Himalaya vs Notmuch Emacs interface
Himalaya: Command-line email client written in Rust that lists, reads, sends and moves mail through shell commands with JSON output.
Notmuch Emacs interface: Emacs front end for notmuch that reads, searches, tags and composes mail from a local Maildir.
Differences
- Himalaya is a command-line program; Notmuch Emacs interface is a mail client that runs inside Emacs.
- Only Himalaya has built-in IMAP and JMAP.
- Only Notmuch Emacs interface has built-in notmuch.
- On Windows, Himalaya runs natively and Notmuch Emacs interface runs through WSL.
- On BSD, Himalaya builds from source and Notmuch Emacs interface runs natively.
- On Android, Himalaya is not available and Notmuch Emacs interface runs through Termux.
- Notmuch Emacs interface has mouse support; Himalaya does not.
- Notmuch Emacs interface has calendar support; Himalaya does not.
- Notmuch Emacs interface has OpenPGP; Himalaya does not.
- Notmuch Emacs interface has S/MIME; Himalaya does not.
- Himalaya is written in Rust; Notmuch Emacs interface in Emacs Lisp.
- Configuration: Himalaya uses TOML file; interactive setup wizard, and Notmuch Emacs interface uses Emacs Lisp in init.el plus the notmuch config file.
Side by side
| Himalaya | Notmuch Emacs interface | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Command-line tools and prompts | Runs inside Emacs |
| Language | Rust | Emacs Lisp |
| License | MIT or Apache 2.0 | GPL 3.0 or later |
| Latest version | 2.1.0 | 0.40 |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Native | Through WSL |
| BSD | Build from source | Native |
| Android | No | Through Termux |
| IMAP | Yes | Through a separate tool |
| POP3 | No | Through a separate tool |
| SMTP | Yes | Yes |
| JMAP | Yes | No |
| Maildir | Yes | Yes |
| mbox | No | No |
| notmuch | No | Yes |
| OpenPGP | No | Yes |
| S/MIME | No | Yes |
| OAuth2 sign-in | via script | via script |
| Threads | through the IMAP, JMAP and Gmail subcommands | Yes |
| Search | built-in query syntax across backends; server-side for IMAP and JMAP | notmuch Xapian full-text search with tags |
| HTML mail | No | built-in, rendered with the Emacs shr library |
| Mouse | No | Yes |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | with the Maildir backend and a sync tool such as mbsync | full; reads a local Maildir synced by mbsync or OfflineIMAP |
| Calendar | No | shows text/calendar parts; no invitation replies |
| Contacts | No | address completion from the notmuch index |
| Vim-style keys | No | No |
| Configuration | TOML file; interactive setup wizard | Emacs Lisp in init.el plus the notmuch config file |
Which to choose
Choose Himalaya for
- Every action is a shell command with optional JSON output, suited to scripts
- Native Windows binary through Scoop and GitHub releases
- Also supports JMAP, the Gmail API and Microsoft Graph
Watch out for
- No interactive interface; himalaya-tui is still pre-release
- Composing rich MIME or PGP messages needs the separate mml tool
- Version 2 dropped the notmuch and sendmail backends
Choose Notmuch Emacs interface for
- Tag-based organization with fast full-text search over all local mail.
- Shows a whole thread in a single buffer.
- Handles PGP/MIME and S/MIME signatures and decryption through notmuch.
Watch out for
- No built-in IMAP; needs mbsync or a similar sync tool.
- Custom tags stay in the local index; only standard flags such as unread and replied reach the IMAP server.
- Requires Emacs and some Emacs Lisp to configure.
Questions
What is the difference between Himalaya and Notmuch Emacs interface?
Himalaya is a command-line program; Notmuch Emacs interface is a mail client that runs inside Emacs. Only Himalaya has built-in IMAP and JMAP. Only Notmuch Emacs interface has built-in notmuch.
Which runs on Windows, Himalaya or Notmuch Emacs interface?
On Windows, Himalaya runs natively. On Windows, Notmuch Emacs interface runs through WSL.
See also: Himalaya alternatives, Notmuch Emacs interface alternatives.