NAME

       aerc-imap - IMAP configuration for aerc(1)

SYNOPSIS

       aerc implements the IMAP protocol as specified by RFC 3501, with the following IMAP extensions:

       •   IDLE (RFC 2177)
       •   LIST-STATUS (RFC 5819)
       •   X-GM-EXT-1 (Gmail)

CONFIGURATION

       IMAP configuration may be done interactively with the :new-account command.

       In accounts.conf (see aerc-accounts(5)), the following IMAP-specific options are available:

       source = <scheme>://<username>[:<password>]@<hostname>[:<port>]?[<oauth2_params>]
           Remember that all fields must be URL encoded. The @ symbol, when URL encoded, is %40.

           Possible values of <scheme> are:

           imap
               IMAP with STARTTLS

           imap+insecure
               IMAP without STARTTLS

           imaps
               IMAP with TLS/SSL

           imaps+oauthbearer
               IMAP with TLS/SSL using OAUTHBEARER Authentication

               <oauth2_params>:

               If specified and a token_endpoint is provided, the configured password is used as a refresh token
               to  obtain  an access token. If token_endpoint is omitted, refresh token exchange is skipped, and
               the password acts like an access token instead.

               •   token_endpoint (optional)
               •   client_id (optional)
               •   client_secret (optional)
               •   scope (optional)

               Example:
                   imaps+oauthbearer://...?token_endpoint=https://...&client_id=

           imaps+xoauth2
               IMAP with TLS/SSL using XOAUTH2 Authentication. Parameters are the same as OAUTHBEARER.

       source-cred-cmd = <command>
           Specifies the command to run to get the password for the IMAP account. This command will be run using
           sh -c command. If a password is specified in the source option, the  password  will  take  precedence
           over this command.

           Example:
               source-cred-cmd = pass hostname/username

       connection-timeout = <duration>
           Maximum     delay     to     establish     a     connection     to     the     IMAP    server.    See
           https://pkg.go.dev/time#ParseDuration.

           Default: 30s

       keepalive-period = <duration>
           The interval between the last data packet sent (simple ACKs are not considered data)  and  the  first
           keepalive  probe.  After  the  connection  is  marked to need keepalive, this counter is not used any
           further. See https://pkg.go.dev/time#ParseDuration.

           By default, the system tcp socket settings are used.

       keepalive-probes = <int>
           The number of unacknowledged probes to send before considering the connection dead and notifying  the
           application layer.

           By  default,  the  system tcp socket settings are used. If keepalive-period is specified, this option
           defaults to 3 probes.

           This option is only supported on linux. On other platforms, it will be ignored.

       keepalive-interval = <duration>
           The interval between subsequential keepalive probes, regardless of what the connection has  exchanged
           in the meantime. Fractional seconds are truncated.

           By  default,  the  system tcp socket settings are used. If keepalive-period is specified, this option
           defaults to 3s.

           This option is only supported on linux. On other platforms, it will be ignored.

       check-mail-include = <folder1,folder2,folder3...>
           Specifies the comma separated list of folders to include when checking for new mail with :check-mail.
           Names prefixed with ~ are interpreted as regular expressions. This setting is ignored  if  your  IMAP
           server supports the LIST-STATUS command, in which case all folders will be checked.

           By default, all folders are included.

       check-mail-exclude = <folder1,folder2,folder3...>
           Specifies the comma separated list of folders to exclude when checking for new mail with :check-mail.
           Names  prefixed  with  ~ are interpreted as regular expressions. This setting is ignored if your IMAP
           server supports the LIST-STATUS command, in which case all folders will be checked.  Note  that  this
           overrides anything from check-mail-include.

           By default, no folders are excluded.

       cache-headers = true|false
           If  set  to  true, headers will be cached. The cached headers will be stored in $XDG_CACHE_HOME/aerc,
           which defaults to ~/.cache/aerc.

           Default: false

       cache-max-age = <duration>
           Defines the maximum age of cached files.  Note:  the  longest  unit  of  time  cache-max-age  can  be
           specified in is hours. Set to 0 to disable cleaning the cache

           Default: 720h (30 days)

       idle-timeout = <duration>
           The  length  of  time the client will wait for the server to send any final update before the IDLE is
           closed.

           Default: 10ms

       idle-debounce = <duration>
           Specifies the length of time from the last client command until the idler starts.

           Default: 10ms

       use-gmail-ext = true|false
           If set to true, the X-GM-EXT-1 extension will be  used  if  supported.  This  only  works  for  Gmail
           accounts.

           Default: false

SEE ALSO

       aerc(1) aerc-accounts(5)

AUTHORS

       Originally  created  by  Drew  DeVault and maintained by Robin Jarry who is assisted by other open source
       contributors. For more information about aerc development, see https://sr.ht/~rjarry/aerc/.

                                                   2025-06-19                                       AERC-IMAP(5)