vim-mail

A mail client in Vim.

Vim-native design. Everything is a buffer. Operations on emails map to operations in vim.

Deps & Setup

macOS/Linux · Vim 8+ (+job +timers +lambda +conceal) · Python 3.9+ · msmtp (send) · getmail6 (fetch)

./setup_lazyass.sh — use at discretion; writes ~/.msmtprc + ~/.getmail/getmailrc (user-level, no /etc, no sudo). Linux has yet to be tested.

Providers

Works with password/app password: Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, iCloud, Fastmail, Purelymail, Zoho, Yandex, GMX / Web.de, QQ / 163 / 126, self-hosted or generic IMAP+SMTP.

Does not work with normal password: Outlook / Hotmail / Microsoft 365, Google Workspace custom domains, Proton Mail except through paid Proton Bridge, Tuta.

Use

:Mail = folder list; l/<CR> enters, h/- goes back, :Mail <folder> opens one directly. Inside a folder:

Key	Does
<leader>f	Fetch new mail
<CR> / o v	Open / quick preview in a split
gx / gd gD	In an open message: open the link/attachment under the cursor; jump between an inline [N] and its footer
r / f F	Reply / forward inline or as attachment
<leader>c	Compose
x / gm	HTML in browser / browse attachments
/ <leader>s	Search headers / full text
dd	Delete — drop this folder's label (staged)
dd+p / yy+p	Move / copy: cut/yank, paste into another folder
s / S	Mark read / unread (staged)
-	Folder list (incl. TRASH)

All changes are staged, and not committed until :w.

Recovering deleted mail. dd just drops a folder label — no trash box, undo intact. But delete the last label and the message is fully removed; those show up in TRASH (a read-only entry in the folder list). To get one back, open TRASH, yy the line, and p it into any folder. TRASH keeps no memory of where a message used to live, and never auto-empties.

Compose (r/f/<leader>c) sends on :w. :Attach/<leader>A = file, <leader>a = clipboard file, <leader>p = clipboard image.

Tricks

You can actually do cool things like:

• Bulk-move: :g/pat/d A, then "ap in the destination folder.

Caveats

• Clipboard <leader>a/<leader>p: macOS built-in; Linux needs xclip/wl-clipboard (untested). :Attach works everywhere. No Windows.
• Inline forward (f) re-renders; use F for a byte-exact copy.
• Threading needs a Message-ID.

TODO

• Merge OAuth support (Outlook/M365, Google Workspace) from multi-account-oauth.
• :MailGC to sweep orphaned canons from .store.
• Scale optimization · message reflow · actionable [N] link/attachment jumps.
• Vim-native operator keymaps (unify s/S/dd) · CI clipboard testing.
• First-fetch UX: a fresh machine (empty getmail oldmail) pulls the whole inbox with no progress — add progress/count feedback, and an oldmail bootstrap or a "recent N" backfill limit.
• Toolbar: an at-a-glance action/keymap hint bar for the index and launcher.