Email IMAP Append

Core Goal

• Build RFC 5322 draft messages with subject/body/recipients.
• Attach local files into draft MIME payload when requested.
• Append the draft MIME into an IMAP mailbox using APPEND.
• Set draft flags (default \\Draft) and keep the message unsent.
• Return machine-readable JSON with append status and server response metadata.

Workflow

1. Configure IMAP env vars (see references/env.md and assets/config.example.env).
2. Validate config and defaults:

python3 scripts/imap_append.py check-config

3. Append one draft email to Drafts mailbox:

python3 scripts/imap_append.py append-draft \
  --to reviewer@example.com \
  --subject "Draft: quarterly update" \
  --body "Please review this draft before sending."

4. Append HTML draft with explicit mailbox and flags:

python3 scripts/imap_append.py append-draft \
  --mailbox "Drafts" \
  --flags "\\Draft,\\Seen" \
  --content-type html \
  --subject "Draft: release note" \
  --body "<p>Release note draft for approval.</p>"

5. Append draft with attachments:

python3 scripts/imap_append.py append-draft \
  --to reviewer@example.com \
  --subject "Draft: WG2 package" \
  --body "See attached draft tables." \
  --attach ./wg2-table.xlsx \
  --attach ./notes.docx

Output Contract

• check-config prints sanitized IMAP + append defaults as JSON.
• append-draft success prints one type=status JSON object containing:
  • event=imap_draft_appended
  • account, mailbox, subject, message_id
  • recipient lists and counts
  • flags
  • attachment_count and attachments[] metadata
  • append_uidvalidity and append_uid when server returns APPENDUID
• append-draft failure prints type=error JSON to stderr with event=imap_append_failed.

Parameters

• append-draft --to: optional recipient, repeatable or comma-separated.
• append-draft --cc: optional CC recipient list.
• append-draft --bcc: optional BCC recipient list.
• append-draft --subject: optional subject (defaults from env).
• append-draft --body: optional body (defaults from env).
• append-draft --content-type: plain or html.
• append-draft --from: optional sender override.
• append-draft --mailbox: target mailbox (default IMAP_APPEND_MAILBOX, then IMAP_MAILBOX, then Drafts).
• append-draft --flags: append flags, comma-separated (default \\Draft).
• append-draft --message-id: explicit Message-ID header.
• append-draft --in-reply-to: optional In-Reply-To header.
• append-draft --references: optional References header.
• append-draft --attach: local attachment path, repeatable or comma-separated.
• append-draft --max-attachment-bytes: max bytes allowed per attachment.

Required Environment

• IMAP_HOST
• IMAP_USERNAME
• IMAP_PASSWORD

Optional defaults:

• IMAP_NAME
• IMAP_PORT
• IMAP_SSL
• IMAP_CONNECT_TIMEOUT
• IMAP_MAILBOX
• IMAP_APPEND_MAILBOX
• IMAP_APPEND_FLAGS
• IMAP_APPEND_FROM
• IMAP_APPEND_TO
• IMAP_APPEND_CC
• IMAP_APPEND_BCC
• IMAP_APPEND_SUBJECT
• IMAP_APPEND_BODY
• IMAP_APPEND_CONTENT_TYPE
• IMAP_APPEND_MAX_ATTACHMENT_BYTES

References

• references/env.md

Assets

• assets/config.example.env

Scripts

• scripts/imap_append.py