Skill: Email MCP (email-mcp-helper)

Overview

This skill provides access to a self-hosted email MCP server built on @codefuturist/email-mcp. It exposes 47 tools covering full email lifecycle management — reading, searching, sending, replying, forwarding, scheduling, folder management, labels, bulk operations, threading, attachments, analytics, and health checks — across multiple IMAP/SMTP accounts simultaneously.

This skill is a tool reference only. It does not define how the agent should handle, triage, or respond to emails — that is defined in a separate email management skill that depends on this one as a prerequisite.

Clawhub will mark this as a risk because its tools for email that doesnt tell the agent how to use them and because it provides a link to the actual email mcp server this skill was made to help your agent understand how to use. It makes no sense to lock the actual email handling skill down to a single mcp email tool - the skills dont belong together so Clawhub wil always mark this package dangerous. All Clawhub really does is get users used to acccepting security risks without looking because they label everything a security risk, many times without even citing why. Use at your own risk, or dont use it, I dont care, its for me and I share - and I am tired of fighting clawhub who clearly doesnt care about the actual security risk they create by desensitizing people to security ratings that make no sense, lack evidence, misfire fire over ridiculous things, say there isa virus finding while total virus says there is none, and in general overall, cause most users to ignore them. You should be having your agent always check any skill before installing & using it to make sure it isnt siphoning data, running actual real commands that could compromise your system and or otherwise maintain skills aligned with the overarching skill set. Dont rely on Clawhub, DYOR always!

Infrastructure Notes

This MCP server runs as a standalone docker or Kubernetes deployment separate from the OpenClaw container. It is NOT bundled with or managed by OpenClaw. You must setup this MCP server yourself, have your agent help you.

Source code: https://github.com/codefuturist/email-mcp

Key infrastructure requirements (outside this skill's scope):

• The email-mcp image (ghcr.io/codefuturist/email-mcp:latest) is stdio-only — it has no built-in HTTP server
• A MCP proxy (e.g. sparfenyuk/mcp-proxy) must be installed alongside it to expose the server over HTTP/SSE — without the proxy the server cannot be reached over a network
• Accounts are configured via a config.toml file mounted into the container — credentials are managed outside this skill
• The proxy and server are deployed together in a single custom Docker image

This skill assumes the server is already running and reachable. If the server is unreachable, this skill cannot function.

Connection

Configured Accounts

Accounts are configured server-side. Always call list_accounts to get the current account names — never hardcode them. The account parameter in every tool must match the exact name returned by list_accounts.

Prerequisites Before Using Any Tool

1. Call list_accounts to get valid account names
2. Call list_mailboxes(account) before any operation involving folder paths — paths are provider-specific and must be exact

Rules

• The account parameter is always the account name (e.g. shawnroy), never the email address
• emailId is the IMAP UID string — always obtained from list_emails or search_emails, never guessed
• mailbox must be an exact path from list_mailboxes — never guess folder names
• get_email and get_emails are non-destructive by default — they use IMAP PEEK and do NOT mark emails as read unless markRead: true is explicitly set
• delete_email moves to Trash by default — only set permanent: true when explicitly instructed
• find_email_folder must be used before move_email or delete_email when the email was discovered via a virtual folder (e.g. Gmail "All Mail")
• Never call delete_mailbox without explicit user instruction — it is irreversible and destroys all contents

Tools Reference

Account & Health

list_accounts

List all configured email accounts and their names.

• No parameters required
• Returns: account names, email addresses, provider info

list_mailboxes

List all folders for an account with unread counts and special-use flags.

• account (string, required) — account name from list_accounts
• Returns: folder paths, total messages, unread counts, special-use flags (Inbox, Sent, Trash, etc.)

check_health

Check IMAP/SMTP connection health, latency, quota, and server capabilities.

• account (string, required)

Reading Email

list_emails

Paginated email list with metadata. Returns read/unread 🔵, flagged ⭐, replied ↩️, attachment 📎, and label 🏷️ indicators.

• account (string, required)
• mailbox (string, default: INBOX)
• page (int, default: 1)
• pageSize (int, default: 20, max: 100)
• since (ISO 8601 string, optional) — emails after this date
• before (ISO 8601 string, optional) — emails before this date
• from (string, optional) — filter by sender
• subject (string, optional) — filter by subject keyword
• seen (boolean, optional) — true = read only, false = unread only
• flagged (boolean, optional) — true = flagged only
• has_attachment (boolean, optional)
• answered (boolean, optional) — true = replied, false = not yet replied

get_email

Full content of a single email. Non-destructive by default (IMAP PEEK).

• account (string, required)
• emailId (string, required) — UID from list_emails
• mailbox (string, default: INBOX)
• format (enum, default: full) — full = raw, text = plain text (strips HTML), stripped = plain text without quoted replies or signatures
• maxLength (int, optional) — truncate body at this many characters
• markRead (boolean, default: false) — set true to explicitly mark as read

get_emails

Fetch full content of up to 20 emails in a single call. More efficient than looping get_email. Non-destructive.

• account (string, required)
• ids (array of strings, required, max 20) — UIDs from list_emails
• mailbox (string, default: INBOX)
• format (enum, default: text) — same options as get_email
• maxLength (int, optional)

get_email_status

Read/flag/label state only — no body fetched. Very cheap, use when you only need to check state.

• account (string, required)
• emailId (string, required)
• mailbox (string, default: INBOX)

search_emails

Search by keyword across subject, sender, and body with optional filters. Omit query to use as a pure filter.

