Terminal Email Power: Managing Your Inbox with the Himalaya Skill

Tired of switching between your terminal workflow and a browser-based email client? The Himalaya skill brings full email management to Clawdbot, letting your agent read, compose, reply, search, and organize emails—all without leaving the command line.

What Problem Does This Solve?

For power users and developers who live in the terminal, context-switching to a GUI email client breaks flow. The Himalaya skill integrates the Himalaya CLI—a fast, Rust-based email client—into Clawdbot. This enables:

• Automated email workflows: Have your agent check for specific emails, draft replies, or triage your inbox
• Quick lookups: Ask your agent to find that email from last week without opening Gmail
• Composing on the fly: Send emails directly from chat without switching windows
• Multi-account management: Access work and personal accounts in one place

Installation

First, install Himalaya via Homebrew:

brew install himalaya

Verify the installation:

himalaya --version

Then install the Clawdbot skill:

clawdhub install himalaya

Configuration

Himalaya needs to connect to your email provider. The easiest way is the interactive wizard:

himalaya account configure

Or manually create ~/.config/himalaya/config.toml:

[accounts.personal]
email = "you@example.com"
display-name = "Your Name"
default = true

backend.type = "imap"
backend.host = "imap.gmail.com"  # For Gmail
backend.port = 993
backend.encryption.type = "tls"
backend.login = "you@example.com"
backend.auth.type = "password"
backend.auth.cmd = "security find-generic-password -s himalaya -a you@example.com -w"

message.send.backend.type = "smtp"
message.send.backend.host = "smtp.gmail.com"
message.send.backend.port = 587
message.send.backend.encryption.type = "start-tls"
message.send.backend.login = "you@example.com"
message.send.backend.auth.type = "password"
message.send.backend.auth.cmd = "security find-generic-password -s himalaya-smtp -a you@example.com -w"

Tip for Gmail users: You'll need an App Password since Google disabled less-secure app access. Store it in Keychain:

security add-generic-password -s himalaya -a you@gmail.com -w "your-app-password"

Usage Examples

1. List and Read Emails

List your inbox:

himalaya envelope list

Read a specific email by ID:

himalaya message read 42

Search for emails:

himalaya envelope list from john@company.com subject "Q4 report"

2. Compose and Send

Quick send without opening an editor:

cat << 'EOF' | himalaya template send
From: you@example.com
To: colleague@company.com
Subject: Quick Update

Hey, just wanted to confirm our meeting is still on for 3pm.

Cheers!
EOF

Or open your editor for composition:

himalaya message write

3. Organize Your Inbox

Move an email to a folder:

himalaya message move 42 "Archive"

Mark as read:

himalaya flag add 42 --flag seen

Delete an email:

himalaya message delete 42

Pro Tips

1. JSON output for scripting: Add --output json to any command for structured output your agent can parse:

   himalaya envelope list --output json | jq '.[0].subject'

2. Multiple accounts: Add another account block to your config, then switch:

   himalaya --account work envelope list

3. Attachments: Save all attachments from an email:

   himalaya attachment download 42 --dir ~/Downloads

4. Store passwords securely: Use macOS Keychain, pass, or any command that outputs your password. Never hardcode credentials.

5. Debug connection issues: Enable verbose logging:

   RUST_LOG=debug himalaya envelope list

What Can Your Agent Do?

With the Himalaya skill, you can ask your Clawdbot things like:

• "Check my inbox for any emails from HR this week"
• "Draft a reply to the latest email from Mike saying I'll review it tomorrow"
• "Search my sent folder for the proposal I sent last month"
• "Move all newsletters to Archive"

Conclusion

The Himalaya skill transforms your Clawdbot into a capable email assistant. No more context-switching to your browser—let your agent handle the inbox while you focus on deep work.

Links:

• Himalaya GitHub
• ClawdHub Page
• Full Documentation