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Relay is an open-source CLI and Python library that makes email programmable again. Connect any IMAP-compatible inbox and build email-powered applications in minutes—without wrestling with MIME parsers, OAuth flows, or IMAP quirks. Your credentials stay local. Your data stays yours. No gatekeepers, no vendor lock-in.

Relay CLI

Your emails, your terminal. Get started in 5 minutes.

Relay Cloud

Coming soon: hosted API and web interface.

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Why we built it

Email is a billion-person communication protocol, but building on it sucks. We hit this wall building a voice assistant for founders when we received the bill for the security audit to validate Gmail permissions. You can read the full story here. So we built Relay: a clean, local-first CLI and Python library that handles the complexity while keeping you in control. No middlemen, no data harvesting, no artificial limits.

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What you can build

Parse receipts into spreadsheets. Build auto-responders that actually understand context. Create support bots that route emails intelligently. Extract attachments in bulk. Build full email clients. The infrastructure is here. The data is yours. The possibilities are endless.

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Where to go next

Quickstart

Install the CLI and connect your first inbox in under 5 minutes.

Concepts

Learn the email fundamentals that power Relay and how it all fits together.

GitHub Repository

Check out the source code, report issues, and contribute to the project.

Join Our Discord

Get help and share what you’re building with the community.