anmari (あんまり)

An email tagging system, similar to notmuch but can connect to IMAP directly without requiring Maildir (i.e. avoiding mbsync/offlineimap + a large local Maildir + lieer for tag synchronization for Gmail).

It features a minimal email cache with selective body storage - keep headers forever, bodies for a set amount of time (e.g. 90 days).

Written in Python using IMAPClient.

Features

• Selective caching: Store headers always, full bodies only for recent emails (configurable days)
• Tag system: notmuch-style tagging for organizing emails
• Search: Query by sender, subject, date, tags, Gmail labels, and more
• Action queue: Git-like staging for IMAP operations (move, flag, label)
• Gmail support: X-GM-LABELS, CONDSTORE for efficient sync
• Threaded sync: Parallel folder syncing with progress bars

CLI Usage

Setup

# Install dependencies
pip install imapclient click rich tqdm dateparser prompt-toolkit

Sync emails to cache

# Sync INBOX
./anmari.py sync

# Sync specific folder
./anmari.py sync --folder "Sent"

# Sync all folders (threaded)
./anmari.py sync --all-folders

# Sync with more threads
./anmari.py sync --all-folders --threads 8

# Custom page size
./anmari.py sync --page-size 50

Search emails

Search with powerful query syntax:

# Simple search
./anmari.py search "meeting"

# Field-specific search
./anmari.py search 'subject:"project update"'
./anmari.py search 'from:boss@company.com'

# Date filters
./anmari.py search 'date:yesterday'
./anmari.py search 'date:2024-01-01..2024-12-31'
./anmari.py search 'since:"1 week ago"'

# Status filters
./anmari.py search 'is:unread'
./anmari.py search 'is:read'

# Tag filters (local tags)
./anmari.py search 'tag:newsletter'
./anmari.py search 'tag:important'

# Gmail label filters
./anmari.py search 'label:INBOX'
./anmari.py search 'label:Important'

# Logical operators
./anmari.py search 'from:alice OR from:bob'
./anmari.py search 'subject:invoice AND is:unread'
./anmari.py search 'tag:newsletter NOT from:spam'

# Complex queries
./anmari.py search 'from:boss subject:urgent is:unread date:yesterday'
./anmari.py search '(tag:work OR tag:important) AND is:unread'

Supported filters:

• subject:"text" - Search in subject
• from:"text" - Search in from address/name
• body:"text" - Search in body preview
• tag:tagname - Filter by local tag
• label:labelname - Filter by Gmail label
• is:read / is:unread - Read status
• date:YYYY-MM-DD - Specific date
• date:start..end - Date range
• since:"relative date" - Relative dates (yesterday, "1 week ago", etc.)
• uid:123 or uid:100..200 - UID search
• Operators: AND, OR, NOT

Tagging

Apply local tags to messages:

Syntax:

./anmari.py tag +tag_to_add search_query
./anmari.py tag -- +tag_to_add -tag_to_remove search_query

The -- is optional if only adding tags, but must be included if removing tags so that the - is not parsed as a CLI option.

Examples:

# Add tags
./anmari.py tag -- +newsletter from:substack.com
./anmari.py tag -- +work +important subject:urgent

# Remove tags
./anmari.py tag -- -inbox +archived tag:old

# Multiple operations
./anmari.py tag -- +newsletter -inbox 'from:"The New York Times"'

Action Queue (Staging)

Queue IMAP operations locally, review them, then apply to server:

# Queue operations
./anmari.py queue move --to Newsletters tag:newsletter
./anmari.py queue archive tag:old # alias for ./anmari.py queue move --to '[Gmail]/All Mail'
./anmari.py queue flag --add Seen date:yesterday
./anmari.py queue flag --remove Flagged tag:spam
./anmari.py queue label --add Tax from:turbotax.com
./anmari.py queue label --remove Inbox tag:archived

# Review pending actions
./anmari.py status

# Preview without executing
./anmari.py apply --dry-run

# Apply all pending actions
./anmari.py apply

# Manage queue
./anmari.py queue clear
./anmari.py queue undo --count 3

Supported actions:

• move - Move messages to folder
• flag --add/--remove - Add/remove IMAP flags (Seen, Flagged, Deleted)
• label --add/--remove - Add/remove Gmail labels
• markread/markunread - Alias for flag --add/--remove '\\Seen'
• archive - Alias for move '[Gmail]/All Mail'

Other commands

# List all folders
./anmari.py folders

# Cleanup old messages
./anmari.py cleanup

# Interactive REPL
./anmari.py repl

Interactive REPL

Start an interactive session with command history and tab completion:

./anmari.py repl

anmari> search is:unread
anmari> tag -- +important from:boss
anmari> queue move --to Newsletters tag:newsletter
anmari> queue archive tag:old # alias for move --to '[Gmail]/All Mail'
anmari> status
anmari> apply
anmari> exit

Configuration

Config is stored at ~/.config/anmari/config.toml:

[[accounts]]
email = "user@example.com"
imap_host = "imap.gmail.com"
imap_port = 993
cache_days = 90

Examples

Workflow: Process newsletters

# Search for newsletters
./anmari.py search 'from:substack.com OR subject:newsletter'

# Tag them
./anmari.py tag -- +newsletter 'from:substack.com OR subject:newsletter'

# Queue move to Newsletter folder
./anmari.py queue move --to Newsletters tag:newsletter

# Review and apply
./anmari.py status
./anmari.py apply

Workflow: Archive old read messages

# Find old read messages
./anmari.py search 'is:read date:2024-01-01..2024-06-30'

# Tag for archiving
./anmari.py tag -- +archive 'is:read date:2024-01-01..2024-06-30'

# Queue archive operation
./anmari.py queue move --to Archive tag:archive

# Apply
./anmari.py apply

Workflow: Mark spam

# Search for spam
./anmari.py search 'from:suspicious@spam.com'

# Tag as spam
./anmari.py tag -- +spam 'from:suspicious@spam.com'

# Queue move to Trash and add label
./anmari.py queue move --to Trash tag:spam
./anmari.py queue label --add Spam tag:spam

# Apply
./anmari.py apply