neomutt(1)

📦
this version · 11 versions
, in opensuse-leap 16.0

💌 NAME 💌

okay bestie, welcome to the neomutt(1) page from User Manuals — aka the NeoMutt Mail User Agent (MUA) command-line tea. 💅

🛠️ SYNTAX 🛠️

here’s the whole launch menu, literally:

neomutt [-Enx] [-e command] [-F config] [-H draft] [-i include]
        [-b address] [-c address] [-s subject] [-a file] ... [--]
        address ...

neomutt [-nx] [-e command] [-F config] [-b address] [-c address]
        [-s subject] [-a file] ... [--] address ... < message

neomutt [-nRy] [-e command] [-F config] [-f mailbox] [-m type]

neomutt [-n] [-e command] [-F config] -A alias

neomutt [-n] [-e command] [-F config] -B

neomutt [-n] [-e command] [-F config] -D [-S] [-O]

neomutt [-n] [-e command] [-F config] -d level -l file

neomutt [-n] [-e command] [-F config] -G

neomutt [-n] [-e command] [-F config] -g server

neomutt [-n] [-e command] [-F config] -p

neomutt [-n] [-e command] [-F config] -Q variable [-O]

neomutt [-n] [-e command] [-F config] -Z

neomutt [-n] [-e command] [-F config] -z [-f mailbox]

neomutt -v[v]

no cap, that’s the exact shape of every invocation. 🫶

🫶 DESCRIPTION 🫶

NeoMutt is a small but very powerful text based program for reading and sending electronic mail under Unix operating systems, including support for color terminals, MIME, OpenPGP, and a threaded sorting mode. it’s giving iconic terminal mail main character energy. ✨

Note: This manual page gives a brief overview of NeoMutt's command line options. You should find a copy of the full manual in /usr/share/doc/packages/neomutt, in plain text, HTML, and/or PDF format.

💅 OPTIONS 💅

okay, options queen — every flag is here, no skipping, periodt.

  • -- — Special argument forces NeoMutt to stop option parsing and treat remaining arguments as addresses even if they start with a dash
  • -A alias — Print an expanded version of the given alias to stdout and exit
  • -a file — Attach one or more files to a message (must be the last option). Add any addresses after the -- argument, e.g.:
neomutt -a image.jpg -- address1
neomutt -a image.jpg *.png -- address1 address2
  • -B — Run in batch mode (do not start the ncurses UI)
  • -b address — Specify a blind carbon copy (Bcc) recipient
  • -C — Enable cryptographic operations in the cases in which they're disabled by default. Those include:
    • Batch mode.
    • Sending a postponed message.
    • Resending a message.
  • -c address — Specify a carbon copy (Cc) recipient
  • -D — Dump all configuration variables as name=value pairs to stdout
  • -D -O — Like -D, but show one-liner documentation
  • -D -S — Like -D, but hide the value of sensitive variables
  • -d level — Log debugging output to a file (default is ~/.neomuttdebug0). The level can range from 1–5 and affects verbosity (a value of 2 is recommended)

Using this option along with -l is useful to log the early startup process (before reading any configuration and hence $debug_level and $debug_file)

  • -E — Edit draft (-H) or include (-i) file during message composition
  • -e command — Specify a command to be run after reading the config files
  • -F config — Specify an alternative initialization file to read, see FILES section below for a list of regular configuration files
  • -f mailbox — Specify a mailbox (as defined with mailboxes command) to load
  • -G — Start NeoMutt with a listing of subscribed newsgroups
  • -g server — Like -G, but start at specified news server
  • -H draft — Specify a draft file which contains header and body to use to send a message. If draft is -, then data is read from stdin. The draft file is expected to contain just an RFC822 email — headers and a body. Although it is not an mbox file, if an mbox "From " line is present, it will be silently discarded. Draft files are processed the same in interactive and batch mode; they are not passed through untouched. For example, encrypted draft files will be decrypted.
  • -h — Print this help message and exit
  • -i include — Specify an include file to be embedded in the body of a message
  • -l file — Specify a file for debugging output (default ~/.neomuttdebug0)

This overrules $debug_file setting and NeoMutt keeps up to five debug logs ({ file | $debug_file | ~/.neomuttdebug }[0-4]) before overriding the oldest file

  • -m type — Specify a default mailbox format type for newly created folders

The type is either MH, MMDF, Maildir or mbox (case-insensitive)

  • -n — Do not read the system-wide configuration file
  • -p — Resume a prior postponed message, if any
  • -Q variable — Query a configuration variable and print its value to stdout (after the config has been read and any commands executed). Add -O for one-liner documentation.
  • -R — Open mailbox in read-only mode
  • -s subject — Specify a subject (must be enclosed in quotes if it has spaces)
  • -v — Print the NeoMutt version and compile-time definitions and exit
  • -vv — Print the NeoMutt license and copyright information and exit
  • -y — Start NeoMutt with a listing of all defined mailboxes
  • -Z — Open the first mailbox with new message or exit immediately with exit code 1 if none is found in all defined mailboxes
  • -z — Open the first or specified (-f) mailbox if it holds any message or exit immediately with exit code 1 otherwise

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

these are the shell-side vibes NeoMutt peeks at, bestie:

