Himalaya — CLI Email Client Written in Rust

Introduction

Himalaya is a command-line email client built in Rust that brings full email management to the terminal. It supports multiple backends and provides a scriptable interface for reading, writing, and organizing email.

What Himalaya Does

• Lists, reads, and searches emails from the terminal
• Composes and sends emails with attachment support
• Manages folders and moves or copies messages between them
• Supports multiple email accounts with different backends
• Provides PGP encryption and signing via GPG integration

Architecture Overview

Himalaya is built on top of the Pimalaya email libraries, which provide backend-agnostic email operations. The CLI layer parses commands and delegates to backend implementations for IMAP, SMTP, Notmuch, Maildir, and sendmail. Configuration is stored in a TOML file. The Rust implementation ensures fast startup and low memory usage.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Install via Homebrew, Cargo, AUR, Nix, or prebuilt binaries
• Configuration file lives at ~/.config/himalaya/config.toml
• Each account section defines the backend (IMAP, Notmuch, or Maildir)
• SMTP or sendmail is configured for outgoing mail
• OAuth2 authentication is supported for Gmail and Outlook

Key Features

• Multiple backend support: IMAP, Notmuch, Maildir, and sendmail
• PGP encryption and signing through native GPG integration
• Vim and Emacs integration plugins for composing emails in your editor
• JSON output mode for scripting and automation pipelines
• Multi-account management in a single configuration file

Comparison with Similar Tools

• mutt/neomutt — C-based TUI email client; Himalaya is Rust-based and more scriptable as a CLI
• aerc — Go-based terminal email client; Himalaya focuses on CLI commands over a persistent TUI
• Thunderbird — GUI email client; Himalaya is fully terminal-native
• notmuch — email indexer and search; Himalaya uses Notmuch as one of its backends
• mailx/mail — basic Unix mail; Himalaya adds modern features like OAuth2 and PGP

FAQ

Q: Does Himalaya support Gmail? A: Yes. It supports Gmail via IMAP/SMTP with OAuth2 authentication.

Q: Can I use my preferred text editor for composing? A: Yes. Himalaya opens your $EDITOR for composing emails. Vim and Emacs plugins add extra integration.

Q: Does it support HTML emails? A: It renders HTML emails as plain text in the terminal. You can pipe HTML to a browser for full rendering.

Q: Is there a TUI mode? A: Himalaya is primarily a CLI tool. For a TUI experience, consider pairing it with a wrapper or using the Vim/Emacs plugins.

Sources

• https://github.com/pimalaya/himalaya
• https://pimalaya.org/himalaya/