ClaudePost Email Manager MCP Server

Overview

ClaudePost transforms how you interact with your email by enabling natural language conversations with Claude to manage your inbox. Instead of navigating complex email interfaces, you can simply ask Claude to find, read, and send emails using everyday language.

Prerequisites

Before setting up ClaudePost, ensure you have:

• Python 3.12 or higher installed
• A Gmail account (or other email provider)
• If using Gmail:
  • Two-factor authentication enabled
  • An app-specific password generated from your Google account

Installation

1. Install uv package manager

   On macOS/Linux:

   curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
   

   Remember to restart your terminal after installation.

2. Clone and set up the project

   # Clone the repository
   git clone https://github.com/ZilongXue/claude-post.git
   cd claude-post
   
   # Create and activate virtual environment
   uv venv
   source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
   
   # Install dependencies
   uv pip install -e .
   

3. Create environment configuration

   Create a .env file in the project root with your email credentials:

   EMAIL_ADDRESS=your.email@gmail.com
   EMAIL_PASSWORD=your-app-specific-password
   IMAP_SERVER=imap.gmail.com
   SMTP_SERVER=smtp.gmail.com
   SMTP_PORT=587
   

4. Configure Claude Desktop

   First, ensure you have the latest version of Claude Desktop installed from claude.ai/download.

   Open your Claude Desktop configuration file:

   • On macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   • Create the file if it doesn't exist:

     mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude
     touch ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
     

   Add the following configuration (replace paths with your actual paths):

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "email": {
         "command": "/Users/username/.local/bin/uv",
         "args": [
           "--directory",
           "/path/to/claude-post/src/email_client",
           "run",
           "email-client"
         ]
       }
     }
   }
   

   After updating the configuration, restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect.

Usage

The server runs automatically through Claude Desktop when it launches. No manual server management is needed, and the server stops when Claude is closed.

You can interact with your emails using natural language commands. Here are some examples:

Search Emails

• "Show me emails from last week"
• "Find emails with subject containing 'meeting'"
• "Search for emails from recruiting@linkedin.com between 2024-01-01 and 2024-01-07"
• "Search sent emails from last month"

Read Email Content

• "Show me the content of email #12345"
• "What's the full message of the last email from HR?"

Email Statistics

• "How many emails did I receive today?"
• "Show me daily email counts for the past week"

Send Emails

• "I want to send an email to john@example.com"
• "Send a meeting confirmation to team@company.com"

For security reasons, Claude will always show you the email details for confirmation before actually sending.

Security Notes

• Always use app-specific passwords instead of your main account password
• For Gmail users:
  1. Enable 2-Step Verification in your Google Account
  2. Generate an App Password specifically for this application
  3. Use the App Password in your .env file

Troubleshooting

The application logs detailed information to email_client.log. Check this file for debugging information and error messages if you encounter any issues.

If Claude doesn't recognize email commands, ensure that:

1. The MCP server configuration is correct in your Claude Desktop config file
2. The paths in the configuration point to the correct locations
3. Your .env file contains the correct credentials
4. Claude Desktop has been restarted after configuration changes