  • EDITOR — Specifies the editor to use if VISUAL is unset. Defaults to the Vi editor if unset.
  • EGDSOCKET — For OpenSSL since version 0.9.5, files, mentioned at RANDFILE below, can be Entropy Gathering Daemon (EGD) sockets. Also, and if exists, ~/.entropy and /tmp/entropy will be used to initialize SSL library functions. Specified sockets must be owned by the user and have permission of 600 (octal number representing).
  • EMAIL — The user's email address.
  • HOME — Full path of the user's home directory.
  • MAIL — Full path of the user's spool mailbox.
  • MAILCAPS — Path to search for mailcap files. If unset, a RFC1524 compliant search path that is extended with NeoMutt related paths (at position two and three): "$HOME/.mailcap:/usr/share/neomutt/mailcap:/etc/mailcap:/etc/mailcap:/usr/etc/mailcap:/usr/local/etc/mailcap" will be used instead.
  • MAILDIR — Full path of the user's spool mailbox if MAIL is unset. Commonly used when the spool mailbox is a maildir(5) folder.
  • MM_NOASK — If this variable is set, mailcap are always used without prompting first.
  • NNTPSERVER — Similar to configuration variable $news_server, specifies the domain name or address of the default NNTP server to connect. If unset, /etc/nntpserver is used but can be overridden by command line option -g.
  • RANDFILE — Like configuration variable $entropy_file, defines a path to a file which includes random data that is used to initialize SSL library functions. If unset, ~/.rnd is used. DO NOT store important data in the specified file.
  • REPLYTO — When set, specifies the default Reply-To address.
  • TEXTDOMAINDIR — Defines an absolute path corresponding to /usr/share/locale that will be recognised by GNU gettext(1) and used for Native Language Support (NLS) if enabled.
  • TMPDIR — Directory in which temporary files are created. Defaults to /tmp if unset. Configuration variable $tmp_dir takes precedence over this one.
  • VISUAL — Specifies the editor to use when composing messages.
  • XDG_CONFIG_DIRS — Specifies a X Desktop Group (XDG) compliant location for the system-wide configuration file, as described in FILES section below. This variable defaults to /etc/xdg. Bypass loading with command line option -n.
  • XDG_CONFIG_HOME — Specifies a XDG compliant location for the user-specific configuration file, as described in FILES section below. This variable defaults to $HOME/.config. Can be overridden by command line option -F.

🌸 FILES 🌸

🎀 Configuration files 🎀

Okay so here's the tea: NeoMutt reads just the first found configuration file from the system-wide category and just the first found one from the user-specific category, checking the list below in exactly that order. ✨

But plot twist — it also lets you build a recursive configuration by using the source command. Slay.

  1. #1 — system-wide: $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/neomutt/neomuttrc · user-specific: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/neomutt/neomuttrc
  2. #2 — system-wide: $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/neomutt/Muttrc *) · user-specific: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/neomutt/muttrc
  3. #3 — system-wide: /etc/neomuttrc · user-specific: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mutt/neomuttrc
  4. #4 — system-wide: /etc/Muttrc *) · user-specific: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mutt/muttrc
  5. #5 — system-wide: /usr/share/neomutt/neomuttrc · user-specific: ~/.neomutt/neomuttrc
  6. #6 — system-wide: /usr/share/neomutt/Muttrc *) · user-specific: ~/.neomutt/muttrc
  7. #7 — system-wide: — · user-specific: ~/.mutt/neomuttrc
  8. #8 — system-wide: — · user-specific: ~/.mutt/muttrc
  9. #9 — system-wide: — · user-specific: ~/.neomuttrc
  10. #10 — system-wide: — · user-specific: ~/.muttrc
*) Note the case of the filename — like, actually look at that capital M, bestie. It matters. 💅

🦋 Other relevant files 🦋

Unless otherwise stated, NeoMutt will process all grouped files in the order — from top to bottom — as they are specified in that listing. 🫶

  • ~/.mailcap, /etc/mailcap — user-specific and system-wide definitions for handling non-text MIME types; look at environment variable MAILCAPS above for additional search locations.
  • ~/.neomuttdebug0 — the user's default debug log file. For further details or customising the file path, see command line options -d and -l above.
  • /etc/mime.types, /etc/mime.types, /usr/share/neomutt/mime.types, ~/.mime.types — description files for simple plain text mapping between MIME types and filename extensions. NeoMutt parses these files in the stated order while processing attachments to determine their MIME type.
  • /usr/share/doc/packages/neomutt/manual.{html,pdf,txt} — the full NeoMutt manual in HTML, PDF or plain text format.
  • /tmp/neomutt-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX — temporary files created by NeoMutt. For custom locations, look at the description of the environment variable TMPDIR above. Notice that the suffix -XXXX-XXXX-XXXX is just a placeholder for, e.g. hostname, user name/ID, process ID and/or other random data. 🌀

🐛 BUGS 👀

See issue tracker at https://github.com/neomutt/neomutt/issues. If something's cursed, that's the spot. 💀

🚫 NO WARRANTIES 💀

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. Periodt. ⚖️

👯 SEE ALSO 🫶

Go check these icons: gettext(1), msmtp(1), notmuch(1), sendmail(1), smail(1), RAND_egd(3), curses(3), ncurses(3), mailcap(5), maildir(5), mbox(5), neomuttrc(5).

For further NeoMutt information:

👑 AUTHOR 💖

Richard Russon and friends. Use neomutt-devel@neomutt.org to contact the developers. 🫡

Source/version/date sign-off vibes: Unix, 2024-04-25, page neomutt(1) — bye bestie, go read your mail! 💅✨🌸

📦 where this page comes from