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 account
Import-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 delete
Rename-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 server
Get-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 $true
Clear-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