# meli [](https://github.com/meli/meli/blob/master/COPYING) [](https://crates.io/crates/meli) [](ircs://irc.oftc.net:6697/%23meli)
**BSD/Linux terminal email client with support for multiple accounts and Maildir / mbox / notmuch / IMAP / JMAP / NNTP (Usenet).**
* [mailing lists ](https://lists.meli.delivery/ ) | `#meli` on OFTC IRC
* Main repository: < https: // git . meli . delivery / meli / meli > Report bugs and/or feature requests in [meli's issue tracker ](https://git.meli.delivery/meli/meli/issues "meli gitea issue tracker" )
* Official mirrors:
- < https: // codeberg . org / epilys / meli >
- < https: // github . com / meli / meli >
## Install
- Try an [old online interactive web demo ](https://meli.delivery/wasm2.html "online interactive web demo" ) powered by WebAssembly
- Pre-built binaries for [pkgsrc ](https://pkgsrc.se/mail/meli ) and [openbsd ports ](https://openports.pl/path/mail/meli ).
- `cargo install meli` or `cargo install --git https://git.meli.delivery/meli/meli.git meli`
- [Download and install pre-built debian package, static linux binary ](https://github.com/meli/meli/releases/ "github releases for meli" ), or
- Install with [Nix ](https://search.nixos.org/packages?show=meli&query=meli&from=0&size=30&sort=relevance&channel=unstable#disabled "nixos package search results for 'meli'" ).
## Quick start
< table >
< tr > < td >
```shell
# Create configuration file in ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/meli/config.toml:
$ meli create-config
# Edit configuration in ${EDITOR} or ${VISUAL}:
$ meli edit-config
# Optionally, install manual pages if installed via cargo:
$ meli install-man
# Ready to go.
$ meli
```
< / td > < td >
See a comprehensive tour of `meli` in the manual page [`meli(7)` ](./meli/docs/meli.7 ).
See also the [Quickstart tutorial ](https://meli.delivery/documentation.html#quick-start ) online.
After installing `meli` , see `meli(1)` , `meli.conf(5)` , `meli(7)` and `meli-themes(5)` for documentation. Sample configuration and theme files can be found in the `meli/docs/samples/` subdirectory. Manual pages are also [hosted online ](https://meli.delivery/documentation.html "meli documentation" ). `meli` by default looks for a configuration file in this location: `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/meli/config.toml`
You can run meli with arbitrary configuration files by setting the `${MELI_CONFIG}` environment variable to their locations, i.e.:
```sh
MELI_CONFIG=./test_config cargo run
```
< / td > < / tr >
< / table >
See [`meli(7)` ](./meli/docs/meli.7 ) for an extensive tutorial and [`meli.conf(5)` ](./meli/docs/meli.conf.5 ) for all configuration values.
| | | |
:---:|:---:|:---:
 |  | 
Main view | Compact main view | Compose with embed terminal editor
### Supported E-mail backends
| Protocol | Support |
|:------------:|:----------------|
| IMAP | full |
| Maildir | full |
| notmuch | full[^0] |
| mbox | read-only |
| JMAP | functional |
| NNTP / Usenet| functional |
[^0]: there's no support for searching through all email directly, you'd have to
create a mailbox with a notmuch query that returns everything and search
inside that mailbox.
### E-mail submission backends
- SMTP
- Pipe to shell script
- Server-side submission when supported
### Non-exhaustive list of features
- TLS
- email threading support
- multithreaded, async operation
- optionally run your editor of choice inside meli, with an embedded
xterm-compatible terminal emulator
- plain text configuration in TOML
- ability to open emails in UI tabs and switch to them
- optional sqlite3 index search
- override almost any setting per mailbox, per account
- contact list (+read-only vCard and mutt alias file support)
- forced UTF-8 (other encodings are read-only)
- configurable shortcuts
- theming
- `NO_COLOR` support
- ascii-only drawing characters option
- view text/html attachments through an html filter command (w3m by default)
- pipe attachments/mail to stuff
- use external attachment file picker instead of typing in an attachment's full path
- GPG signing, encryption, signing + encryption
- GPG signature verification
## Documentation
See a comprehensive tour of `meli` in the manual page [`meli(7)` ](./meli/docs/meli.7 ).
