eml-mcp

MCP server for managing email archives stored as .eml files. Designed to work alongside a pair of Power Automate flows that automatically export Outlook emails to OneDrive as .eml files, giving AI assistants full read and write access to your inbox, sent items, and drafts through a structured set of tools.

Requirements

• Node.js 20+
• A OneDrive folder (synced locally) — inbox/, outbox/, and drafts/ sub-directories are created automatically on first run

Installation

npx eml-mcp /path/to/emails --from=you@example.com

Add to your MCP client

<details> <summary>Claude Code</summary>

claude mcp add eml -- npx -y eml-mcp /path/to/emails --from=you@example.com

</details>

<details> <summary>GitHub Copilot</summary>

Add to ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "eml": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/eml-mcp/dist/server.js", "/path/to/emails", "--from=you@example.com"]
    }
  }
}

</details>

<details> <summary>Codex CLI</summary>

Add to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.eml]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "eml-mcp", "/path/to/emails", "--from=you@example.com"]

</details>

Arguments

Argument	Required	Description
<email-directory>	Yes	Root directory; inbox/, outbox/, and drafts/ sub-directories must exist inside
--db-path=<path>	No	SQLite index path (default: ~/.eml-mcp/index.db)
--from=<address>	No	From address for composed drafts (default: draft@eml-mcp)

Power Automate — Automatic .eml archiving

Each flow watches one Outlook folder and saves every email as an .eml file to the corresponding OneDrive directory. Set up the inbox flow first, then duplicate it for sent items — the only two values that change are noted in the second section.

<details> <summary>Inbox flow — archive received emails</summary>

Trigger

When a new email arrives (V3) — Office 365 Outlook

Set the folder to Inbox. Add subject/sender filters as needed.

Step 1 — Export email (V2)

Export email (V2) — Office 365 Outlook

• Message Id: Message Id (dynamic value from trigger)

This action returns the raw MIME content of the email (RFC-2822 format, compatible with .eml).

Step 2 — Create file

Create file — OneDrive for Business

• Folder Path: /Outlook/inbox
• File Name: <Subject>-<Received Time>.eml — compose using dynamic values from the trigger, sanitizing characters not allowed in file names
• File Content: Body (dynamic value from the Export email (V2) step)

The file is created in OneDrive and, on next refresh_index call or server restart, it will be picked up automatically by eml-mcp tagged as inbox.

</details>

<details> <summary>Sent Items flow — archive sent emails</summary>

Duplicate the inbox flow and change only two values:

• Trigger folder: Sent Items
• Folder Path (Create file step): /Outlook/outbox

eml-mcp will tag these emails as outbox.

</details>

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Tools

Tool	Description
search_emails	Full-text search with filters (from, date, attachments, folder…)
get_email	Parse and return a single email
compose_email	Create a new draft .eml and open it
update_email	Modify an existing draft and re-open it
open_email	Open an existing .eml in the default mail client (works for inbox, outbox, and drafts)
delete_email	Permanently delete an .eml file and remove it from the index
extract_attachments	Save one or all attachments from an email to a directory
open_attachment	Open an attachment with the system default application
search_attachments	Find emails containing attachments by filename, type, or keyword
refresh_index	Incrementally sync the index with disk state (add new, remove deleted, update changed)

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Development build

npm install
npm run build

Register the local build in Claude Code:

claude mcp add eml node "/absolute/path/to/eml-mcp/dist/server.js" -- "/path/to/emails" --from=you@example.com