Accounts

Account model

mxr distinguishes between:

• Runtime accounts: what the daemon is actually running now
• Config-backed accounts: editable account definitions used to produce runtime accounts

The TUI Accounts page is built from runtime inventory, not from config file entries alone.

TUI accounts page

Open it with:

• 4
• Ctrl-p then Open Accounts Page

Actions:

• j / k: move account selection
• n: new IMAP/SMTP account
• Enter / o: edit selected account
• t: test selected account
• d: set default account
• c: edit config
• r: refresh runtime account inventory

The page shows:

• Details on the left
• Account list on the right
• Runtime Gmail, Outlook, IMAP, and SMTP-backed accounts
• Editable config-backed accounts where supported
• Default-account state
• Provider kind and enabled state
• Last test/status messaging

CLI account actions

mxr accounts
mxr accounts add gmail
mxr accounts add outlook       # Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live
mxr accounts add outlook-work  # Microsoft 365 work or school
mxr accounts add imap
mxr accounts add smtp
mxr accounts show ACCOUNT
mxr accounts test ACCOUNT

Owned addresses and aliases

An account owns its configured account email plus any aliases you register. mxr uses that set to classify mail as inbound vs outbound, and to let you send from any of them.

mxr accounts addresses list --account work
mxr accounts addresses add --account work accounts@planetaryescape.xyz
mxr accounts addresses add --account work support@planetaryescape.xyz
mxr accounts addresses set-primary --account work hello@planetaryescape.xyz
mxr accounts addresses remove --account work support@planetaryescape.xyz

Once an address is registered it becomes a valid sender inside mxr for that account. A reply defaults its From to whichever owned address the original was delivered to, and --from / the from: frontmatter field can send as any owned address. See Sending from an alias. Only the account’s own registered addresses are accepted; an unowned From is rejected before the message is sent.

Register the alias with your mail provider first. Adding it to mxr does not create the address at Zoho, Gmail, or another SMTP provider, and it does not grant provider-side send-as permission. Confirm mxr’s local sender resolution before sending:

mxr compose --from accounts@planetaryescape.xyz --to alice@example.com \
  --subject "Invoice 42" --dry-run --format json

What you get: a preview whose from field names the exact address mxr will hand to the provider. The provider can still reject an alias it has not authorised.

The address registry also has an is_primary marker. In mxr 0.6.12, set-primary and add --primary change that marker; they do not rewrite the configured account email or the default From used by an account-key selector. Existing aliases stay registered and remain valid per-message senders:

mxr accounts addresses add --account work hello@planetaryescape.xyz --primary
mxr accounts addresses list --account work --format table

What you get: hello@planetaryescape.xyz marked as primary in the owned-address inventory, with the previous primary retained as a non-primary owned address. Use an exact owned address with mxr compose --from <address> when you need that address as the visible From.

Selecting an account

mxr accounts --format table
mxr search "is:unread" --account work --format json
mxr archive --account work --search "from:noreply@example.com older_than:30d" --dry-run

What you get: the account selectors available locally, account-limited search results, and a preview of the matching work-account messages before any mutation runs.

Most mail-facing CLI commands accept --account <selector>.

The selector can be:

• account key
• email address
• account id
• display name, when it matches exactly one account

Use the same selector on reads, lists, replies, and drafts:

mxr search "is:unread" --account work --format json
mxr count "from:notifications@github.com" --account you@example.com
mxr archive --account work --search "from:noreply@example.com older_than:30d" --dry-run
mxr reply MESSAGE_ID --account work --body "Thanks, will do." --dry-run
mxr drafts --account personal --format json

If you omit --account, mxr keeps the command’s normal behavior. Search, counts, lists, reads, and batch mutations operate across all enabled accounts unless the command is already inherently tied to one account (for example mxr sync --account, mxr accounts show, or compose sender selection).

Unknown or ambiguous selectors fail before the command is sent to the daemon. Direct-ID commands also check that the message, draft, delivery, or invite belongs to the selected account before reading or mutating it.

List the selectors currently available:

mxr accounts --format json

Compose behavior

Compose, reply, and forward resolve the sender from the selected/default runtime account. That is the same source the TUI Accounts page shows. To send from a specific owned address rather than the account primary, use --from <address> or edit the from: frontmatter field — see Sending from an alias.

Multi-account notes

• Sync can run per account.
• Mail reads, searches, saved searches, reply queues, deliveries, invites, drafts, and core mutations can run per account with --account.
• The daemon tracks account health in status and diagnostics.
• Changing editable accounts in the TUI triggers daemon reload so the runtime view updates without a restart.
• Runtime-only accounts are inspectable in the TUI even when they are not editable there.