RAVEN

A minimal terminal email client — read and send, arrow-key navigation, no Enter-mashing. Zero runtime dependencies: imaplib, smtplib, ssl, email, and msvcrt are all Python standard library.

 RAVEN — you@gmail.com

   ✎ Compose   │ >  Alice                   Re: build broken again
   ▤ Inbox     │    GitHub                  [repo] New issue opened
   ↻ Refresh   │    Bob                     lol did you see this
   ✕ Quit      │

Sidebar on the left, message list on the right. ←/→ switches focus between them, ↑/↓ moves within whichever side is focused, Enter activates. c/r/q still work as instant shortcuts from anywhere.

Install

From this folder:

pip install -e .

(-e = editable install; edit src/raven/cli.py and changes take effect immediately, no reinstall needed. Drop -e for a normal install.)

This registers a raven command on your PATH — no more python raven.py.

Configure

Copy raven.ini.example to raven.ini and fill in your details. Put it in either:

• the folder you run raven from, or
• ~/.raven/raven.ini (or %APPDATA%\raven\raven.ini on Windows) — works from anywhere, recommended once you're happy with it.

host = imap.gmail.com
port = 993
smtp_host = smtp.gmail.com
smtp_port = 465
user = you@gmail.com
pass = your-app-password-here
fetch_count = 30

Gmail: use an App Password, not your real password (needs 2-Step Verification enabled first). Same password works for both IMAP and SMTP.

Run

raven

Composing

Press c or use the sidebar. All three fields — To, Subject, Body — are laid out and editable at once:

 New message                        (Esc cancel)

 > To:      friend@example.com
   Subject: Quick check-in
   Body:
     Hey, just checking in about the thing.

     Send       Cancel

↑/↓ moves between fields (and between lines inside the body). ←/→ moves the cursor within a field — so if you spot a typo two fields back, just arrow up and fix it, no need to start over. Home/End jump to the start/end of a line. Reaching the bottom of Body moves you to the Send/Cancel buttons; ←/→ picks one, Enter activates it. Esc cancels from anywhere in the form.

Notes

• raven.ini is a plaintext credentials file — don't commit it, don't share it. It's not part of the installed package; it's your local config.
• Prefers a message's plain-text part. HTML-only messages go through a small built-in HTML→text reducer (strips scripts/styles/hidden preheader text, keeps link URLs inline).
• No message caching between runs — r re-fetches from the server.

Uninstall

pip uninstall raven-mail