Cone

TUIEmail client

Full-screen console mail client and newsreader from the Courier mail server project.

Cone (COnsole Newsreader And Emailer) is a curses mail client for IMAP, POP3, local mbox and Maildir folders, and Usenet newsgroups. It has a built-in editor with spell checking, address books that can live in an IMAP folder or LDAP, and OpenPGP signing and encryption through GnuPG. It sends through an SMTP server with optional SSL and authentication, or through the local sendmail command. It shares code with the Courier mail server, and most Linux users build it from source with the RPM or DEB scripts upstream provides.

Type: Email client
Interface: Full-screen terminal interface
Systems: Runs on BSD, on Windows through WSL, builds from source on Linux. Not available for macOS or Android.
Language: C++
License: GPL 3.0
Latest version: 2.5
Background: Part of the Courier mail server project; built on the LibMAIL C++ library
Maintained: Yes
Website: courier-mta.org
Source: github.com/svarshavchik/courier
Documentation: courier-mta.org

Install

System	Support	Install
Linux	Build from source	rpmbuild`rpmbuild -ta cone-2.5.tar.bz2` courier-debuild`./courier-debuild -us -uc` No distribution packages in Debian, Fedora or Arch; upstream documents building RPM packages with rpmbuild and DEB packages with courier-debuild.
macOS	Not supported	No Homebrew formula and no documented macOS build.
Windows	Through WSL	No native build; build it from source inside WSL.
BSD	Native	FreeBSD pkg`pkg install cone`
Android	Not supported	No Termux package.

Protocols and features

Protocols
Protocol	Cone
IMAP	Yes
POP3	Yes
SMTP	Yes
JMAP	No
Maildir	Yes
mbox	Yes
notmuch	No

Features
Feature	Cone
OpenPGP	Yes
S/MIME	No
OAuth2 sign-in	No
Threads	Yes
Search	built-in folder search; server-side on IMAP
HTML mail	built-in HTML renderer
Mouse	No
Multiple accounts	Yes
Offline use	No
Calendar	No
Contacts	built-in address books, stored locally, in an IMAP folder, or on LDAP
Vim-style keys	No
Configuration	interactive setup screens; settings saved under ~/.cone

Pros and cons

Pros

Handles IMAP, POP3, local mbox and Maildir folders, and newsgroups in one folder tree.
Built-in OpenPGP signing and encryption with per-account keys.
Optional master password encrypts saved server passwords.

Cons

Not packaged by Debian, Fedora, Arch or Homebrew; usually built from source.
No offline mode for IMAP accounts and no OAuth2.
No S/MIME support.

Use Cone with Forward Email

A working setup for a Forward Email mailbox. Replace you@example.com with your alias and the password command with your own. The same settings work with any provider once the server names change.

~/.cone (written by the setup screens)

# Cone is configured from its menus; settings are saved under ~/.cone.
# IMAP account: Main menu > N (New account) > I (IMAP account)
#   Server: imap.forwardemail.net   (port 993 is the default with encryption on)
#   Login: you@example.com
#   [x] Use an encrypted connection
#   Enter the alias' generated password when prompted.
# (POP3 instead: N > P (POP3 account), Server: pop3.forwardemail.net, encrypted connection on (port 995))
#
# Outgoing mail: Main menu > S (Setup)
#   Outgoing SMTP Server: smtp.forwardemail.net
#   SMTP userid (optional): you@example.com
#   [ ] Send mail via main acct (if available)
#   [x] Use SMTP tunneled over SSL      (uses port 465)
#
# Optional: Main menu > P (Master password) to encrypt the saved passwords.

Protocol	Server	Port	Security
IMAP	`imap.forwardemail.net`	993	SSL/TLS
POP3	`pop3.forwardemail.net`	995	SSL/TLS
SMTP	`smtp.forwardemail.net`	465	SSL/TLS
SMTP	`smtp.forwardemail.net`	587	STARTTLS

Username: your full alias address, such as you@example.com. Password: the one shown by Generate Password next to the alias in your Forward Email account. Folders: INBOX, Drafts, Sent Mail, Trash, Spam and Archive.

Prefer no config at all? Forward Email's terminal app signs in with your account and has mail, calendar and contacts in one program.

Compare Cone

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Questions

Does Cone work on Windows?

Not natively. It runs in Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). No native build; build it from source inside WSL.

Does Cone support IMAP?

Yes, Cone connects to IMAP servers directly.

Is Cone open source?

Yes, under the GPL 3.0.

How do I use Cone with Forward Email?

Use the config in the Forward Email section on this page, saved as ~/.cone (written by the setup screens), and replace the address and password with your own.

Sources

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