GIT-IMAP-SEND(1)		   Git Manual			GIT-IMAP-SEND(1)

NAME
     git-imap-send - Send a collection of patches from stdin to an IMAP folder

SYNOPSIS
     git imap-send [-v] [-q] [--[no-]curl] [(--folder|-f) <folder>]
     git imap-send --list

DESCRIPTION
     This command uploads a mailbox generated with git format-patch into an IMAP
     drafts  folder. This allows patches to be sent as other email is when using
     mail clients that cannot read mailbox  files  directly.  The  command  also
     works  with any general mailbox in which emails have the fields From, Date,
     and Subject in that order.

     Typical usage is something like:

	 $ git format-patch --signoff --stdout --attach origin | git imap-send

OPTIONS
     -v, --verbose
	 Be verbose.

     -q, --quiet
	 Be quiet.

     -f <folder>, --folder=<folder>
	 Specify the folder in which the emails	 have  to  saved.  For	example:
	 --folder=[Gmail]/Drafts or -f INBOX/Drafts.

     --curl
	 Use  libcurl to communicate with the IMAP server, unless tunneling into
	 it. Ignored if Git was built without the USE_CURL_FOR_IMAP_SEND  option
	 set.

     --no-curl
	 Talk  to the IMAP server using git's own IMAP routines instead of using
	 libcurl. Ignored if Git was built with the NO_OPENSSL option set.

     --list
	 Run the IMAP LIST command to output a list of all the folders present.

CONFIGURATION
     To use the tool, imap.folder and either imap.tunnel or  imap.host	must  be
     set to appropriate values.

     Everything above this line in this section isn't included from the git-con-
     fig(1)  documentation. The content that follows is the same as what's found
     there:

     imap.folder
	 The folder to drop the	 mails	into,  which  is  typically  the  Drafts
	 folder.  For example: INBOX.Drafts, INBOX/Drafts or [Gmail]/Drafts. The
	 IMAP folder to interact with MUST be specified; the value of this  con-
	 figuration  variable  is  used	 as  the fallback default value when the
	 --folder option is not given.

     imap.tunnel
	 Command used to set up a tunnel to the IMAP server through  which  com-
	 mands will be piped instead of using a direct network connection to the
	 server. Required when imap.host is not set.

     imap.host
	 A URL identifying the server. Use an imap:// prefix for non-secure con-
	 nections  and	an  imaps:// prefix for secure connections. Ignored when
	 imap.tunnel is set, but required otherwise.

     imap.user
	 The username to use when logging in to the server.

     imap.pass
	 The password to use when logging in to the server.

     imap.port
	 An integer port number to connect to on the server. Defaults to 143 for
	 imap:// hosts and 993 for imaps:// hosts. Ignored when	 imap.tunnel  is
	 set.

     imap.sslverify
	 A boolean to enable/disable verification of the server certificate used
	 by the SSL/TLS connection. Default is true. Ignored when imap.tunnel is
	 set.

     imap.preformattedHTML
	 A  boolean  to	 enable/disable	 the use of html encoding when sending a
	 patch. An html encoded patch will be bracketed with <pre>  and	 have  a
	 content  type	of  text/html.	Ironically,  enabling this option causes
	 Thunderbird to send the patch as a plain/text, format=fixed email.  De-
	 fault is false.

     imap.authMethod
	 Specify  the  authentication  method  for  authenticating with the IMAP
	 server. If Git was built with the NO_CURL option, or if your curl  ver-
	 sion  is older than 7.34.0, or if you're running git-imap-send with the
	 --no-curl option, the only supported methods are PLAIN, CRAM-MD5,  OAU-
	 THBEARER  and	XOAUTH2.  If this is not set then git imap-send uses the
	 basic IMAP plaintext LOGIN command.

GETTING A LIST OF AVAILABLE FOLDERS
     In order to send an email to a specific folder, you need to know  the  cor-
     rect  name	 of  intended  folder  in  your	 mailbox. The names like "Junk",
     "Trash" etc. displayed by various email clients  need  not	 be  the  actual
     names of the folders stored in the mail server of your email provider.

