/himalaya

name: himalaya
description: "Himalaya CLI: IMAP/SMTP email from terminal."
version: 1.1.0
author: community
license: MIT
platforms: [linux, macos, windows]
metadata:
  hermes:
    tags: [Email, IMAP, SMTP, CLI, Communication]
    homepage: https://github.com/pimalaya/himalaya
prerequisites:
  commands: [himalaya]

Himalaya Email CLI

Himalaya is a CLI email client that lets you manage emails from the terminal using IMAP, SMTP, Notmuch, or Sendmail backends.

This skill is separate from the Hermes Email gateway adapter. The gateway adapter lets people email the agent and uses Hermes' built-in IMAP/SMTP adapter; this skill lets the agent operate a mailbox from terminal tools and requires the external `himalaya` CLI.

References

• `references/configuration.md` (config file setup + IMAP/SMTP authentication)
• `references/message-composition.md` (MML syntax for composing emails)

Prerequisites

1. Himalaya CLI installed (`himalaya --version` to verify) 2. A configuration file at `~/.config/himalaya/config.toml` 3. IMAP/SMTP credentials configured (password stored securely)

Installation

# Pre-built binary (Linux/macOS — recommended)
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pimalaya/himalaya/master/install.sh | PREFIX=~/.local sh

# macOS via Homebrew
brew install himalaya

# Or via cargo (any platform with Rust)
cargo install himalaya --locked

Configuration Setup

Run the interactive wizard to set up an account:

himalaya account configure

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

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

backend.type = "imap"
backend.host = "imap.example.com"
backend.port = 993
backend.encryption.type = "tls"
backend.login = "you@example.com"
backend.auth.type = "password"
backend.auth.cmd = "pass show email/imap"  # or use keyring

message.send.backend.type = "smtp"
message.send.backend.host = "smtp.example.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 = "pass show email/smtp"

# Folder aliases (himalaya v1.2.0+ syntax). Required whenever the
# server's folder names don't match himalaya's canonical names
# (inbox/sent/drafts/trash). Gmail is the common case — see
# `references/configuration.md` for the `[Gmail]/Sent Mail` mapping.
folder.aliases.inbox = "INBOX"
folder.aliases.sent = "Sent"
folder.aliases.drafts = "Drafts"
folder.aliases.trash = "Trash"

> **Heads up on the alias syntax.** Pre-v1.2.0 docs used a > `[accounts.NAME.folder.alias]` sub-section (singular `alias`). > v1.2.0 silently ignores that form — TOML parses fine, but the > alias resolver never reads it, so every lookup falls through to > the canonical name. On Gmail this means save-to-Sent fails *after* > SMTP delivery succeeds, and `himalaya message send` exits non-zero. > Any caller (agent, script, user) that retries on that exit code > will re-run the entire send — including SMTP — producing duplicate > emails to recipients. Always use `folder.aliases.X` (plural, dotted > keys, directly under `[accounts.NAME]`).

Hermes Integration Notes

• **Reading, listing, searching, moving, deleting** all work directly through the terminal tool
• **Composing/replying/forwarding** — piped input (`cat << EOF | himalaya template send`) is recommended for reliability. Interactive `$EDITOR` mode works with `pty=true` + background + process tool, but requires knowing the editor and its commands
• Use `--output json` for structured output that's easier to parse programmatically
• The `himalaya account configure` wizard requires interactive input — use PTY mode: `terminal(command="himalaya account configure", pty=true)`

Common Operations

List Folders

himalaya folder list

List Emails

List emails in INBOX (default):

himalaya envelope list

List emails in a specific folder:

himalaya envelope list --folder "Sent"

List with pagination:

himalaya envelope list --page 1 --page-size 20

Search Emails

himalaya envelope list from john@example.com subject meeting

Read an Email

Read email by ID (shows plain text):

himalaya message read 42

Export raw MIME:

himalaya message export 42 --full

Reply to an Email

To reply non-interactively from Hermes, read the original message, compose a reply, and pipe it:

# Get the reply template, edit it, and send
himalaya template reply 42 | sed 's/^$/\nYour reply text here\n/' | himalaya template send

Or build the reply manually:

cat << 'EOF' | himalaya template send
From: you@example.com
To: sender@example.com
Subject: Re: Original Subject
In-Reply-To: <original-message-id>

Your reply here.
EOF

Reply-all (interactive — needs $EDITOR, use template approach above instead):

himalaya message reply 42 --all

Forward an Email

# Get forward template and pipe with modifications
himalaya template forward 42 | sed 's/^To:.*/To: newrecipient@example.com/' | himalaya template send

Write a New Email

**Non-interactive (use this from Hermes)** — pipe the message via stdin:

cat << 'EOF' | himalaya template send
From: you@example.com
To: recipient@example.com
Subject: Test Message

Hello from Himalaya!
EOF

Or with headers flag:

himalaya message write -H "To:recipient@example.com" -H "Subject:Test" "Message body here"

Note: `himalaya message write` without piped input opens `$EDITOR`. This works with `pty=true` + background mode, but piping is simpler and more reliable.

Move/Copy Emails

Move to folder (target folder comes first, then the message ID):

himalaya message move "Archive" 42

Copy to folder (target folder comes first, then the message ID):

himalaya message copy "Important" 42

###