Himalaya Email CLI

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

This skill is separate from the Hermes Email gateway adapter. The gateway adapter lets people email the agent and uses Hermes' built-in IMAP/SMTP adapter; this skill lets the agent operate a mailbox from terminal tools and requires the external

himalaya

CLI.

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)

Installation

bash

# Pre-built binary (Linux/macOS — recommended)
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pimalaya/himalaya/master/install.sh | PREFIX=~/.local sh

# macOS via Homebrew
brew install himalaya

# Or via cargo (any platform with Rust)
cargo install himalaya --locked

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 = "you@example.com"
display-name = "Your Name"
default = true

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

# Folder aliases (himalaya v1.2.0+ syntax). Required whenever the
# server's folder names don't match himalaya's canonical names
# (inbox/sent/drafts/trash). Gmail is the common case — see
# `references/configuration.md` for the `[Gmail]/Sent Mail` mapping.
folder.aliases.inbox = "INBOX"
folder.aliases.sent = "Sent"
folder.aliases.drafts = "Drafts"
folder.aliases.trash = "Trash"

Heads up on the alias syntax. Pre-v1.2.0 docs used a
[accounts.NAME.folder.alias]
sub-section (singular
alias
). v1.2.0 silently ignores that form — TOML parses fine, but the alias resolver never reads it, so every lookup falls through to the canonical name. On Gmail this means save-to-Sent fails after SMTP delivery succeeds, and
himalaya message send
exits non-zero. Any caller (agent, script, user) that retries on that exit code will re-run the entire send — including SMTP — producing duplicate emails to recipients. Always use
folder.aliases.X
(plural, dotted keys, directly under
[accounts.NAME]
).

Hermes Integration Notes

Reading, listing, searching, moving, deleting all work directly through the terminal tool
Composing/replying/forwarding — piped input (
```
cat << EOF | himalaya template send
```
) is recommended for reliability. Interactive
```
$EDITOR
```
mode works with
```
pty=true
```
+ background + process tool, but requires knowing the editor and its commands
Use
```
--output json
```
for structured output that's easier to parse programmatically

The

himalaya account configure

wizard requires interactive input — use PTY mode:

terminal(command="himalaya account configure", pty=true)

Common Operations

List Folders

bash

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

bash

himalaya envelope list from john@example.com 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

To reply non-interactively from Hermes, read the original message, compose a reply, and pipe it:

bash

# Get the reply template, edit it, and send
himalaya template reply 42 | sed 's/^$/\nYour reply text here\n/' | himalaya template send

Or build the reply manually:

bash

cat << 'EOF' | himalaya template send
From: you@example.com
To: sender@example.com
Subject: Re: Original Subject
In-Reply-To: <original-message-id>

Your reply here.
EOF

Reply-all (interactive — needs $EDITOR, use template approach above instead):

bash

himalaya message reply 42 --all

Forward an Email

bash

# Get forward template and pipe with modifications
himalaya template forward 42 | sed 's/^To:.*/To: newrecipient@example.com/' | himalaya template send

Write a New Email

Non-interactive (use this from Hermes) — pipe the message via stdin:

bash

cat << 'EOF' | himalaya template send
From: you@example.com
To: recipient@example.com
Subject: Test Message

Hello from Himalaya!
EOF

Or with headers flag:

bash

himalaya message write -H "To:recipient@example.com" -H "Subject:Test" "Message body here"

Note:

himalaya message write

without piped input opens

$EDITOR

. This works with

pty=true

+ background mode, but piping is simpler and more reliable.

Move/Copy Emails

Move to folder:

bash

himalaya message move 42 "Archive"

Copy to folder:

bash

himalaya message copy 42 "Important"

Delete an Email

bash

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

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

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Himalaya Email CLI

References

Prerequisites

Installation

Configuration Setup

Hermes Integration Notes

Common Operations

List Folders

List Emails

Search Emails

Read an Email

Reply to an Email

Forward an Email

Write a New Email

Move/Copy Emails

Delete an Email

Manage Flags

Multiple Accounts

Attachments

Output Formats

Debugging

Tips