IMAP / SMTP setup

IMAP and SMTP are first-party adapters in mxr, shipped alongside Gmail. Any email provider that supports IMAP and SMTP works: Fastmail, ProtonMail (with Bridge), Outlook, Yahoo, your company’s Exchange server, self-hosted Dovecot, anything.

Add an IMAP/SMTP account

Edit your mxr config file:

mxr config path  # shows the location

Add an account entry:

[accounts.work]
name = "work"
email = "you@example.com"

[accounts.work.sync]
type = "imap"
host = "imap.example.com"
port = 993
username = "you@example.com"
password_ref = "keyring:mxr/work"
use_tls = true

[accounts.work.send]
type = "smtp"
host = "smtp.example.com"
port = 587
username = "you@example.com"
password_ref = "keyring:mxr/work"
use_tls = true

Store your password

mxr reads passwords from the system keyring. Store it with:

# macOS
security add-generic-password -a "you@example.com" -s "mxr/work" -w

# Linux (using secret-tool)
secret-tool store --label="mxr/work" service mxr account work

The password_ref in the config uses the format keyring:<service> to look up the credential.

Common provider settings

Provider	IMAP Host	IMAP Port	SMTP Host	SMTP Port
Fastmail	imap.fastmail.com	993	smtp.fastmail.com	587
Outlook / Office 365	outlook.office365.com	993	smtp.office365.com	587
Yahoo	imap.mail.yahoo.com	993	smtp.mail.yahoo.com	587
ProtonMail (Bridge)	127.0.0.1	1143	127.0.0.1	1025
Self-hosted (Dovecot)	your-server.com	993	your-server.com	587

All use TLS. Port 993 is IMAP over TLS. Port 587 is SMTP with STARTTLS.

Verify the account

# Check it appears in status
mxr status

# Test connectivity
mxr accounts test work

# Trigger a sync
mxr sync --account work

Multiple accounts

Add as many accounts as you need. Each gets its own section:

[accounts.personal]
name = "personal"
email = "me@fastmail.com"

[accounts.personal.sync]
type = "imap"
host = "imap.fastmail.com"
port = 993
username = "me@fastmail.com"
password_ref = "keyring:mxr/personal"
use_tls = true

[accounts.personal.send]
type = "smtp"
host = "smtp.fastmail.com"
port = 587
username = "me@fastmail.com"
password_ref = "keyring:mxr/personal"
use_tls = true

You can mix and match: one account on Gmail, another on IMAP/SMTP, a third on something else. They all sync into the same local database and are searchable together.

TUI account view

Manage accounts from the TUI:

Ctrl-p then Open Accounts Page

IMAP/SMTP accounts are fully config-backed and editable through the Accounts page.

App passwords

Some providers require app-specific passwords instead of your regular password when IMAP access is enabled:

Fastmail: Settings > Privacy & Security > App Passwords
Yahoo: Account Security > Generate app password
Outlook with 2FA: Security > App passwords

Use the app password in your keyring, not your login password.