Claude Himalaya Skill: Email from the Terminal (2026)

gmail-manager

Gmail-API route when you want labels, not IMAP folders.

microsoft-outlook

MCP route for Graph-API orgs where IMAP is disabled.

Find that one email from months ago

Himalaya's envelope filters take sender and subject terms directly on the command line. Claude composes the filter, runs it, and reads the hit — no mailbox scrolling.

ForAnyone whose search workflow is currently 'scroll and squint' across three folders.

The prompt

Use the himalaya skill. I'm looking for an email from someone at stripe.com about a webhook signing secret — probably from a few months back, possibly filed away. First run `himalaya folder list` to see what folders exist, then run `himalaya envelope list from stripe.com subject webhook` against INBOX and the most likely archive folder. Read the best match with `himalaya message read <id>` and quote the exact paragraph that mentions the signing secret, with its message ID and folder.

What slides.md looks like

$ himalaya envelope list from stripe.com subject webhook
| ID | FLAGS | SUBJECT                          | FROM              |
| 87 | S     | Action needed: webhook signing   | [email protected]|

> "Your endpoint's signing secret was rotated on …
>  Update STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET before the old value
>  expires."  — message 87, folder Archive

One-line tweak

Drop the subject term and add a different `from` filter — the same shape answers 'everything my accountant ever sent me.'

Pairs with

email-imap-smtp

Same IMAP search as MCP tools for non-Claude-Code clients.

Draft a reply you approve before anything sends

Claude reads the thread, writes the reply as a local template file, and stops. The send is a separate command that runs only after you've read the draft. This is the doctrine for the whole cookbook.

ForAnyone who wants AI-drafted email but will never accept AI-sent email.

The prompt

Use the himalaya skill. Read message 214 with `himalaya message read 214`. Draft a reply to Dana confirming we'll send the signed contract by Thursday, and asking whether she needs wet signature or DocuSign. Write it as a complete Himalaya template (headers plus body) to /tmp/reply-214.txt and show me the full file. Do NOT run `himalaya template send` — print the exact send command and wait for my go-ahead. Tone: warm, three sentences max, no corporate filler.

What slides.md looks like

$ cat /tmp/reply-214.txt
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Q3 vendor contract — final
In-Reply-To: <…@acme.com>

Dana — signed copy will be with you by Thursday.
Quick check: wet signature, or is DocuSign fine
on your side? Either works for us.

# When you approve:
$ himalaya template send < /tmp/reply-214.txt

One-line tweak

Keep a tone file (tone.md) in the project and reference it in the prompt — every draft comes out sounding like you.

Pairs with

email-drafter

Adds structured drafting patterns for trickier business contexts.

humanizer

Strips AI tells from the draft before a human reads it.

Forward a thread with the context already written

Forwarding raw threads pushes work onto the recipient. Claude reads the message, writes the two-line 'here's what you need to know' on top, and prepares the forward for your approval.

ForTech leads routing bug reports, escalations, and 'can you handle this?' mail.

The prompt

Use the himalaya skill. Message 198 is a customer bug report. Read it with `himalaya message read 198`, then prepare a forward to [email protected] as a template file at /tmp/fwd-198.txt: start the body with a two-line summary (what breaks, how urgent, what the customer already tried), then include the original message below a `---- Forwarded ----` divider. Show me the file and the `himalaya template send` command, but don't send. If the report mentions account identifiers, flag them to me before anything else.

What slides.md looks like

To: [email protected]
Subject: Fwd: Checkout 500s on apple pay

Summary: Apple Pay checkouts 500 since ~09:00 UTC;
customer already retried with a new card — not a
card issue. They're on the enterprise plan.

---- Forwarded ----
From: [email protected] …

One-line tweak

Route by content: 'if it's billing, forward to finance@; if it's a bug, to oncall@' — Claude picks the recipient, you still approve the send.

Pairs with

email-composer

Polished summary-on-top patterns for customer-facing forwards.

File a messy inbox into folders — with a dry run first

Claude proposes a filing plan from the envelope list (newsletters here, receipts there), you approve it, then `himalaya message move` executes it ID by ID. The plan-then-execute split is what makes bulk operations safe.

ForThe 4,000-unread-emails person who wants out without declaring bankruptcy.

