steve
1b2fe99055
emcli had only raw flag usage and no command listing; `--help` on agent commands even emitted a JSON error envelope and exited 2. Add real help: - Top-level `emcli` / `help` / `-h` / `--help` prints a grouped command catalogue (agent vs admin) with one-line summaries and the EMCLI_KEY/EMCLI_DB env vars. - `emcli help <command>` prints that command's synopsis + summary. - `emcli <command> --help` prints synopsis + summary + flags and exits 0. Agent commands keep stdout JSON-free (usage goes to stderr); admin commands print to stdout. Help works without EMCLI_KEY (no DB access). - help.go holds the command catalogue; flag.ErrHelp is handled as success, and admin handlers short-circuit help before opening the store. Unknown commands still error (exit 2). Full suite passes. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
emcli
A single command-line program that mediates all email access for an AI agent. The agent never
holds your email password and never talks to the mail server directly — every read and send goes
through emcli, which enforces the limits you configure (read-only/read-write, sender and
recipient whitelists, subject filters). Even with faulty instructions, the agent can't read mail
it isn't permitted to see or send mail to people it isn't permitted to contact.
Getting started
export EMCLI_KEY="$(head -c 32 /dev/urandom | base64)" # one-time: generate & save a key
emcli init # create the DB, add your first account
emcli doctor # confirm it connects and authenticates
Documentation
See the User Manual for full setup, account configuration (including Gmail app passwords), the agent and admin command reference, the JSON output format, and troubleshooting.
For AI agents, skills/emcli is an
Agent Skill that teaches an agent to read and send mail through emcli,
including a binary installer.