himalaya

Email Skill

CLI-based email management using Himalaya.

Prerequisites

Himalaya must be installed and configured by the user. Check availability:

himalaya account list

If this fails, inform the user they need to install and configure himalaya first.

Reading Emails

List messages

# Last 20 messages from INBOX
himalaya envelope list -f INBOX -s 20

# Unread only
himalaya envelope list "not flag seen"

# From specific sender
himalaya envelope list "from [email protected]"

# By subject
himalaya envelope list "subject meeting"

# By date
himalaya envelope list "after 2025-01-20"

# Combined filters
himalaya envelope list "from [email protected] and after 2025-01-01"

# Different account
himalaya envelope list -a "[email protected]" -s 10

Read a message

# Read by ID (from envelope list)
himalaya message read <id>

# Preview without marking as read
himalaya message read -p <id>

List folders

himalaya folder list

Sending Emails

IMPORTANT: Before sending, ASK the user:

1. From: which account to send from (use himalaya account list to show options)
2. To: recipient email address
3. Subject: email subject
4. Body: where to get the text (type now / from file / describe what to write)

Send new email

# From is REQUIRED - use email from account list
himalaya template send <<'EOF'
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Email subject

Body text here.
Unicode supported.
EOF

With CC/BCC

himalaya template send <<'EOF'
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Bcc: [email protected]
Subject: Important message

Message body.
EOF

From specific account

# Use -a flag AND matching From header
himalaya template send -a "[email protected]" <<'EOF'
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Project update

Status report.
EOF

Account Management

# List configured accounts
himalaya account list

# Use specific account (add -a flag to any command)
himalaya envelope list -a "[email protected]" -s 10
himalaya template send -a "[email protected]" <<'EOF'
...
EOF

Query Syntax Reference

Operators

• not <condition> - negation
• <cond> and <cond> - both conditions
• <cond> or <cond> - either condition

Conditions

• date <yyyy-mm-dd> - exact date
• before <yyyy-mm-dd> - before date
• after <yyyy-mm-dd> - after date
• from <pattern> - sender contains
• to <pattern> - recipient contains
• subject <pattern> - subject contains
• body <pattern> - body contains
• flag <flag> - has flag (seen, answered, flagged, deleted, draft)

Examples

# Unread from last week
himalaya envelope list "not flag seen and after 2025-01-18"

# From boss OR urgent in subject
himalaya envelope list "from [email protected] or subject urgent"

Error Handling

If himalaya returns an error, show it to the user. Common errors:

• himalaya: command not found — himalaya not installed
• no account found — no configured accounts
• connection refused — IMAP/SMTP server unreachable
• authentication failed — wrong password/credentials