Himalaya

Himalaya Email CLI

Himalaya is a CLI email client that lets you manage emails from the terminal using IMAP, SMTP, Notmuch, or Sendmail backends.

References

• references/configuration.md (config file setup + IMAP/SMTP authentication)

Prerequisites

1. Himalaya CLI - the himalaya binary must already be on PATH. Check with himalaya --version.
   • Recommended: v1.2.0 or newer. Older releases can fail against some IMAP servers.
2. A configuration file at ~/.config/himalaya/config.toml
3. IMAP/SMTP credentials configured (password stored securely)

Configuration Setup

Run the interactive wizard to set up an account:

bashCopy code
himalaya account configure default

Or create ~/.config/himalaya/config.toml manually:

tomlCopy code
[accounts.personal]
email = "you@example.com"
display-name = "Your Name"
default = true

backend.type = "imap"
backend.host = "imap.example.com"
backend.port = 993
backend.encryption.type = "tls"
backend.login = "you@example.com"
backend.auth.type = "password"
backend.auth.cmd = "pass show email/imap"  # or use keyring

message.send.backend.type = "smtp"
message.send.backend.host = "smtp.example.com"
message.send.backend.port = 587
message.send.backend.encryption.type = "start-tls"
message.send.backend.login = "you@example.com"
message.send.backend.auth.type = "password"
message.send.backend.auth.cmd = "pass show email/smtp"

If using 163 mail, add backend.extensions.id.send-after-auth = true.

Common Operations

List Folders

bashCopy code
himalaya folder list

List Emails

bashCopy code
himalaya envelope list                           # INBOX (default)
himalaya envelope list --folder "Sent"           # Specific folder
himalaya envelope list --page 1 --page-size 20   # With pagination

Search Emails

bashCopy code
himalaya envelope list from john@example.com subject meeting

Read an Email

bashCopy code
himalaya message read 42          # Plain text
himalaya message export 42 --full # Raw MIME

Send / Compose Emails

Recommended: Use template write | template send pipeline:

bashCopy code
export EDITOR=cat
himalaya template write \
  -H "To: recipient@example.com" \
  -H "Subject: Email Subject" \
  "Email body content" | himalaya template send

With CC:

bashCopy code
export EDITOR=cat
himalaya template write \
  -H "To: recipient@example.com" \
  -H "Cc: cc@example.com" \
  -H "Subject: Email Subject" \
  "Email body content" | himalaya template send

With attachments (Python fallback):

pythonCopy code
import smtplib
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
from email.mime.base import MIMEBase
from email import encoders

msg = MIMEMultipart()
msg['From'] = 'sender@example.com'
msg['To'] = 'recipient@example.com'
msg['Subject'] = 'Email with attachment'
msg.attach(MIMEText('Email body', 'plain'))

with open('/path/to/file.pdf', 'rb') as f:
    part = MIMEBase('application', 'octet-stream')
    part.set_payload(f.read())
    encoders.encode_base64(part)
    part.add_header('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename="file.pdf"')
    msg.attach(part)

server = smtplib.SMTP_SSL('smtp.example.com', 465)
server.login('sender@example.com', 'password')
server.send_message(msg)
server.quit()

Known limitations:

• MML attachment parsing may fail in himalaya v1.1.0 - use Python for attachments
• message write hangs in non-interactive mode - use template write | template send
• message send may fail with header parsing - use template send

Configuration requirement: Set message.send.save-to-folder in config.toml:

tomlCopy code
[accounts.default]
message.send.save-to-folder = "Sent"

Move/Copy Emails

bashCopy code
himalaya message move 42 "Archive"
himalaya message copy 42 "Important"

Delete an Email

bashCopy code
himalaya message delete 42

Manage Flags

bashCopy code
himalaya flag add 42 --flag seen
himalaya flag remove 42 --flag seen

Multiple Accounts

bashCopy code
himalaya account list                      # List accounts
himalaya --account work envelope list      # Use specific account

Attachments

bashCopy code
himalaya attachment download 42              # Save attachments
himalaya attachment download 42 --dir ~/dl   # Save to directory

Output Formats

bashCopy code
himalaya envelope list --output json
himalaya envelope list --output plain

Debugging

bashCopy code
RUST_LOG=debug himalaya envelope list
RUST_LOG=trace RUST_BACKTRACE=1 himalaya envelope list

Tips

• Message IDs are relative to the current folder; re-list after folder changes.
• Store passwords securely using pass, system keyring, or a command.
• For automation: Always use template write | template send with export EDITOR=cat.
• 163 Mail: Set backend.extensions.id.send-after-auth = true and message.send.save-to-folder = "Sent".
• Folder names: Use English folder names for better compatibility.