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Email

Connect Toby to any IMAP/SMTP mailbox to read, search, and organize email from chat.

Email ships as a plugin bundled with Toby.app installs and updates under ~/.toby/plugins/.

Prerequisites​

  • An email account that supports IMAP (for reading mail) and SMTP (for sending mail)
  • Your IMAP host, port, username, and password
  • Your SMTP host, port, username, and password
Use the Setup Guide in Toby.app

Open Toby.app → Integrations → Email and click Setup Guide. The wizard shows the fields you need and walks you through entering credentials and connecting.

How IMAP/SMTP credentials work​

The Email plugin uses standard IMAP and SMTP credentials instead of OAuth. You provide:

  • IMAP host and port (e.g. imap.gmail.com:993 for Gmail, imap.fastmail.com:993 for Fastmail, outlook.office365.com:993 for Outlook/Microsoft 365)
  • IMAP username (usually your email address) and password (use an App Password if your provider requires one — see below)
  • SMTP host and port (e.g. smtp.gmail.com:465 for Gmail, smtp.fastmail.com:465 for Fastmail, smtp.office365.com:587 for Outlook/Microsoft 365)
  • SMTP username and password (often the same as your IMAP credentials)

Use port 993 with SSL/TLS for IMAP (recommended) or port 143 with STARTTLS. For SMTP, use port 465 with SSL/TLS or port 587 with STARTTLS.

App passwords​

Many providers (Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud, Fastmail, and others) require an App Password instead of your regular account password when IMAP/SMTP access is enabled. Create one in your provider's security or account settings and use that password in the configure fields below.

Configure​

Open Toby.app → Integrations → Email and enter your IMAP and SMTP credentials:

FieldDescription
IMAP HostIMAP server hostname (e.g. imap.gmail.com)
IMAP PortIMAP server port (default 993)
IMAP UsernameYour email address or IMAP login
IMAP PasswordAccount password or App Password (stored masked)
SMTP HostSMTP server hostname (e.g. smtp.gmail.com)
SMTP PortSMTP server port (default 465)
SMTP UsernameYour email address or SMTP login
SMTP PasswordAccount password or App Password (stored masked)

Save the configuration.

Connect​

Click Connect on the Email detail page. Toby validates your IMAP and SMTP credentials and marks the integration connected.

Verify​

Return to Integrations in the sidebar. Email should show as connected and healthy. You can also open the Email detail page to confirm status text from Toby.

Disconnect​

Open the Email detail page and click Disconnect. This clears Toby's connection flag — it does not delete your mail at the provider.

Example chat prompts​

Switch to the built-in Mailman persona for inbox triage (Needs attention / Worth noting / Ignore, plus category labels).

  • "Summarize my unread email from today and list anything that needs a reply."
  • "Find threads about the Q2 launch and suggest archive or label actions."
  • "Search my inbox for messages from alice@example.com from last week."