apple-mail-mcp

The only way to give Claude (or any LLM) access to Apple Mail and iCloud.

Gmail and Outlook have APIs. iCloud doesn't. If you're a Mac user whose email lives in Apple Mail — iCloud, iCloud+, or any account synced through it — there's no web API an LLM can call. This server bridges that gap using AppleScript on your local machine.

It gives Claude full control over Apple Mail: read, search, compose, reply, move, flag, and delete messages using natural language, against your real inbox, with no cloud intermediary.

Built on AppleScript via osascript, with an optional MailKit extension for real-time new-mail events.

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Tools

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Requirements

• macOS (tested on Sonoma / Sequoia / macOS 26)
• Apple Mail open and configured with at least one account
• Node.js 18+
• LM Studio (optional) — for local AI tools; any OpenAI-compatible server works

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Installation

npx (recommended)

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apple-mail": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@jdot6/apple-mail-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop, then ask: "What folders do I have in my mail?"

Bootstrap script

Clones the repo, builds it, and patches the Claude config automatically:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jayvee6/apple-mail-mcp/master/install.sh | bash

Manual

git clone https://github.com/jayvee6/apple-mail-mcp.git
cd apple-mail-mcp
npm install && npm run build

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apple-mail": {
      "command": "/opt/homebrew/bin/node",
      "args": ["/path/to/apple-mail-mcp/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Use which node to get the full path to your Node binary. Restart Claude Desktop.

Automation Permission

The first time you use a mail tool, macOS will ask whether to allow node to control Mail. Click Allow. If you accidentally deny it, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation and re-enable it for your terminal or Node.js runtime.

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Local AI (optional)

The AI tools run against any local LLM via LM Studio or any OpenAI-compatible server. Email data never leaves your machine with the default config.

Configure via environment variables in claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apple-mail": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@jdot6/apple-mail-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "APPLE_MAIL_AI_PROVIDER": "lmstudio",
        "APPLE_MAIL_AI_ENDPOINT": "http://localhost:1234",
        "APPLE_MAIL_AI_MODEL": "gemma-4-it"
      }
    }
  }
}

Privacy note: If you point APPLE_MAIL_AI_ENDPOINT at a remote server (e.g. OpenAI), full email content will be sent to that server. The server blocks this by default — you must set APPLE_MAIL_AI_ALLOW_REMOTE=1 to acknowledge and enable it.

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Companion Skill — Email Compose Review

The skill/SKILL.md file in this repo is a Claude skill that adds a multi-agent review pipeline to every email Claude drafts. Before opening a compose window, Claude runs the draft through five parallel reviewers:

An arbiter synthesizes the reviews into a revised draft and changelog. Claude shows you the result and waits for your approval before opening the draft in Mail. send: true is never used for LLM-drafted email — you send from Mail yourself.

To install the skill in Claude Code:

/skill install /path/to/apple-mail-mcp/skill/SKILL.md

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How It Works

Claude ──stdio──▶ MCP server (Node.js)
                      │
                      ├── runScript("list_messages", [...args])
                      │        │
                      │        └── osascript scripts/applescript/list_messages.applescript
                      │                 │
                      │                 └── Apple Mail (AppleScript dictionary)
                      │
                      └── HTTP bridge  ◀── MailKit extension (optional)
                          localhost:27182

Message references are composite keys that uniquely identify a message without a fragile integer index:

{account}::{mailbox}::{RFC 2822 Message-ID}

e.g.  iCloud::INBOX::<CABx3f...@mail.gmail.com>

Every list/search result includes a message_ref. Tools that operate on individual messages (get_email, reply_email, move_email, etc.) take this ref as input. The account and mailbox components scope the AppleScript lookup to the right mailbox; the RFC 2822 ID is the stable identifier. Mail's whose predicate makes the per-message lookup O(1).

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MailKit Bridge (optional)

The MailKitBridge/ directory contains an Xcode project for a Mail extension that fires a local HTTP POST to localhost:27182/event when new messages arrive. This populates get_pending_events in real time rather than requiring a manual poll.

The MCP server starts the HTTP listener on startup regardless — it's a no-op if the extension isn't installed.

To build and install the extension: open MailKitBridge/MailKitBridge.xcodeproj in Xcode, build the MailKitBridgeApp scheme, run the app once to register the extension, then enable it in Mail → Settings → Extensions.

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Development

npm run dev          # run with tsx (no build step)
npm run build        # compile TypeScript → dist/
npm run typecheck    # type-check without emitting

AppleScript files live in scripts/applescript/ and are invoked directly via osascript — no compilation needed. You can test them standalone:

osascript scripts/applescript/list_folders.applescript
osascript scripts/applescript/list_messages.applescript "iCloud" "INBOX" "1" "5"

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Security Notes

• The HTTP bridge binds to 127.0.0.1 only — not reachable from outside the machine.
• Script names are validated against path.basename() before use to prevent path traversal.
• Arguments are passed to osascript via execFile (not a shell), so there is no shell-injection surface.
• AppleScript calls time out after 30 seconds to prevent hangs if Mail is frozen or showing a permission prompt.
• Email content in AI prompts is enclosed in XML delimiters (<email>…</email>) to guard against prompt-injection attacks in message bodies.
• Remote AI endpoints are blocked by default — set APPLE_MAIL_AI_ALLOW_REMOTE=1 to explicitly opt in to sending email data off-device.

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License

MIT