CHK_CYRUS(8)

✨ CHK_CYRUS ✨

okay bestie, gather round, because this one is genuinely so useful and nobody talks about it 💖

chk_cyrus lives in the Cyrus IMAP docs family, and its whole thing is: perform a consistency check of the Cyrus IMAP mail spool. that's it. that's the gig. she checks, she reports, she does not fix. 🎀

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

chk_cyrus [ -C config-file ] [ -P partition | -M mailbox ]

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so chk_cyrus runs a consistency check on the cyrus datastore, and spits out a list of all the files and directories that should exist but literally do not. it's giving "where did they go" energy 😭

the way output works here is split, and this part matters so pay attention:

• status messages go to stderr
• the list of files/directories goes to stdout

why do we care? because you can hand that list straight to a backup program to help with a partial restoration. iconic. 👑

and by default, chk_cyrus reads its config options out of the imapd.conf(5) file — unless you tell it otherwise with -C. 🦋

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -C config-file — use this specific config file (that's config-file, the one you name) instead of the default imapd.conf(5).
• -P partition, --partition=partition — only look at partition partition. 🫶 heads up: you may not use this together with -M.
• -M mailbox, --mailbox=mailbox — only check the single mailbox mailbox. heads up: you may not use this together with -P.

IMPORTANT: 🙈 the mailbox has to be in the internal format. so instead of writing user/john/Trash@example.org, you're gonna want to write example.org!user.john.Trash. fr fr, do not skip this, it will not vibe with you otherwise. 💀

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

1. ``` chk_cyrus -P default

run consistency checks on the <hotpink>`default`</hotpink> partition.

2. ```
chk_cyrus -C /usr/local/etc/imapd-slot1.conf -P default

run consistency checks on the default partition, but using the config file you specified.

3. ``` chk_cyrus -M user.marysmith

run consistency checks on the mailbox <hotpink>`user.marysmith`</hotpink>.

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# 🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

- `imapd.conf(5)`
- `master(8)`

iykyk, go read those next bestie 📚

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# 💜 AUTHOR 💜

- The Cyrus Team
- Nic Bernstein (Onlight)
- Jeroen van Meeuwen (Kolab Systems)

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# ⭐ COPYRIGHT ⭐

1993–2026, The Cyrus Team

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and that's the whole page, no cap 🎀 this was **Cyrus IMAP** version **3.12.3**, dated **Jul 15, 2026**, and she ate 💅✨ bye bestie, go check your spool 🫶