The prompt

Use the himalaya skill. Run `himalaya envelope list --page-size 100` and propose a filing plan: which message IDs should move to Newsletters, which to Receipts, which stay in INBOX. Print the plan as a table — ID, from, subject, destination — and the exact `himalaya message move <id> <folder>` commands you intend to run. Wait for my approval. After I say go, run them and report a count per folder. Never move anything from a human sender without listing it in the plan first.

What slides.md looks like

PLAN (awaiting approval)
| ID  | FROM              | → FOLDER     |
| 212 | this-week@rust…   | Newsletters  |
| 209 | [email protected] | Receipts     |
| 205 | no-reply@github…  | Newsletters  |

# After approval:
$ himalaya message move 212 Newsletters
$ himalaya message move 209 Receipts
Moved: 14 → Newsletters, 6 → Receipts. INBOX kept 11.

One-line tweak

Swap `move` for `copy` when you want messages in a project folder without losing the inbox copy.

Pairs with

mail-mcp

MCP route with OAuth2 and Exchange support for the same filing.

Run a follow-up queue with flags

Himalaya's flag commands turn 'I'll reply later' into a queryable state. Claude flags what's waiting on you, and one weekly prompt drains the queue.

ForPeople whose follow-up system is currently 'mark as unread and pray.'

The prompt

Use the himalaya skill. Two parts. First, run `himalaya envelope list not flag Seen`, read anything that needs a reply from me, and run `himalaya flag add <id> --flag flagged` on each — list what you flagged and why, one line each. Second, show me the drain query I'll run on Friday: `himalaya envelope list flag Flagged`, plus a one-paragraph plan for working through it oldest-first. Don't draft any replies yet.

What slides.md looks like

Flagged for follow-up:
- 214 — Dana, contract signature (waiting on you)
- 207 — conference CFP, deadline next week
- 203 — recruiter intro you said you'd answer

$ himalaya envelope list flag Flagged
| 214 | F | Re: Q3 vendor contract — final |
| 207 | F | CFP closes June 20             |
| 203 | F | Intro: staff role at …         |

One-line tweak

Run `himalaya flag remove <id> --flag flagged` as the final step of each reply session so the queue self-cleans.

Pairs with

task-master

Promotes flagged mail into tracked tasks with real deadlines.

One briefing across work and personal accounts

Himalaya configures multiple accounts in one config.toml; `--account` switches between them. Claude loops the accounts and merges the result into a single view.

ForAnyone juggling a work inbox, a personal inbox, and a side-project inbox.

The prompt

Use the himalaya skill. I have two accounts configured: `work` and `personal`. Run `himalaya envelope list not flag Seen --account work` and the same for `--account personal`. Merge into one briefing grouped by account, urgent items first, and prefix every message ID with its account name (work/214, personal/31) so there's no ambiguity about which mailbox an ID belongs to. If either account errors, say which one and keep going with the other.

What slides.md looks like

$ himalaya envelope list not flag Seen --account work
$ himalaya envelope list not flag Seen --account personal

WORK — 3 unread
- work/214 — contract signature needed by Friday
PERSONAL — 2 unread
- personal/31 — landlord: inspection Tuesday
- personal/30 — newsletter (skip)

One-line tweak

Pin the account list in your CLAUDE.md so prompts can say 'all accounts' without naming them each time.

Pairs with

jmap-fastmail

Fastmail-native MCP access over JMAP instead of IMAP.

Send a report with an attachment using MML

Himalaya composes rich messages with MML — MIME Meta Language — where an attachment is one `<#part>` tag in a plain-text template. Claude writes the template; the file gets attached at send time.

ForAnyone emailing weekly reports, PDFs, or logs that today require opening a GUI.

The prompt

Use the himalaya skill, and read its references/message-composition.md first. Build a template at /tmp/report.txt that sends ./reports/june-week2.pdf to [email protected]: subject "Week 2 metrics", a three-line body summarizing the headline numbers I'll paste below, and the PDF attached via an MML `<#part filename=...>` tag. Show me the rendered template and the `himalaya template send < /tmp/report.txt` command. Don't send until I confirm the right file is attached.

What slides.md looks like

To: [email protected]
Subject: Week 2 metrics

Signups +12% WoW; churn flat; infra spend down 8%
after the cache change. Full breakdown attached.

<#part filename=./reports/june-week2.pdf><#/part>

$ himalaya template send < /tmp/report.txt   # on approval

One-line tweak

MML also does multipart/alternative — add an HTML part for the recipients who never see plain text.

