himalaya

name	himalaya
description	CLI to manage emails via IMAP/SMTP. Use `himalaya` to list, read, write, reply, forward, search, and organize emails from the terminal. Supports multiple accounts and message composition with MML (MIME Meta Language).
homepage	https://github.com/pimalaya/himalaya
metadata	{"openclaw":{"emoji":"📧","requires":{"bins":["himalaya"]},"install":[{"id":"brew","kind":"brew","formula":"himalaya","bins":["himalaya"],"label":"Install Himalaya (brew)"}]}}

Himalaya Email CLI

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

IMPORTANT: Binary and OAuth2

The himalaya binary at ~/.cargo/bin/himalaya (also symlinked to ~/.npm-global/bin/himalaya) is compiled with +oauth2 support. Do NOT use the Homebrew version — it lacks oauth2.

Verify with: himalaya --version — output must include +oauth2.

Do NOT attempt to recompile himalaya. The working binary is already installed.

Outlook OAuth2 (ACTIVE)

Outlook email is fully configured and working via OAuth2. Config: ~/.config/himalaya/config.toml

To read emails, just run:

himalaya envelope list

If you see "authentication failed, refreshing access token", that is normal — himalaya auto-refreshes the token via keyring and retries successfully.

References

• references/configuration.md (config file setup + IMAP/SMTP/OAuth2 authentication)
• references/message-composition.md (MML syntax for composing emails)

Prerequisites

1. Himalaya CLI installed with +oauth2 (himalaya --version to verify)
2. A configuration file at ~/.config/himalaya/config.toml
3. OAuth2 tokens stored in system keyring (already configured for Outlook)

Configuration Setup

Run the interactive wizard to set up an account:

himalaya account configure

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

Password auth example:

[accounts.personal]
email = "[e-mail]"
display-name = "Your Name"
default = true

backend.type = "imap"
backend.host = "imap.example.com"
backend.port = 993
backend.encryption.type = "tls"
backend.login = "[e-mail]"
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 = "[e-mail]"
message.send.backend.auth.type = "password"
message.send.backend.auth.cmd = "pass show email/smtp"

OAuth2 auth example (Outlook):

[accounts.outlook]
email = "[e-mail]"
display-name = "Your Name"
default = true

backend.type = "imap"
backend.host = "outlook.office365.com"
backend.port = 993
backend.login = "[e-mail]"
backend.encryption.type = "tls"
backend.auth.type = "oauth2"
backend.auth.method = "xoauth2"
backend.auth.client-id = "your-azure-app-client-id"
backend.auth.auth-url = "https://login.microsoftonline.com/consumers/oauth2/v2.0/authorize"
backend.auth.token-url = "https://login.microsoftonline.com/consumers/oauth2/v2.0/token"
backend.auth.scopes = ["https://outlook.office.com/IMAP.AccessAsUser.All", "offline_access"]
backend.auth.pkce = true
backend.auth.redirect-host = "localhost"
backend.auth.redirect-port = 9999
backend.auth.access-token.keyring = "outlook-imap-access"
backend.auth.refresh-token.keyring = "outlook-imap-refresh"

message.send.backend.type = "smtp"
message.send.backend.host = "smtp.office365.com"
message.send.backend.port = 587
message.send.backend.login = 
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Common Operations

List Folders

himalaya folder list

List Emails

List emails in INBOX (default):

himalaya envelope list

List emails in a specific folder:

himalaya envelope list --folder "Sent"

List with pagination:

himalaya envelope list --page 1 --page-size 20

Search Emails

himalaya envelope list from [e-mail] subject meeting

Read an Email

Read email by ID (shows plain text):

himalaya message read 42

Export raw MIME:

himalaya message export 42 --full

Reply to an Email

Interactive reply (opens $EDITOR):

himalaya message reply 42

Reply-all:

himalaya message reply 42 --all

Forward an Email

himalaya message forward 42

Write a New Email

Interactive compose (opens $EDITOR):

himalaya message write

Send directly using template:

cat << 'EOF' | himalaya template send
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Test Message

Hello from Himalaya!
EOF

Or with headers flag:

himalaya message write -H "To:[e-mail]" -H "Subject:Test" "Message body here"

Save a Draft

Save a message to the Drafts folder without sending:

cat << 'EOF' | himalaya message save --folder "Drafts"
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Draft Subject

Draft message body here.
EOF

This saves the raw MIME message to the Drafts folder via IMAP. The draft will appear in Outlook's Drafts folder ready for editing/sending.

Move/Copy Emails

Move to folder:

himalaya message move 42 "Archive"

Copy to folder:

himalaya message copy 42 "Important"

Delete an Email

himalaya message delete 42

Manage Flags

Add flag:

himalaya flag add 42 --flag seen

Remove flag:

himalaya flag remove 42 --flag seen

Multiple Accounts

List accounts:

himalaya account list

Use a specific account:

himalaya --account work envelope list

Attachments

Save attachments from a message:

himalaya attachment download 42

Save to specific directory:

himalaya attachment download 42 --dir ~/Downloads

Output Formats

Most commands support --output for structured output:

himalaya envelope list --output json
himalaya envelope list --output plain

Debugging

Enable debug logging:

RUST_LOG=debug himalaya envelope list

Full trace with backtrace:

RUST_LOG=trace RUST_BACKTRACE=1 himalaya envelope list

Tips

• Use himalaya --help or himalaya <command> --help for detailed usage.
• Message IDs are relative to the current folder; re-list after folder changes.
• For composing rich emails with attachments, use MML syntax (see references/message-composition.md).
• Store passwords securely using pass, system keyring, or a command that outputs the password.