Himalaya Email CLI

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

References

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

Prerequisites

Himalaya CLI installed (himalaya --version to verify)
A configuration file at ~/.config/himalaya/config.toml
IMAP/SMTP credentials configured (password stored securely)

Configuration Setup

Run the interactive wizard to set up an account: bash himalaya account configure

Or create ~/.config/himalaya/config.toml manually: ```toml [accounts.personal] email = "[email protected]" display-name = "Your Name" default = true

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

Common Operations

List Folders

himalaya folder list

List Emails

List emails in INBOX (default): bash himalaya envelope list

List emails in a specific folder: bash himalaya envelope list --folder "Sent"

List with pagination: bash himalaya envelope list --page 1 --page-size 20

Search Emails

himalaya envelope list from [email protected] subject meeting

Read an Email

Read email by ID (shows plain text): bash himalaya message read 42

Export raw MIME: bash himalaya message export 42 --full

Reply to an Email

Interactive reply (opens $EDITOR): bash himalaya message reply 42

Reply-all: bash himalaya message reply 42 --all

Forward an Email

himalaya message forward 42

Write a New Email

Interactive compose (opens $EDITOR): bash himalaya message write

Send directly using template: ```bash cat << 'EOF' | himalaya template send From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: Test Message

Hello from Himalaya! EOF ```

Or with headers flag: bash himalaya message write -H "To:[email protected]" -H "Subject:Test" "Message body here"

Move/Copy Emails

Move to folder: bash himalaya message move 42 "Archive"

Copy to folder: bash himalaya message copy 42 "Important"

Delete an Email

himalaya message delete 42

Manage Flags

Add flag: bash himalaya flag add 42 --flag seen

Remove flag: bash himalaya flag remove 42 --flag seen

Multiple Accounts

List accounts: bash himalaya account list

Use a specific account: bash himalaya --account work envelope list

Attachments

Save attachments from a message: bash himalaya attachment download 42

Save to specific directory: bash himalaya attachment download 42 --dir ~/Downloads

Output Formats

Most commands support --output for structured output: bash himalaya envelope list --output json himalaya envelope list --output plain

Debugging

Enable debug logging: bash RUST_LOG=debug himalaya envelope list

Full trace with backtrace: bash 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.

Himalaya