Email

Email Channel

Human can send and receive email via SMTP and IMAP. Messages are sent using curl over SMTP (TLS), and received by polling the INBOX with IMAP SEARCH UNSEEN.

Prerequisites

• Build with -DHU_ENABLE_EMAIL=ON or -DHU_ENABLE_ALL_CHANNELS=ON
• curl available in PATH (used for SMTP send and IMAP polling)
• SMTP and IMAP credentials for your email provider

Configuration

Add to ~/.human/config.json under channels.email:

{
  "channels": {
    "email": {
      "smtp_host": "smtp.gmail.com",
      "smtp_port": 587,
      "from_address": "bot@gmail.com",
      "smtp_user": "bot@gmail.com",
      "smtp_pass": "your-app-password",
      "imap_host": "imap.gmail.com",
      "imap_port": 993
    }
  }
}

Fields

Field	Type	Description
smtp_host	string	SMTP server hostname (required for send)
smtp_port	number	SMTP port (default 587 for STARTTLS, 465 for implicit)
from_address	string	Sender address (required)
smtp_user	string	SMTP username (often same as from_address)
smtp_pass	string	SMTP password or app password
imap_host	string	IMAP server hostname (required for receive)
imap_port	number	IMAP port (default 993 for IMAPS)

Gmail app passwords

Gmail requires App Passwords when 2FA is enabled. Use an app password rather than your account password.

How it works

Outbound (send)

• Human writes a MIME plain-text email to a temp file
• Invokes curl with --url smtps://host:port (or smtp:// for non-TLS)
• Sends via --mail-from, --mail-rcpt, --upload-file
• Port 587 uses STARTTLS; port 465 uses implicit TLS

Inbound (receive)

• Polls IMAP every 30 seconds (SEARCH UNSEEN or UID SEARCH UNSEEN UID N:*)
• Fetches headers (From, Subject) and body text per message
• Uses sender address as session key; subject + body as content
• Requires both imap_host and smtp_user/smtp_pass (IMAP uses same credentials)

Platform limitations

• Requires curl: The channel uses curl for both SMTP and IMAP. Ensure curl is installed and in PATH.
• IMAP only: Receive uses IMAP; no POP3 support.
• Single mailbox: Polls INBOX only; no configurable folder.
• No attachments: Sends plain text only; attachments not supported.