MailDrive

PowerShell NavigationCmdletProvider for IMAP / POP3 / SMTP. Navigate your mailbox like a filesystem using cd, dir, cat, mv, del and other familiar commands.

Features

• IMAP / POP3 / SMTP via MailKit
• Folder operations — create, rename, delete, subscribe/unsubscribe
• Message operations — read, move, copy, delete (Trash), flag, search
• Send / Reply / Forward with attachments
• Gmail native search — X-GM-RAW powered server-side search (has:attachment, from:, etc.)
• OAuth2 — Device Code Flow for Microsoft 365 / Azure AD
• Bulk export — .eml backup with incremental skip, attachment extraction from local .eml files
• Unified view — folders (blue) and messages in the same table
• Auto-reconnect — transparent retry on connection drop

Requirements

• PowerShell 7.4+
• .NET 9.0

Quick Start

Import-Module MailDrive
Open-MailConfig# Opens config in notepad — add your mail accountImport-MailConfig# Mount drives from config
cd Gmail:\INBOX
dir # List messages
dir -Search "from:boss"# Gmail native search
cat .\1_sender_subject.eml # Read message body

Configuration

Config file location: Get-MailConfigPath

{
"PSDrives": [
{
"Name": "Gmail",
"Protocol": "IMAP",
"Host": "imap.gmail.com",
"Port": 993,
"Ssl": "SslOnConnect",
"Username": "you@gmail.com",
"Password": "xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx",
"SmtpHost": "smtp.gmail.com",
"SmtpPort": 465,
"SmtpSsl": "SslOnConnect"
}
]
}

For Gmail, generate an App Password (requires 2-Step Verification).

Usage Examples

Navigation

cd Gmail:\INBOX # Enter INBOX
dir # List folders and messages
dir -First 50# Show latest 50 messages
dir -Force # Refresh cache
cd ..# Go up

Read and Search

cat .\1_sender_subject.eml # Read message body
dir -Search "has:attachment"# Gmail: server-side search
dir -Search "from:alice subject:meeting"# Multiple conditions

Send

Send-Mail-To user@example.com-Subject "Hello"-Body "Hi there"Send-Mail-To user@example.com-Subject "Report"-Body "See attached"-Attachments .\report.pdf

Reply and Forward

Get-Item .\1_sender_subject.eml |Submit-MailReply"Thanks!"Get-Item .\1_sender_subject.eml |Submit-MailForward-To colleague@example.com

Folder Operations

mkdir Gmail:\Archive # Create folder
mv .\1_sender_subject.eml Gmail:\Archive # Move message
del .\2_sender_subject.eml # Move to Trash
del .\2_sender_subject.eml -Force # Permanent deleteRename-Item Gmail:\OldName Gmail:\NewName

Export

# Bulk backup (skips existing files by default)
dir Gmail:\INBOX |Export-MailMessage C:\backup\Gmail
# With folder structure preserved
dir Gmail:\ -Recurse |Export-MailMessage C:\backup\Gmail
# Extract attachments from serverGet-Item .\1_sender_subject.eml |Export-MailAttachment C:\temp\
# Extract attachments from local .eml (including embedded images)Get-Item C:\backup\message.eml |Export-MailAttachment C:\temp\ -IncludeEmbedded

Flags

Set-ItemProperty .\1_sender_subject.eml -Name IsFlagged -Value $trueClear-ItemProperty .\1_sender_subject.eml -Name IsFlagged

Cmdlets

Cmdlet	Description
New-MailDrive	Create an IMAP drive
New-PopDrive	Create a POP3 drive
Import-MailConfig	Mount drives from config file
Open-MailConfig	Open config in editor
Get-MailConfigPath	Show config file path
Send-Mail	Send a message via SMTP
Submit-MailReply	Reply to a message
Submit-MailForward	Forward a message
Export-MailMessage	Export messages as .eml files
Export-MailAttachment	Extract attachments
New-MailDraft	Save a draft (IMAP)
Get-MailQuota	Query IMAP quota

Mail MCP Server

MailDrive works as an email MCP server when combined with PowerShell.MCP.

{
"mcpServers": {
"pwsh": {
"command": "pwsh",
"args": ["-NoProfile", "-Command", "Import-Module PowerShell.MCP; Start-MCPServer"]
}
}
}

Once connected, AI agents can read, search, send, and manage email through standard PowerShell commands:

# Agent reads inbox
invoke_expression: "dir Gmail:\\INBOX"
# Agent reads a specific message
invoke_expression: "cat 'Gmail:\\INBOX\\28_Google_Security.eml'"
# Agent searches for invoices
invoke_expression: "dir Gmail:\\INBOX -Search 'has:attachment from:Microsoft'"
# Agent sends email
invoke_expression: "Send-Mail -To user@example.com -Subject 'Report' -Body 'Done'"
# Agent exports attachments
invoke_expression: "Get-Item 'Gmail:\\INBOX\\23_Microsoft_Invoice.eml' | Export-MailAttachment C:\\temp"

No dedicated mail MCP server needed — the PowerShell provider acts as the interface.

Testing with GreenMail

See GREENMAIL.md for local testing with GreenMail.

Build

.\build.ps1
Import-Module MailDrive -Force

Help

Per-cmdlet documentation lives under docs/help/<locale>/. English (en-US/) is the only locale shipped today; the layout supports additional locales.

Action	Command
View help offline	Get-Help <cmdlet> -Full
Open online version	Get-Help <cmdlet> -Online
Regenerate from cmdlet metadata	.\docs\build-help.ps1

The build script uses PlatyPS: it refreshes the markdown skeletons (preserving any prose you've written), patches per-cmdlet online URLs, and compiles MAML into <module>/<locale>/MailDrive.dll-Help.xml so Get-Help works without a network round trip. To bootstrap a new locale, run with -Locales en-US, ja-JP etc. — each new locale starts from scratch and is yours to translate.

License

MIT