Fob
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Reading mail

All reads go to your mail server live, and none of them mark messages as read.

List a folder#

fob-email emails list                         # newest 50 in INBOX
fob-email emails list --unseen --limit 20     # newest 20 unread
fob-email emails list --folder Archive
fob-email emails list --fields id,from,subject,date,attach

ID    FROM                    SUBJECT                           DATE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1423  [email protected]  Invoice INV-2291 for September    2026-10-01 14:42:44
1419  [email protected]    Your statement is ready           2026-09-30 11:32:10
1417  [email protected]    Remittance advice: payment 88213  2026-09-29 20:10:00
  • Messages come newest first, with dates in your computer's time zone. --limit sets how many (default 50). There's no paging: to see older messages, raise --limit or use search with --since.
  • --fields picks columns from id, from, to, subject, date, flags and attach. to shows the first recipient, and attach shows * when a message has attachments. Empty cells show —.
  • When the list fills --limit, a note (showing 50; raise --limit for more) prints on stderr.

Message IDs#

The ID column is the message's number within that folder (its IMAP UID). Keep two rules in mind:

  • Pass the same --folder when you use the ID: fob-email emails show 1423 --folder Archive. The default folder is INBOX.
  • A message gets a new ID when it moves to another folder.

Search#

fob-email emails search "invoice"                          # in headers and body
fob-email emails search --from [email protected]
fob-email emails search --subject statement --since 2026-09-01
fob-email emails search "overdue" --folder Archive --limit 100

The query matches anywhere in the message. --from, --subject and --since (a YYYY-MM-DD date, inclusive) narrow it further, and all conditions must match. Matching is done by your mail server: it finds words and addresses, not meaning.

Open a message#

fob-email emails show 1423

--- Email #1423 ---
From:     Vendor Billing <[email protected]>
To:       [email protected]
Subject:  Invoice INV-2291 for September
Date:     2026-10-01T09:12:44.000Z
Msg-Id:   <[email protected]>

Hi, please find attached your invoice for September.

--- Attachments ---
  INV-2291.pdf  (application/pdf, 84.2 KB)

show prints the plain-text body, and the date in UTC. With --json you also get the HTML body and attachment details. See Output and scripting.

Download attachments#

fob-email emails download 1423 -o ./invoices

Every attachment is saved into the -o folder (default: the current folder), which is created if needed. A file with the same name is overwritten. Each saved file prints Wrote <path> on stderr, and --json prints the list of saved files on stdout.

Conversations#

fob-email threads list --limit 20
fob-email threads show 1423

LATEST  MSGS  SUBJECT               DATE
-------------------------------------------------------
1423       3  Re: Invoice INV-2291  2026-10-01 14:42:44
1402       1  Contract renewal      2026-09-27 15:30:00
  • threads list groups the folder's recent messages into conversations, most recent activity first. LATEST is the ID of the newest message in each.
  • threads show <id> takes any message ID in the conversation and prints the whole conversation, oldest first.
  • Gmail and servers that provide conversation IDs group exactly. On other servers fob-email follows reply headers, looking back over the folder's most recent 500 messages.
  • A conversation is read from one folder (default INBOX). Only messages in that folder are included, so your own replies, which sit in your Sent folder, usually don't appear.

Folders#

fob-email folders list

PATH               SPECIAL  SUBSCRIBED
--------------------------------------
INBOX              —        yes
[Gmail]/Drafts     \Drafts  yes
[Gmail]/Sent Mail  \Sent    yes
Invoices/2026      —        yes

PATH is the name to use with --folder. SPECIAL marks your provider's Drafts, Sent, Trash, Junk and All Mail folders. Folder names with spaces or brackets need quotes, for example --folder "[Gmail]/Sent Mail".