TUI email client in native Golang with LLM based drafting functions(code.intellios.ai)

cwmail
A terminal email client with proper HTML rendering,
inline image support, multi-account IMAP, and AI-drafted replies powered
by DeepSeek V4 Pro.

Written in Go on Bubbletea v2. Reads real mail. Renders HTML newsletters,
receipts, calendar invites, and event posters without dropping out to a
browser. Drafts replies you can edit in place.

IMAP
multi-accountGmail, iCloud, Outlook, custom

IDLE
push notificationsnot polling

AI
DeepSeek V4 Prodrafts your reply

What it is

cwmail is a full-screen Bubbletea TUI for managing IMAP mailboxes. It
handles the actual hard parts of email — MIME multipart, HTML rendering,
charset detection, inline images, attachments, threading, drafts —
not just the obvious ones.

You can manage as many IMAP accounts as you want side-by-side in the
sidebar. Folder navigation is fast (Vim-style or arrows), full-text
search hits the local SQLite mirror so it returns instantly, and IDLE
push keeps your inbox current without polling. Desktop notifications
fire when new mail arrives.

The AI-drafted-reply feature is a one-key action: hit R on
any open message and the model produces a contextual reply draft in the
composer. You can edit, send, save as draft, or discard. Same DeepSeek
profile cwcode uses, so one API key powers both apps.

It is not a service. There is no cwmail.io. Your IMAP credentials sit
in ~/.config/cwmail/config.json; everything else lives in
~/.local/share/cwmail/. Offline-capable for everything
except actually sending and fetching.

Why it’s different

Multi-account IMAP

As many Gmail / iCloud / Outlook / custom-IMAP accounts as you want
in the sidebar at once. Each account’s folder tree, unread
counter, and IDLE connection is independent. The Spam, Trash, and
Drafts folders are merged into a unified view by default.

HTML emails that render

Most terminal mail clients dump the plain-text alternative and call
it a day. cwmail’s HTML-to-terminal converter handles tables,
horizontal & vertical rules, ordered & unordered lists,
block quotes, links, charset translation, and HTML entity decoding.
Newsletters, receipts, event invites all read cleanly.

Inline images

Embedded and CID-referenced images render as half-block ANSI in
24-bit color (via pixterm-style rendering). Works on
any terminal with true-color support. Useful for event banners,
product photos in receipts, and inline charts.

AI-drafted replies

Hit R on any open message. The DeepSeek V4 Pro model
drafts a contextual reply (using the same profile cwcode uses).
You see the draft in the composer ready to edit. The model knows
the prior thread, your typical tone, and whether to be terse or
warm based on the conversation. Costs ~$0.01 per draft.

IDLE push, not polling

IMAP IDLE means the server tells the client when new mail arrives.
cwmail keeps one IDLE connection per account open and surfaces new
mail within a second of receipt. No 5-minute fetch cycles, no
batch checking. Desktop notifications fire on arrival.

Undo delete

Delete moves to Trash and shows a brief “undo” toast
for 8 seconds. Hit u and the message comes back.
Matches matcha.email’s UX for the most common reflex
mistake.

Draft auto-save

Any time you’re editing a reply or compose, the buffer is
persisted to ~/.local/share/cwmail/drafts/ every few
keystrokes. Crash, force-quit, accidentally close the window
— the draft is still there next time you launch.

CLI send mode

cwmail send --to alice@example.com --subject “build done”
--body “all green” — non-interactive sending,
useful for AI agents (cwcode included), CI pipelines, and shell
scripts. Reads body from stdin too. Same auth as the TUI.

No SaaS lock-in

Config is JSON. Local mirror is SQLite. Drafts are plain files
under ~/.local/share/cwmail/. You can grep your own
mail. Credentials live in the OS keyring (macOS Keychain, libsecret
on Linux, Credential Manager on Windows).

What it looks like

Inbox view — multi-account sidebar, dense subject/from/date list, vim-style nav.

HTML newsletter rendered inline — tables, event blocks, and inline images as half-block ANSI.

AI-drafted reply — one keypress, contextual draft, then edit and send.

Install

Download a pre-built binary from the
Google Drive release folder
(current build: v0.9; macOS arm64 / amd64 and Linux amd64). Drop it
somewhere on your PATH and make it executable:

curl -L -o ~/.local/bin/cwmail
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/cwmail
cwmail --help

Configure your first IMAP account in
~/.config/cwmail/config.json:

{
"accounts": [
{
"name": "Gmail",
"imap": "imap.gmail.com:993",
"smtp": "smtp.gmail.com:587",
"username": "you@gmail.com"
}
],
"ai": {
"endpoint": "https://api.deepseek.com",
"model": "deepseek-v4-pro",
"api_key": "sk-..."
}
}

Run it.

cwmail # full TUI
cwmail send --to a@b.com --subject hi # non-interactive send
cwmail compose # straight to composer

On first launch cwmail prompts for the Gmail app-password (or
OAuth flow), stores it in the OS keyring, and starts the IDLE
connection.

FAQ

Does it support Gmail OAuth?
App-password is the default and the simplest path.
OAuth is wired but requires registering a client; if that
matters to you, get in touch.

What about calendar invites?
cwmail parses the ICS attachment and renders the
event date, time, location, and summary inline. Hitting Accept
sends the reply iCal; declining lets you add a brief note.

Search?
Full-text against the local SQLite mirror. Press
/ for instant search across subject, body, and
sender. Server-side search is also exposed via /i:.

Threading?
RFC 5256 thread sort with In-Reply-To / References
fallbacks. Conversations collapse and expand on
Enter; navigation walks the tree.

What does the AI reply actually look like?
See the third screenshot above. The model is given
the thread context plus a short system prompt that asks for a
terse, professional draft. You can configure the tone in the
config file. The draft lands in the composer ready to edit
— nothing is sent without you pressing Ctrl+S.

Is the source available?
Pre-built binaries on
Google Drive.
Source currently private — will open once the IMAP edge
cases settle. Reach out for early access.

Does it work with cwcode?
Yes — cwcode can call
cwmail send as a CLI tool. We use this for “ship
a build, email the team” runs at the end of long autonomous
loops.