Sup

TUIEmail client

Curses email client in Ruby built around threads, labels and fast full-text search over local mail.

Sup indexes Maildir and mbox sources with Xapian and shows mail as threads that can be labeled, archived and muted, in the style of Gmail. It suits people with large mail archives who search more than they file. It reads local mail only, so it is paired with a sync tool such as isync for IMAP and a sendmail-compatible program such as msmtp for sending. The maintainers focus on keeping the current feature set working rather than adding major features.

Type: Email client
Interface: Full-screen terminal interface
Systems: Runs on Linux and macOS, on Windows through WSL, builds from source on BSD. Not available for Android.
Language: Ruby
License: GPL 2.0 or later
Latest version: 1.4
Maintained: Yes
Website: supmua.dev
Source: github.com/sup-heliotrope/sup
Documentation: github.com

Install

System	Support	Install
Linux	Native	apt`sudo apt install sup-mail` RubyGems`gem install sup`
macOS	Native	RubyGems`gem install sup`
Windows	Through WSL	WSL`sudo apt install sup-mail` Unix-only; use WSL.
BSD	Build from source	RubyGems`gem install sup` No ports package; install the Ruby gem.
Android	Not supported	-

Protocols and features

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

Features
Feature	Sup
OpenPGP	Yes
S/MIME	No
OAuth2 sign-in	No
Threads	Yes
Search	Xapian full-text index with a query language
HTML mail	via the mime-decode hook and an external viewer such as w3m
Mouse	No
Multiple accounts	Yes
Offline use	reads local Maildir or mbox; sync with isync or OfflineIMAP
Calendar	No
Contacts	tracks recent contacts automatically
Vim-style keys	Yes
Configuration	~/.sup/config.yaml and ~/.sup/sources.yaml, plus Ruby hooks

Pros and cons

Pros

Fast full-text search over large archives
Gmail-style labels, archiving and muting of threads
Ruby hooks for custom behavior

Cons

No built-in IMAP or SMTP; needs isync (or similar) and msmtp
Changes sync back to Maildir only with the optional sync-back setting
Packaged by Debian and Ubuntu (and the AUR); elsewhere installed as a Ruby gem with native Xapian bindings

Use Sup 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.

~/.sup/config.yaml

# Sup reads local mail. Sync it from imap.forwardemail.net with isync (see the isync entry) into ~/Mail/forwardemail,
# send with msmtp (see the msmtp entry), then add the source once:
#   sup-add maildir:$HOME/Mail/forwardemail/INBOX
---
:accounts:
  :default:
    :name: Your Name
    :email: you@example.com
    :alternates: []
    :sendmail: msmtp -a forwardemail --read-envelope-from -t
    :gpgkey: ""

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 Sup

All Sup alternatives

Questions

Does Sup work on Windows?

Not natively. It runs in Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). Unix-only; use WSL.

Does Sup support IMAP?

No. Sup does not use IMAP.

Is Sup open source?

Yes, under the GPL 2.0 or later.

How do I use Sup with Forward Email?

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

Sources

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