Zen Mail Client is a minimal TUI mail client for people who still use email to talk to humans.
It focuses on reading and replying to plain text emails over standard IMAP / SMTP, with a text-first approach and a minimal HTML-to-text fallback, without HTML rendering, trackers, or unnecessary complexity.
Currently, zenmail is cargo.
cargo install zenmailModern email clients are optimized for newsletters, notifications, and marketing emails.
zenmail is not.
zenmail is designed for:
- personal contact emails
- project and open-source communication
- patches, reviews, and real conversations
If you want a fast, reliable mail client that lives in your terminal and does not get in your way, Zen Mail is for you.
- IMAP inbox listing
- Read plain text (
text/plain) emails - Scrollable mail view
- Compose and send emails via SMTP
- One-key Reply
- Auto-fill recipient
Re:subject handling- Quoted reply (
>)
- Built-in TUI config editor
- External editor support for
config.toml - Robust terminal handling (resize-safe, editor-safe)
zenmail intentionally does not support:
- HTML email rendering
- Embedded images
- Tracking pixels
- OAuth-only providers
- Rich formatting
This keeps the client predictable, fast, and secure.
zenmail works with any standard IMAP / SMTP server.
It is tested with Proton Mail Bridge, using:
- IMAP / SMTP over localhost
- Username + password authentication
- STARTTLS
j/kor↑/↓— move selectionEnter— open mailo— refresh inboxc— compose new mailq— quit
j/kor↑/↓— scrollr— replyc— compose new mailEsc— back to inbox
Tab— switch fieldCtrl+S— sendEsc— cancel
Tab/Shift+Tab— move fieldSpace— toggle booleanCtrl+S— savee— open in external editorEsc— back
On first launch, zenmail creates a config.toml file.
You can edit it:
- directly in the built-in TUI config screen
- or using your
$EDITOR(default:nano)
Licensed under the MPL-2.0 license.
Copyright © Wave Foundation.