nmh

CLIEmail client

The MH message handling system: separate shell commands to read, file, search and send mail stored one file per message.

nmh (new MH) is a set of small programs such as inc, scan, show, comp, repl and pick that you run from the shell instead of a single mail program. Each message is a plain file in an MH folder, so ordinary Unix tools and scripts work on mail directly. inc pulls mail from a local mbox or Maildir drop or from a POP3 server, and post sends through SMTP with optional TLS and SASL. It suits users who want to script mail handling and compose with their own editor.

Type: Email client
Interface: Command-line tools and prompts
Systems: Runs on Linux, macOS and BSD, on Windows through WSL, on Android through Termux.
Language: C
License: BSD 3-Clause
Latest version: 1.8
Background: Based on MH 6.8.3 from the RAND Corporation and the University of California
Maintained: Yes
Website: nongnu.org
Source: git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/nmh.git
Documentation: git.savannah.gnu.org

Install

System	Support	Install
Linux	Native	apt`sudo apt install nmh` dnf`sudo dnf install nmh` AUR`yay -S nmh`
macOS	Native	Homebrew`brew install nmh`
Windows	Through WSL	WSL`sudo apt install nmh` No native Windows build; run it in WSL.
BSD	Native	FreeBSD pkg`pkg install nmh` OpenBSD`pkg_add nmh`
Android	Through Termux	Termux`pkg install nmh`

Protocols and features

Protocols
Protocol	nmh
IMAP	Through a separate tool
POP3	Yes
SMTP	Yes
JMAP	No
Maildir	Yes
mbox	Yes
notmuch	No

Features
Feature	nmh
OpenPGP	No
S/MIME	No
OAuth2 sign-in	No
Threads	No
Search	pick command matches header fields and message text
HTML mail	via mhshow with an external converter such as w3m
Mouse	No
Multiple accounts	via per-command switches or separate profiles
Offline use	full; messages are stored as local files
Calendar	replies to invitations with mhical
Contacts	aliases via MailAliases and the ali command
Vim-style keys	No
Configuration	~/.mh_profile and mts.conf text files

Pros and cons

Pros

Every action is a shell command, so mail handling is easy to script.
One file per message lets grep, find and other Unix tools work on mail.
Built-in POP3 and SMTP with TLS and SASL; reads mbox and Maildir drops.

Cons

No IMAP; IMAP mail must be synced to a Maildir first and then incorporated.
No built-in OpenPGP or S/MIME, and no thread view.
SMTP authentication needs nmh built with Cyrus SASL and its PLAIN or LOGIN plugin.

Use nmh 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.

~/.mh_profile

# ~/.mh_profile
Path: Mail
Local-Mailbox: Your Name <you@example.com>
send: -server smtp.forwardemail.net -port 465 -initialtls -sasl -saslmech PLAIN -user you@example.com
inc: -host pop3.forwardemail.net -port 995 -initialtls -user you@example.com

# Optional per-user mts.conf: export MHMTSUSERCONF=~/.mts.conf
# mts: smtp
# servers: smtp.forwardemail.net

# Passwords: with no "credentials:" profile entry nmh reads ~/.netrc (chmod 600):
# machine smtp.forwardemail.net login you@example.com password YOUR-GENERATED-PASSWORD
# machine pop3.forwardemail.net login you@example.com password YOUR-GENERATED-PASSWORD

# Usage: inc (fetch over POP3), scan, show, comp (write), send
# For IMAP, sync with mbsync to ~/Maildir/INBOX and run: inc -file ~/Maildir/INBOX

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 nmh

All nmh alternatives

Questions

Does nmh work on Windows?

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

Does nmh support IMAP?

Through a separate tool. nmh reads local mail, so a sync program such as isync copies it from the IMAP server.

Is nmh open source?

Yes, under the BSD 3-Clause.

How do I use nmh with Forward Email?

Use the config in the Forward Email section on this page, saved as ~/.mh_profile, and replace the address and password with your own.

Sources

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