Neomutt Commander

Use when the user wants to read, search, or organise their email inbox, read message content, manage folders, archive messages, or draft a reply or new message — all from the terminal via IMAP. Works with Gmail, Fastmail, Outlook, and any IMAP provider.

> If sending is not explicitly enabled or approved by the user, always save outgoing messages as a draft instead of sending.

Prerequisites

Install neomutt and w3m (HTML email renderer):

# macOS
brew install neomutt w3m

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt install neomutt w3m

Configuration

Create ~/.config/neomutt/neomuttrc (or ~/.neomuttrc):

set imap_user = "user@gmail.com"
set imap_pass = "*****"

set folder = "imaps://imap.gmail.com:993"
set spoolfile = "+INBOX"
set ssl_force_tls = yes
set imap_keepalive = 300
set mail_check = 60
set postponed = "+[Gmail]/Drafts"

set sort = reverse-date

# HTML handling
auto_view text/html
alternative_order text/plain text/html

For other providers change imap.gmail.com:993 and [Gmail]/Drafts to match your server. For Gmail, imap_pass should be an App Password (Google Account → Security → 2-Step Verification → App Passwords).

Create ~/.config/neomutt/mailcap so w3m renders HTML parts:

text/html; w3m -I %{charset} -T text/html; copiousoutput;

Open neomutt

neomutt

Opens the inbox. To open a specific folder directly:

neomutt -f imaps://imap.gmail.com/INBOX
neomutt -f imaps://imap.gmail.com/[Gmail]/All%20Mail   # Gmail — All Mail
neomutt -f imaps://imap.fastmail.com/INBOX             # Fastmail example

Navigate the inbox

Search messages

Search pattern syntax: ~f · ~s · ~b · ~d

Read a message

Press Enter on a message. HTML parts render automatically via w3m.

Mark as read / unread

Archive a message

Move the message out of INBOX into your archive folder:

s  →  type folder name  →  Enter

On Gmail the archive folder is [Gmail]/All Mail. Add a macro for one-key archiving:

macro index A "<save-message>=[Gmail]/All Mail<enter><enter>" "Archive"

Manage folders / labels

Folders in IMAP, labels in Gmail — same thing. Move or copy a message:

C  →  type folder name  →  Enter   # Copy (message stays in current folder too)
s  →  type folder name  →  Enter   # Move (removes from current folder)

Compose a new message

m

Fill in To:, Subject:, write body, then:

> Default behaviour: press P to postpone (save draft) unless the user has explicitly asked to send.

Resume a draft

neomutt -f imaps://imap.gmail.com/[Gmail]/Drafts   # Gmail
neomutt -f imaps://imap.fastmail.com/Drafts        # Fastmail / generic

Open the draft and press e to edit, then y to send or P to re-postpone.

Quit

q  →  confirm with y