Pairs with

resend-email

API-based sending when volume outgrows one-at-a-time SMTP.

Turn a week of email into a markdown digest

JSON output makes email pipeline-able: envelopes go in, a structured weekly digest comes out as a note you can keep. Email becomes a queryable record instead of a feed you half-remember.

ForAnyone who answers 'what did I agree to this week?' by re-reading their sent folder.

The prompt

Use the himalaya skill. Run `himalaya envelope list --page-size 100 --output json` and filter to roughly the last 7 days. Read the 5–10 messages that contain decisions, commitments, or deadlines, and write digest-2026-W24.md with three sections: Decisions made (who decided what, with message IDs), Commitments I made (what and by when), and Deadlines landing next week. Keep it under a page. Cite message IDs for every claim so I can verify against the mailbox.

What slides.md looks like

## Decisions made
- Vendor contract finalized at $42k/yr (214)
## Commitments I made
- Signed contract to Dana by Thursday (214)
- CFP answer by June 20 (207)
## Deadlines next week
- Hosting invoice — card expires before retry (213)

One-line tweak

Append each weekly digest to the same folder and a quarter-end prompt can summarize the summaries.

Pairs with

notion

Files the digest into a Notion database in the same run.

Purge newsletters and dead weight — list, confirm, delete

Deletion is the one command with no undo button you control, so the recipe is strict: Claude lists exactly what it intends to delete, you approve, then `himalaya message delete` runs per ID.

ForAnyone whose inbox is 80% senders they stopped reading in 2024.

The prompt

Use the himalaya skill. Run `himalaya envelope list --page-size 100` and identify everything that's clearly automated: newsletters, promotional mail, notification spam. Group by sender, show me the counts, and propose deletions as a list of message IDs per sender. HARD RULE: nothing from a human sender goes on the list, and you run `himalaya message delete <id>` only after I approve the list — and only for the IDs I approved. Finish with how many messages remain in INBOX.

What slides.md looks like

Proposed deletions (awaiting approval):
- [email protected] — 9 messages (212, 198, …)
- [email protected] — 14 messages
- [email protected] — 22 messages
KEEPING: all 17 human-sender messages.

# After approval, per ID:
$ himalaya message delete 212
INBOX after purge: 19 messages.

One-line tweak

Make it a Monday ritual: same prompt, plus 'move anything I haven't opened in 30 days to Graveyard instead of deleting.'

Pairs with

email-imap-smtp

The same purge as MCP tools, with env-based credentials.

Community signal

Himalaya’s front-page Hacker News thread (December 2024, 349 points) is the best public record of how people actually use it. Four voices worth your time — note that the last one asked for exactly what this skill now does, a year before it existed.

“This looks like it's a "real" CLI instead of a curses thing (TUI?). That's really exciting for me. I strongly prefer tools that can be composed as a standard shell pipeline. Edit: That is indeed exactly what this is. It's wonderful :)”

delusional (HN) · Hacker News

The distinction that makes this skill work: Himalaya is a pipeline CLI, not a TUI Claude would have to 'drive.' Commands in, text out — exactly the interface an agent can use.

“Himalaya makes it pretty easy to write cli tools and automate email workflows. It pairs well with August, another rust project that can render html to text on the terminal. I wrote a git email patch automation tool around Himalaya so that people can receive email patches easily”

djha-skin (HN) · Hacker News

Automation was the community's use case for Himalaya before Claude skills existed — this cookbook swaps the bash for prompts.

“Anyway, thanks for this, not sure if this is the "best" way for me to work with mails but it absolutely is the first tool that made me start automating my inbox.”

vigonotion (HN) · Hacker News

From a commenter who shared a full mark-as-seen script built on `envelope list --output json` — the exact pattern use case 9 builds on.

“Is anyone using local LLMs to manage their email? This seems like it could be helpful to hook that up.”

JeremyHerrman (HN) · Hacker News

Asked in December 2024, before this skill existed. The himalaya skill is the literal answer to this comment.

The contrarian take

The most honest pushback in that thread isn’t about Himalaya specifically — it’s about terminal email as a category:

“After testing many clients I learnt to stop worrying and just use Mail app.”

szajbus (HN) · Hacker News

From the December 2024 HN thread on Himalaya.