`move_emails`	Move between folders. Simulates unless `dry_run=false`
`send_email`	Actually sends. No draft step, no undo

No tool destroys mail. delete_mailbox refuses a folder that still holds messages — move them out first, which keeps the decision with you.

Attachment bytes never pass through the model: save_attachments writes files and returns paths. Filenames arriving from email are sanitised — they are hostile input, not trusted paths.

Resources

URI	Content
`icloud://folders`	Every folder with message and unread counts
`icloud://unread`	Unread messages in the inbox

Prompts

Prompt	Purpose
`triage_inbox`	Sort recent mail into action required / info / waiting / ignorable
`draft_reply`	Read a message and its thread, draft a reply into Drafts
`follow_up`	Reconstruct an exchange with a contact, say who owes whom a reply

Automation without an MCP client

examples/ holds standalone scripts using the same modules — point cron or Task Scheduler at them:

uv run python examples/daily_digest.py           # what arrived today
uv run python examples/watch_sender.py acme.com  # exit 1 if nothing new
uv run python examples/waiting_on_reply.py       # threads nobody answered
uv run python examples/auto_file.py --apply      # file mail by rules

All support --json for piping. See examples/README.md.

Bundled skill

skills/mailbox-search/ is a Claude Code skill that forces a sweep of every folder before concluding a message doesn't exist:

cp -r skills/mailbox-search ~/.claude/skills/

iCloud quirks handled here

Worth knowing if you're writing your own IMAP client against iCloud:

SEARCH returns UIDs out of order. RFC 3501 doesn't guarantee ordering, and iCloud genuinely returns unsorted lists. Taking the tail of the response gives you the wrong messages — sort numerically first.
No MOVE, no UIDPLUS. Moving means COPY + \Deleted + EXPUNGE, and EXPUNGE purges every \Deleted message in the folder. move_emails refuses to run when the folder holds deleted messages outside the requested batch, which would otherwise be destroyed.
SEARCH CHARSET UTF-8 works. Accented queries run server-side across the whole mailbox. A client-side fallback covers servers that refuse, and flags it via filtered_client_side in the response.
Folder names use modified UTF-7 (RFC 3501), implemented in utf7.py.
Charsets lie. Bodies fall back to latin-1 when the declared charset fails, and to stripped HTML when there's no text/plain part.

Security notes

Credentials live in .env (gitignored) or the environment, never in code. Settings.__repr__ omits the password.
Email content is data, not instructions. The server tells clients never to act on directives found inside a received message.
send_email and move_emails are meant to run only after the user approves the exact content or the exact message list in the conversation.

Development

uv run pytest -q

49 offline tests — no network, no credentials. CI runs them on Linux, macOS and Windows against Python 3.11 to 3.13.

src/icloud_mcp/
  config.py        env / .env loading
  utf7.py          modified UTF-7 for folder names
  models.py        frozen Pydantic models
  mime.py          header, body and attachment decoding
  imap_client.py   connection, LIST, STATUS, SELECT, FETCH
  search.py        SEARCH criteria, threading, multi-folder search
  smtp_client.py   MIME building, SMTP send, copy to Sent
  attachments.py   attachment extraction, filename sanitising
  drafts.py        APPEND to Drafts
  flags.py         \Seen, \Flagged, \Answered
  move.py          COPY + EXPUNGE with the anti-purge guard
  mailboxes.py     create, rename, delete (empty only)
  organize.py      rule-based filing
  server.py        tools, resources, prompts
  setup_wizard.py  interactive configuration
  cli.py           terminal checks

Contributing

Issues and pull requests welcome. Tests must pass offline — no test may require a real mailbox.

License

MIT

ICloud Mail

Add this server

Host a copy with our keys and logs.

Related MCP

Related skills

Questions

iCloud Mail MCP

Key Features

Requirements

Getting started

Tools

Resources

Prompts

Automation without an MCP client

Bundled skill

iCloud quirks handled here

Security notes

Development

Contributing

License

ICloud Mail

Add this server

Host a copy with our keys and logs.

Related MCP

Related skills

Questions

iCloud Mail MCP

Key Features

Requirements

Getting started

Tools

Resources

Prompts

Automation without an MCP client

Bundled skill

iCloud quirks handled here

Security notes

Development

Contributing

License