• account (string, required)
• query (string, optional) — keyword search
• mailbox (string, default: INBOX)
• page (int, default: 1)
• pageSize (int, default: 20, max: 100)
• to (string, optional) — filter by recipient
• has_attachment (boolean, optional)
• larger_than (number, optional) — minimum size in KB
• smaller_than (number, optional) — maximum size in KB
• answered (boolean, optional)

get_thread

Reconstruct a full conversation thread via References/In-Reply-To headers.

• account (string, required)
• emailId (string, required) — any email in the thread

find_email_folder

Discover which real folder(s) an email actually lives in. Required before move_email or delete_email when email was found via a virtual folder.

• account (string, required)
• emailId (string, required)

extract_contacts

Extract unique contacts from recent email headers.

• account (string, required)
• mailbox (string, optional)
• limit (int, optional)

get_email_stats

Email analytics — volume, top senders, daily trends.

• account (string, required)

download_attachment

Download a specific email attachment.

• account (string, required)
• emailId (string, required)
• mailbox (string, default: INBOX)
• filename (string, required) — exact filename from get_email attachment metadata

Sending Email

send_email

Send a new email. Plain text or HTML.

• account (string, required)
• to (array of email strings, required, min 1)
• subject (string, required)
• body (string, required)
• cc (array of email strings, optional)
• bcc (array of email strings, optional)
• html (boolean, default: false) — set true to send as HTML

reply_email

Reply with proper threading (In-Reply-To & References headers). Call get_email first to read the original.

• account (string, required)
• emailId (string, required) — email to reply to
• mailbox (string, default: INBOX)
• body (string, required)
• replyAll (boolean, default: false)
• html (boolean, default: false)

forward_email

Forward with original content quoted below.

• account (string, required)
• emailId (string, required)
• mailbox (string, default: INBOX)
• to (array of email strings, required)
• body (string, optional) — additional message above forwarded content
• cc (array of email strings, optional)

save_draft

Save email to Drafts without sending.

• account (string, required)
• to (array of email strings, optional)
• subject (string, optional)
• body (string, optional)
• html (boolean, default: false)

send_draft

Send an existing draft and remove it from Drafts.

• account (string, required)
• emailId (string, required) — draft email ID

schedule_email

Schedule an email for future delivery.

• account (string, required)
• to (array of email strings, required)
• subject (string, required)
• body (string, required)
• sendAt (ISO 8601 string, required) — scheduled send time

list_scheduled

List scheduled emails by status.

• account (string, required)
• status (enum, optional) — pending, sent, failed

cancel_scheduled

Cancel a pending scheduled email.

• account (string, required)
• emailId (string, required)

Managing Email

move_email

Move email to a different folder. Source must be a real folder — use find_email_folder first if discovered via a virtual folder.

• account (string, required)
• emailId (string, required)
• sourceMailbox (string, required) — current folder
• destinationMailbox (string, required) — target folder (verify with list_mailboxes)

delete_email

Delete an email. Moves to Trash by default.

• account (string, required)
• emailId (string, required)
• mailbox (string, default: INBOX)
• permanent (boolean, default: false) — ⚠️ set true only when explicitly instructed — irreversible

mark_email

Change email flags.

• account (string, required)
• id (string, required) — email UID
• mailbox (string, default: INBOX)
• action (enum, required) — read, unread, flag, unflag

bulk_action

Batch operation on up to 100 emails.

• account (string, required)
• ids (array of strings, required, max 100)
• action (enum, required) — move, delete, read, unread, flag, unflag
• destinationMailbox (string) — required when action is move

Folders

create_mailbox

Create a new folder. Use / for nested folders.

• account (string, required)
• path (string, required) — e.g. Archive/2026 or Projects

rename_mailbox

Rename an existing folder.

• account (string, required)
• path (string, required) — current path
• new_path (string, required) — new path

delete_mailbox

⚠️ Permanently delete a folder and ALL its contents. Irreversible.

• account (string, required)
• path (string, required)

Labels

list_labels

Discover available labels. Provider-aware — handles Gmail, ProtonMail, and standard IMAP keywords differently.

• account (string, required)

add_label

Add a label to an email.

• account (string, required)
• emailId (string, required)
• mailbox (string, required)
• label (string, required)

remove_label

Remove a label from an email.

• account (string, required)
• emailId (string, required)
• mailbox (string, required)
• label (string, required)

create_label

Create a new label.

• account (string, required)
• name (string, required)

delete_label

Delete a label.

• account (string, required)
• name (string, required)

Templates

list_templates

List available email templates.

• account (string, required)

apply_template

Apply a template with variable substitution and send or save as draft.

• account (string, required)
• templateName (string, required)
• variables (object, optional) — key/value pairs for substitution
• to (array of email strings, optional) — required to send, optional for draft
• action (enum, default: draft) — send or draft

Analytics & Contacts

get_email_stats

Email analytics — volume, top senders, daily trends.

• account (string, required)

extract_contacts

Extract unique contacts from recent email headers.

• account (string, required)
• mailbox (string, optional)
• limit (int, optional)

Common Call Sequences

List unread inbox emails

list_accounts()
→ list_emails(account, mailbox="INBOX", seen=false, pageSize=20)

Read a specific email

list_emails(account, mailbox="INBOX")
→ get_email(account, emailId, format="stripped")

Reply to an email

list_emails(account) → get emailId
→ get_email(account, emailId) → read content
→ reply_email(account, emailId, body="...", replyAll=false)

Send a new email

send_email(account, to=["[email protected]"], subject="...", body="...")

Move email to folder

list_mailboxes(account) → verify destination path
→ move_email(account, emailId, sourceMailbox="INBOX", destinationMailbox="Archive")

Search with filters

search_emails(account, query="invoice", has_attachment=true, mailbox="INBOX")

Batch read for triage

list_emails(account, seen=false, pageSize=20) → collect ids
→ get_emails(account, ids=[...], format="stripped")