     In	 order to get the correct folder name to be used with git imap-send, you
     can run git imap-send --list. This will display  a	 list  of  valid  folder
     names. An example of such an output when run on a Gmail account is:

	 * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "INBOX"
	 * LIST (\HasChildren \Noselect) "/" "[Gmail]"
	 * LIST (\All \HasNoChildren) "/" "[Gmail]/All Mail"
	 * LIST (\Drafts \HasNoChildren) "/" "[Gmail]/Drafts"
	 * LIST (\HasNoChildren \Important) "/" "[Gmail]/Important"
	 * LIST (\HasNoChildren \Sent) "/" "[Gmail]/Sent Mail"
	 * LIST (\HasNoChildren \Junk) "/" "[Gmail]/Spam"
	 * LIST (\Flagged \HasNoChildren) "/" "[Gmail]/Starred"
	 * LIST (\HasNoChildren \Trash) "/" "[Gmail]/Trash"

     Here,  you	 can  observe  that  the  correct  name for the "Junk" folder is
     [Gmail]/Spam and for the "Trash" folder is [Gmail]/Trash. Similar logic can
     be used to determine other folders as well.

EXAMPLES
     Using tunnel mode:

	 [imap]
	     folder = "INBOX.Drafts"
	     tunnel = "ssh -q -C user@example.com /usr/bin/imapd ./Maildir 2> /dev/null"

     Using direct mode:

	 [imap]
	     folder = "INBOX.Drafts"
	     host = imap://imap.example.com
	     user = bob
	     pass = p4ssw0rd

     Using direct mode with SSL:

	 [imap]
	     folder = "INBOX.Drafts"
	     host = imaps://imap.example.com
	     user = bob
	     pass = p4ssw0rd
	     port = 123
	     ; sslVerify = false


	 Note

	 You may want to use sslVerify=false while troubleshooting, if you  sus-
	 pect  that  the reason you are having trouble connecting is because the
	 certificate you use at the private server example.com you are trying to
	 set up (or have set up) may not be verified correctly.

     Using Gmail's IMAP interface:

	 [imap]
	     folder = "[Gmail]/Drafts"
	     host = imaps://imap.gmail.com
	     user = user@gmail.com
	     port = 993

     Gmail does not allow using your regular password for git imap-send. If  you
     have multi-factor authentication set up on your Gmail account, you can gen-
     erate   an	  app-specific	password  for  use  with  git  imap-send.  Visit
     https://security.google.com/settings/security/apppasswords	 to  create  it.
     Alternatively, use OAuth2.0 authentication as described below.

	 Note

	 You  might  need to instead use: folder = "[Google Mail]/Drafts" if you
	 get an error that the "Folder doesn't exist".	You  can  also	run  git
	 imap-send --list to get a list of available folders.

	 Note

	 If your Gmail account is set to another language than English, the name
	 of the "Drafts" folder will be localized.

     If	 you  want  to use OAuth2.0 based authentication, you can specify OAUTH-
     BEARER or XOAUTH2 mechanism in your config. It is more  secure  than  using
     app-specific  passwords,  and  also  does	not  enforce  the need of having
     multi-factor authentication. You will have to use an OAuth2.0 access  token
     in place of your password when using this authentication.

	 [imap]
	     folder = "[Gmail]/Drafts"
	     host = imaps://imap.gmail.com
	     user = user@gmail.com
	     port = 993
	     authmethod = OAUTHBEARER

     Using Outlook's IMAP interface:

     Unlike Gmail, Outlook only supports OAuth2.0 based authentication. Also, it
     supports only XOAUTH2 as the mechanism.

	 [imap]
	     folder = "Drafts"
	     host = imaps://outlook.office365.com
	     user = user@outlook.com
	     port = 993
	     authmethod = XOAUTH2

     Once the commits are ready to be sent, run the following command:

	 $ git format-patch --cover-letter -M --stdout origin/master | git imap-send

     Just  make	 sure  to disable line wrapping in the email client (Gmail's web
     interface will wrap lines no matter what, so you need to use  a  real  IMAP
     client).

     In	 case you are using OAuth2.0 authentication, it is easier to use creden-
     tial helpers to generate tokens. Credential helpers suggested in  git-send-
     email(1) can be used for git imap-send as well.

CAUTION
     It is still your responsibility to make sure that the email message sent by
     your  email  program  meets the standards of your project. Many projects do
     not like patches to be attached. Some mail agents	will  transform	 patches
     (e.g.  wrap lines, send them as format=flowed) in ways that make them fail.
     You will get angry flames ridiculing you if you don't check this.

     Thunderbird in particular is known to be problematic. Thunderbird users may
     wish to  visit  this  web	page  for  more	 information:  https://kb.mozil-
     lazine.org/Plain_text_e-mail_-_Thunderbird#Completely_plain_email

SEE ALSO
     git-format-patch(1), git-send-email(1), mbox(5)

GIT
     Part of the git(1) suite

Git 2.55.0			   2026-06-29			GIT-IMAP-SEND(1)