poke-mail

An MCP server that bridges IMAP/SMTP email accounts to Poke. Provides AI agents with tools to search, read, send, and manage emails, and automatically forwards new incoming emails to the Poke inbound endpoint.

Features

• 13 MCP tools: list accounts, search, read, send, draft, archive, move, mark, list/create/rename/delete folders, server info
• Send toggle: Disable send_email globally or per account — agents use create_draft instead
• IMAP IDLE watcher: Real-time monitoring of new emails, forwarded to Poke automatically
• Multi-account support: Configure multiple email accounts in a single config file
• Bearer token auth: Secure the server with MCP_API_KEY so only you can use it
• No delete tool: Emails can be archived or moved, never deleted by an agent

Quick Start

Prerequisites: Python 3.10+ and Node.js 18+ (which includes npx and npm).

git clone https://github.com/kacperkwapisz/poke-mail.git
cd poke-mail

If you haven't logged into Poke yet, do that first — start.sh will pick up your token automatically:

npx poke login

Then just run:

./start.sh

On the first run, start.sh automatically handles the full setup:

1. Creates a Python virtualenv and installs dependencies
2. Copies config.example.yml → config.yml
3. Reads your Poke API key from poke login credentials and injects it into config.yml
4. Generates a random MCP_API_KEY and saves it to .env
5. Immediately starts the server and tunnel

After the first run completes (or if the server exits with email auth errors), open config.yml and fill in your email account credentials, then run ./start.sh again.

Note: If your email credentials in config.yml are still placeholders, IMAP/SMTP connections will fail on startup. Update the file and rerun ./start.sh.

On subsequent runs, start.sh skips setup and goes straight to starting the server and tunnel.

AI coding agent setup

Copy this prompt into your AI coding agent (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.):

Set up poke-mail (https://github.com/kacperkwapisz/poke-mail) for me — clone the repo, run 'npx poke login' so I can authenticate with Poke (wait for me to confirm), then run './start.sh' which will automatically wire up my Poke API key, generate an MCP_API_KEY, set up the virtualenv, and start the server and tunnel — then help me fill in my email credentials in config.yml (guide me on IMAP/SMTP host and port for my provider but do NOT type passwords or secrets — tell me to enter those myself and confirm when done); if the server fails due to missing/invalid email credentials, have me update config.yml and run './start.sh' again to restart it.

Manual Setup

1. Configure accounts

cp config.example.yml config.yml

Edit config.yml with your email credentials and Poke API key (from poke.com/kitchen → API Keys — not Settings → Advanced or the Recipes page; those issue a legacy pk_ key that only works with the deprecated inbound-sms/webhook endpoint, not the one below):

webhook_url: https://poke.com/api/v1/inbound/api-message
poke_api_key: your-api-key  # from https://poke.com/kitchen → API Keys (V2 key required for this endpoint)

accounts:
  # iCloud Mail — login is @icloud.com, send as your custom domain
  - id: icloud
    imap_host: imap.mail.me.com
    imap_username: you@icloud.com
    imap_password: your-app-password
    smtp_host: smtp.mail.me.com
    smtp_username: you@icloud.com
    smtp_password: your-app-password
    from_address: you@yourdomain.com  # optional — override From: header
    watch_folders:
      - INBOX

  # Custom SMTP server
  - id: work
    imap_host: imap.example.com
    imap_username: you@example.com
    imap_password: your-password
    smtp_host: smtp.example.com
    smtp_username: you@example.com
    smtp_password: your-password
    watch_folders:
      - INBOX

For iCloud, generate an App-Specific Password.

2. Install dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Run

MCP_API_KEY=your-secret-key python3 src/server.py

4. Test

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

Open http://localhost:3000 and connect to http://localhost:3000/mcp using "Streamable HTTP" transport. Pass Authorization: Bearer your-secret-key header.

Authentication

Set MCP_API_KEY to secure the server. All requests must include Authorization: Bearer <MCP_API_KEY>.

When running via start.sh (which uses poke tunnel), set POKE_TUNNEL=1 to make MCP_API_KEY optional — the tunnel handles authentication. start.sh sets this automatically.

If MCP_API_KEY is not set and POKE_TUNNEL is not 1, the server runs unauthenticated (with a warning). Always set it in non-tunnel deployments.

When connecting from Poke, add the bearer token in your connection settings.

Docker

docker build -t poke-mail .

docker run -d \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -v $(pwd)/config.yml:/app/config.yml:ro \
  -e MCP_API_KEY=your-secret-key \
  poke-mail

Or use the pre-built image from GitHub Container Registry:

docker run -d \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -v $(pwd)/config.yml:/app/config.yml:ro \
  -e MCP_API_KEY=your-secret-key \
  ghcr.io/kacperkwapisz/poke-mail:main

Resource Limits

The server is mostly idle (IMAP IDLE + lightweight HTTP). Recommended limits for container orchestrators:

Resource	Reservation	Limit
Memory	128 MB	256 MB
CPU	0.25	0.5

MCP Tools

All email tools require account_id. Call list_accounts first to discover available inboxes. account_id accepts either the configured id or the account's email address (from_address, imap_username, or smtp_username).

Tool	Description
list_accounts	List all configured inboxes (no IMAP connection — cheap discovery)
search_emails	Search by from, to, subject, date range
read_email	Read full email content by UID
send_email	Send email with text/HTML, CC/BCC, reply threading (can be disabled)
create_draft	Save email as draft for review before sending
archive_email	Move email to Archive folder
move_email	Move email between folders
mark_email	Set read/unread/flagged/unflagged
list_folders	List all IMAP folders
create_folder	Create a new folder
rename_folder	Rename a folder
delete_folder	Delete a folder (protected folders blocked)
get_server_info	Server status and account connectivity (performs live IMAP check per account)

Breaking change in v1.1.0

account_id is now required on every per-account tool (search_emails, read_email, send_email, create_draft, archive_email, move_email, mark_email, list_folders, create_folder, rename_folder, delete_folder). Previously, omitting it silently fell back to the first configured account. Agents must now call list_accounts (or pass an email address) to specify which inbox to act on.

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
MCP_API_KEY	—	Bearer token to secure the MCP server. Optional when POKE_TUNNEL=1.
POKE_TUNNEL	0	Set to 1 when running behind the poke tunnel — skips MCP_API_KEY auth requirement. start.sh sets this automatically.
CONFIG_PATH	config.yml	Path to config file
POKE_WEBHOOK_URL	from config	Overrides webhook URL in config
POKE_API_KEY	from config	Overrides Poke API key in config
PORT	3000	HTTP server port

Poke Setup

Connect your MCP server to Poke at poke.com/settings/connections. Add the bearer token (MCP_API_KEY) in the connection auth settings.

The IDLE watcher automatically forwards new emails to Poke. You can also use the tools directly through Poke's AI agent.