Invox

Email & PDF Ingestion System

Invox is a Next.js application for automated email ingestion and PDF processing. It connects to IMAP/POP3 email accounts, downloads PDF attachments, stores them locally, and indexes their metadata (sender, subject, date, filename) into a PostgreSQL database. The system supports both manual and scheduled ingestion, providing a simple UI for configuration and monitoring.

✨ Features

• 📧 Configurable email accounts — Add, edit, or delete IMAP/POP3 connections.
• 📂 Automatic PDF ingestion — Downloads attachments into ./pdfs/.
• 🗄️ Metadata storage — Persists sender, subject, date, and filenames in PostgreSQL.
• ⏱️ Manual & scheduled fetching — Trigger ingestion manually or every 5 minutes.
• 🖥️ Web UI — Manage configurations and monitor email ingestion in real time.

🚀 Installation

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/gupta-nu/invox.git
cd invox

2. Install Dependencies

npm install

🗄️ Database Setup

Install PostgreSQL (Ubuntu/Debian)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install postgresql postgresql-contrib

Create Database & User

sudo -u postgres psql
ALTER USER ananya CREATEDB;
\q

createdb email_pdf_ingestion

⚙️ Configuration

Create a .env file in the project root:

touch .env
nano .env

Add the following (update values as needed):

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://ananya:yourpassword@localhost:5432/email_pdf_ingestion?schema=public"

IMAP_HOST="imap.your-email-provider.com"
IMAP_PORT=993
IMAP_USER="your-email@example.com"
IMAP_PASSWORD="your-email-password"

🛠️ Project Setup

Initialize Prisma

npx prisma migrate dev --name init

Create PDF Storage Directory

mkdir pdfs

▶️ Running the Application

npm run dev

Access UI at: http://localhost:3000

📌 Usage

1. Add Email Account

• Open the UI → enter:

  • Email Address
  • Connection Type (IMAP/POP3)
  • Host (e.g., imap.gmail.com)
  • Port (993 IMAP / 995 POP3)
  • Username & Password

2. Fetch Emails

• Manual: Click Check Emails Now
• Automatic: Runs every 5 minutes

🔍 Verification

Check Stored PDFs

ls ./pdfs/

View Database Records

npx prisma studio

Relevant tables:

• EmailIngestionConfig
• PDFMetadata

📂 Project Structure

invox/
├── prisma/
│   └── schema.prisma       # Database schema
├── src/
│   ├── app/
│   │   ├── page.tsx        # Main UI
│   │   └── api/
│   │       └── email-ingestion/
│   │           ├── route.ts             # CRUD for email configs
│   │           └── check-emails/
│   │               └── route.ts         # Email ingestion logic
│   └── lib/
│       ├── email-client.ts # IMAP/POP3 client
│       └── types.ts        # Shared types
├── public/                 # Static assets
└── pdfs/                   # PDF storage

🛠️ Troubleshooting

No PDFs Downloaded

• Ensure emails have PDF attachments.
• Check logs in npm run dev.
• Confirm pdfs/ has write permissions.

Database Issues

psql -U ananya -d email_pdf_ingestion
sudo systemctl status postgresql

Verify .env credentials.

IMAP/POP3 Issues

• Test account credentials externally.
• For Gmail, enable App Passwords.

Prisma/TypeScript Errors

npx prisma generate
rm -rf .next
npm run dev

🧪 Testing & Debugging

• Manual fetch → Use Check Emails Now
• Verify PDFs → ls ./pdfs/
• Check logs → npm run dev
• Database check → npx prisma studio

📜 License

MIT License © 2025 Ananya Gupta