Claude connector for iCloud Mail and Apple Mail

Claude has no built-in connector for iCloud Mail or the Mail app on your Mac. Apple does not offer an OAuth sign-in that other apps can use for mail. What it does offer is IMAP, the standard protocol mail apps have used for decades, with a separate app-specific password for each app.

That is enough to connect iCloud Mail to Claude through Fluxmail, an email MCP server that speaks IMAP to iCloud and MCP to Claude. It works with @icloud.com, @me.com, and @mac.com addresses. Fluxmail connects to your iCloud account rather than to the Mail app, so drafts it saves and messages it files show up in Apple Mail on your Mac and iPhone.

You can set it up two ways. Fluxmail Cloud is a hosted connector you add from Claude's connector directory, and it works in Claude Desktop, Claude on the web, Claude Code, and other MCP clients. Self-hosted Fluxmail runs on your Mac, keeps the password encrypted there, and works with Claude Code and Claude Desktop. Both start with an app-specific password.

1. Create an app-specific password

Apple requires two-factor authentication on your Apple Account before you can create one. Most accounts already have it.

Sign in at account.apple.com.
In Sign-In and Security, select App-Specific Passwords.
Select Generate an app-specific password, name it something like "Fluxmail", and copy the password.

Use this password only for Fluxmail. If you stop using it, revoke it on the same page without changing your Apple Account password.

2. Connect with Fluxmail Cloud

Sign up for Fluxmail Cloud. A new workspace gets a seven-day trial, and you don't need a card to start it.
Open Mailboxes, choose Other email provider, and enter your iCloud address. The dashboard fills in Apple's server settings.
Paste the app-specific password and select Connect.

Then add Fluxmail to Claude from the connector directory:

In Claude, open Customize > Connectors and select Discover.
Search for Fluxmail and select +.
Sign in to Fluxmail and pick your iCloud mailbox. The connector requests Full mail access, which includes sending, so uncheck Send emails and anything else you don't want, then approve.

To use Cloud from Claude Code, Cursor, or another client, follow How to connect Gmail or Outlook to Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor. The commands work the same for iCloud.

3. Or run Fluxmail on your Mac

Skip this step if you connected through Fluxmail Cloud.

Connect the mailbox

Install the Fluxmail CLI and create the local administrator:

npm install -g fluxmail
fluxmail setup --name "Your name" --email you@example.com

Then connect iCloud with Apple's server settings:

fluxmail accounts add imap \
  --email johnappleseed@icloud.com \
  --imap-host imap.mail.me.com \
  --imap-user johnappleseed \
  --smtp-host smtp.mail.me.com \
  --smtp-user johnappleseed@icloud.com

Replace each occurrence of johnappleseed with the part of your address before the @. iCloud uses only the part before the @ as the IMAP username and the full address for SMTP. Fluxmail's other defaults already match iCloud: IMAP over TLS on port 993 and SMTP with STARTTLS on port 587.

Fluxmail prompts for the password without showing it. Paste the app-specific password. It is used for both IMAP and SMTP. Fluxmail tests both connections before saving, then encrypts the password in its local database.

If the IMAP login fails with the short username, try the full address with --imap-user johnappleseed@icloud.com. Apple suggests that as a fallback.

Connect Claude

For Claude Code, add Fluxmail as an MCP server. Start with read-only access while you try it out:

claude mcp add fluxmail -- fluxmail stdio --profile read-only

For Claude Desktop, open Settings > Developer > Edit Config and add this to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "fluxmail": {
      "command": "fluxmail",
      "args": ["stdio", "--profile", "read-only"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after saving. If it cannot find the fluxmail command, run which fluxmail in Terminal and use the full path it prints.

4. Try it

Ask Claude something only your inbox can answer:

What are the five most recent emails in my iCloud inbox? Which ones look like they need a reply?

Claude searches with Fluxmail's search_emails tool and opens messages with get_email. Fluxmail fetches each message from Apple's servers when Claude asks for it. With self-hosted Fluxmail, that mail goes straight to your Mac.

5. Allow more when you need it

Start narrow and widen access later.

In Fluxmail Cloud, a connection keeps the permissions you approved. To change them, connect Claude again with the permissions you want, then revoke the old connection in Connections.

In self-hosted Fluxmail, switch the profile to read-write to let Claude organize mail and write drafts, or to full to let it send. For Claude Code, remove and re-add the server:

claude mcp remove fluxmail
claude mcp add fluxmail -- fluxmail stdio --profile read-write

With read and write access, Claude can file messages into your iCloud folders and save drafts that appear in Mail on your Mac and iPhone. You still send them yourself. IMAP mailboxes have folders but no labels, so ask Claude to move messages rather than label them.

If something looks off

A folder is missing. Fluxmail finds Sent, Drafts, Trash, Archive, and Junk from the folder flags iCloud reports. If self-hosted Fluxmail warns that one is missing, set it by name with fluxmail accounts configure <account-id> --trash-folder 'Deleted Messages'. Get the account ID from fluxmail accounts list.
Sent messages appear twice. Some servers save a copy of mail sent over SMTP on their own. If you see duplicates in Sent, run the fluxmail accounts add imap command again with --no-save-sent added.
An iCloud+ custom domain. You can send from a custom domain address that belongs to your account. Register it in Fluxmail first, as described in Send from another address.

Other IMAP providers

The same steps work for most other providers: create an app password, look up the provider's IMAP and SMTP hostnames, and enter them under Mailboxes in Fluxmail Cloud or pass them to fluxmail accounts add imap. There are guides for Yahoo Mail, Fastmail, and Zoho Mail, and IMAP MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor lists settings for other providers. Connect IMAP/SMTP covers every option.

Next steps

Sort the inbox and draft replies: Triage your Gmail inbox with Claude Code uses Gmail, but the prompts work the same with iCloud.
Set limits before you allow sending: How to give an AI agent access to your email safely.
Use iCloud Mail in ChatGPT: Connect iCloud Mail to ChatGPT.
Connect another client: Connect an MCP client covers Codex, Cursor, ChatGPT, and others.