Apple Mail
Enables AI assistants to interact with Apple Mail through natural language, providing comprehensive email management including reading, searching, composing, organizing, and analyzing emails across all configured accounts. Includes an expert skill sy
What is Apple Mail?
Apple Mail is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code to enables ai assistants to interact with apple mail through natural language, providing comprehensive email management including reading, searching, composing, organizing, and analyzing emails across al...
Enables AI assistants to interact with Apple Mail through natural language, providing comprehensive email management including reading, searching, composing, organizing, and analyzing emails across all configured accounts. Includes an expert skill sy
This server falls under the Communication category on MCPgee, the world's largest MCP server directory with 33,000+ servers.
Features
- Enables AI assistants to interact with Apple Mail through na
Use Cases
Maintainer
Works with
Installation
Manual Installation
npx apple-mail-mcp-serverConfiguration
Configuration Details
claude_desktop_config.json
Performance
Response Metrics
Resource Usage
How to Set Up and Use Apple Mail
Apple Mail MCP Server is a comprehensive email management bridge that lets AI assistants interact with Apple Mail on macOS through natural language, covering 22 distinct operations across reading, searching, composing, organizing, and analyzing email. Built with FastMCP and AppleScript under the hood, it supports multiple configured mail accounts and exposes smart inbox features like 'awaiting replies' and 'needs response' detection. It also ships with an expert skill system that teaches the AI how to combine tools for complex workflows like drafting rich HTML newsletters or exporting email threads for analysis.
Prerequisites
- macOS with Apple Mail configured and at least one email account set up
- Python 3.10 or later
- Mail app permissions: grant Automation access and Mail Data Access in System Settings → Privacy & Security
- uv or pip package manager for installation
- An MCP-compatible client such as Claude Desktop or Claude Code
Install the server package
Install mcp-apple-mail via pip or prepare to run it with uvx. The uvx method downloads and runs the package without a permanent global install.
pip install mcp-apple-mail
# Or use uvx (no install needed):
# uvx mcp-apple-mailGrant Mail permissions in System Settings
Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation and enable Mail for your terminal. Also check Mail Data Access under Full Disk Access if prompted. Without these permissions the AppleScript backend will silently fail.
Add the server to Claude Code
Register the server in Claude Code using the mcp add command.
claude mcp add apple-mail -- uvx mcp-apple-mailOr configure Claude Desktop manually
Add the server entry to your Claude Desktop configuration file for persistent use.
Optional: set user email preferences
Set the USER_EMAIL_PREFERENCES environment variable to customize defaults such as preferred account, max emails shown, and default folders.
# Example preference string:
# "Default to work Gmail account, show max 30 emails, prefer Archive folder"Restart your MCP client and test
Restart Claude Desktop or reload Claude Code, then ask for an inbox overview to verify the server is connected.
Apple Mail Examples
Client configuration
Add this block to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. Use the --read-only flag to disable sending capabilities if desired.
{
"mcpServers": {
"apple-mail": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["mcp-apple-mail"],
"env": {
"USER_EMAIL_PREFERENCES": "Default to work account, show max 50 emails, prefer Archive"
}
}
}
}Prompts to try
Natural language email management prompts that map to the server's 22 tools.
- "Show me an overview of my inbox with unread counts by account"
- "Search for emails about 'Q4 budget' across all my accounts"
- "Which emails are waiting for my reply?"
- "Compose a reply to the last email from Alice saying I'll join the meeting"
- "Move all emails from [email protected] to the Archive folder"
- "Show me email statistics for last month"Troubleshooting Apple Mail
AppleScript errors or 'not allowed to send Apple events' messages
Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation and make sure Mail is enabled for your terminal application (Terminal, iTerm2) or the Claude Desktop app. You may need to grant Full Disk Access as well. Restart your terminal after granting permissions.
Server starts but no emails are returned
Ensure Apple Mail is configured with at least one account and has downloaded mail (check that the inbox shows messages in Mail.app). The server queries Mail through AppleScript which requires the Mail app to be accessible — it does not need to be open but must be configured.
uvx: command not found
Install uv with 'curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh' and restart your terminal. Alternatively use pip: 'pip install mcp-apple-mail' and change the command in your config to 'mcp-apple-mail'.
Frequently Asked Questions about Apple Mail
What is Apple Mail?
Apple Mail is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables ai assistants to interact with apple mail through natural language, providing comprehensive email management including reading, searching, composing, organizing, and analyzing emails across all configured accounts. includes an expert skill sy It connects AI assistants to external tools and data sources through a standardized interface.
How do I install Apple Mail?
Follow the installation instructions on the Apple Mail GitHub repository. Clone the repo, install dependencies, and add the server config to your AI client.
Which AI clients work with Apple Mail?
Apple Mail works with all major MCP-compatible AI clients including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Windsurf, and Cline.
Is Apple Mail free to use?
Yes, Apple Mail is open source and available under the MIT License license. You can use it freely in both personal and commercial projects.
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Browse More Communication MCP Servers
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Set Up Apple Mail in Your Editor
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Quick Config Preview
Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json or .cursor/mcp.json
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