MCP server

MailCue ships an official Model Context Protocol server, mailcue-mcp, that gives an AI agent its own mailbox.

The agent reads, searches, sends, replies to, and deletes email directly over MCP, managing an inbox the way a person uses a mail client. It is built on the mailcue Node SDK and talks to any MailCue server over the REST API.

Add to Claude Code

claude mcp add mailcue \
  --env MAILCUE_BASE_URL=https://mail.example.com \
  --env MAILCUE_API_KEY=mc_your_api_key \
  -- npx -y mailcue-mcp@latest

Other MCP clients (JSON)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mailcue": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mailcue-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MAILCUE_BASE_URL": "https://mail.example.com",
        "MAILCUE_API_KEY": "mc_your_api_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Generate an API key from the web UI Profile page (or POST /api/v1/auth/api-keys). The web UI also has a ready-to-copy config under Developer Tools > MCP, with MAILCUE_BASE_URL pre-filled for your server.

Configuration

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`MAILCUE_API_KEY`	yes*	(none)	MailCue `X-API-Key` (`mc_...`).
`MAILCUE_BEARER_TOKEN`	yes*	(none)	JWT alternative to the API key.
`MAILCUE_BASE_URL`	no	`http://localhost:8088`	Your MailCue server URL.
`MAILCUE_MAILBOX`	no	(none)	Lock the agent to a single mailbox.

* Provide either MAILCUE_API_KEY (preferred) or MAILCUE_BEARER_TOKEN.

Single-mailbox lock: when MAILCUE_MAILBOX is set, the server removes the mailbox argument from every tool, forces sends to that address, and hides mailbox discovery, so the agent owns exactly one inbox and cannot reach any other. Leave it unset for a multi-mailbox operator agent.

Tools

list_emails, search_emails, get_email, send_email, reply_email, delete_email, mailbox_stats (plus list_mailboxes when not locked). The server also exposes MCP instructions that orient the agent on how to triage and reply safely.

For full details on the tools and the SDK, see the MCP SDK.

See the main README for the rest of the documentation.