See also the [Quickstart tutorial ](https://meli.delivery/documentation.html#quick-start ) online.
After installing `meli` , see `meli(1)` , `meli.conf(5)` , `meli(7)` and `meli-themes(5)` for documentation.
Sample configuration and theme files can be found in the `meli/docs/samples/` subdirectory.
Manual pages are also [hosted online ](https://meli.delivery/documentation.html "meli documentation" ).
`meli` by default looks for a configuration file in this location: `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/meli/config.toml`
You can run meli with arbitrary configuration files by setting the `${MELI_CONFIG}` environment variable to their locations, i.e.:
```sh
MELI_CONFIG=./test_config cargo run
```
## Build
For a quick start, build and install locally:
```sh
PREFIX=~/.local make install
```
Available subcommands for `make` are listed with `make help` .
The Makefile *should* be POSIX portable and not require a specific `make` version.
`meli` requires rust version 1.68.2 or later and rust's package manager, Cargo.
Information on how to get it on your system can be found here: < https: / / doc . rust-lang . org / cargo / getting-started / installation . html >
With Cargo available, the project can be built with `make` and the resulting binary will then be found under `target/release/meli` .
Run `make install` to install the binary and man pages.
This requires root, so I suggest you override the default paths and install it in your `$HOME` : `make PREFIX=${HOME}/.local install` .
You can build and run `meli` with one command: `cargo run --release` .
### Build features
Some functionality is held behind "feature gates", or compile-time flags. The following list explains each feature's purpose:
- `gpgme` enables GPG support via `libgpgme` (on by default)
- `dbus-notifications` enables showing notifications using `dbus` (on by default)
- `notmuch` provides support for using a notmuch database as a mail backend (on by default)
- `jmap` provides support for connecting to a jmap server and use it as a mail backend (on by default)
- `sqlite3` provides support for builting fast search indexes in local sqlite3 databases (on by default)
- `cli-docs` includes the manpage documentation compiled by either `mandoc` or `man` binary to plain text in `meli` 's command line. Embedded documentation can be viewed with the subcommand `meli man [PAGE]` (on by default).
- `regexp` provides experimental support for theming some e-mail fields based
on regular expressions.
It uses the `pcre2` library.
Since it's actual use in the code is very limited, it is not recommended to use this (off by default).
- `static` and `*-static` bundle C libraries in dependencies so that you don't need them installed in your system (on by default).
### Build Debian package (*deb*)
Building with Debian's packaged cargo might require the installation of these two packages: `librust-openssl-sys-dev librust-libdbus-sys-dev`
A `*.deb` package can be built with `make deb-dist`
### Using notmuch
To use the optional notmuch backend feature, you must have `libnotmuch5` installed in your system.
In Debian-like systems, install the `libnotmuch5` packages.
`meli` detects the library's presence on runtime.
### Using GPG
To use the optional gpg feature, you must have `libgpgme` installed in your system.
In Debian-like systems, install the `libgpgme11` package.
`meli` detects the library's presence on runtime.
### HTML Rendering
HTML rendering is achieved using [w3m ](https://github.com/tats/w3m ) by default.
You can use the `pager.html_filter` setting to override this (for more details you can consult [`meli.conf(5)` ](./meli/docs/meli.conf.5 )).
# Development
Development builds can be built and/or run with
```
cargo build
cargo run
```
There is a debug/tracing log feature that can be enabled by using the flag `--feature debug-tracing` after uncommenting the features in `Cargo.toml` .
The logs are printed in stderr when the env var `MELI_DEBUG_STDERR` is defined, thus you can run `meli` with a redirection (i.e `2> log` ).
Code style follows the `rustfmt.toml` file.
