GIT-IMAP-SEND(1) Git Manual GIT-IMAP-SEND(1)
git-imap-send - Send a collection of patches from stdin to an IMAP
folder
git imap-send [-v] [-q] [--[no-]curl] [(--folder|-f) <folder>]
git imap-send --list
This command uploads a mailbox generated with git format-patch into
an IMAP drafts folder. This allows patches to be sent as other email
is when using mail clients that cannot read mailbox files directly.
The command also works with any general mailbox in which emails have
the fields From, Date, and Subject in that order.
Typical usage is something like:
$ git format-patch --signoff --stdout --attach origin | git imap-send
-v, --verbose
Be verbose.
-q, --quiet
Be quiet.
-f <folder>, --folder=<folder>
Specify the folder in which the emails have to saved. For
example: --folder=[Gmail]/Drafts or -f INBOX/Drafts.
--curl
Use libcurl to communicate with the IMAP server, unless tunneling
into it. Ignored if Git was built without the
USE_CURL_FOR_IMAP_SEND option set.
--no-curl
Talk to the IMAP server using git's own IMAP routines instead of
using libcurl. Ignored if Git was built with the NO_OPENSSL
option set.
--list
Run the IMAP LIST command to output a list of all the folders
present.
To use the tool, imap.folder and either imap.tunnel or imap.host must
be set to appropriate values.
Everything above this line in this section isn't included from the
git-config(1) documentation. The content that follows is the same as
what's found there:
imap.folder
The folder to drop the mails into, which is typically the Drafts
folder. For example: INBOX.Drafts, INBOX/Drafts or
[Gmail]/Drafts. The IMAP folder to interact with MUST be
specified; the value of this configuration variable is used as
the fallback default value when the --folder option is not given.
imap.tunnel
Command used to set up a tunnel to the IMAP server through which
commands will be piped instead of using a direct network
connection to the server. Required when imap.host is not set.
imap.host
A URL identifying the server. Use an imap:// prefix for
non-secure connections and an imaps:// prefix for secure
connections. Ignored when imap.tunnel is set, but required
otherwise.
imap.user
The username to use when logging in to the server.
imap.pass
The password to use when logging in to the server.
imap.port
An integer port number to connect to on the server. Defaults to
143 for imap:// hosts and 993 for imaps:// hosts. Ignored when
imap.tunnel is set.
imap.sslverify
A boolean to enable/disable verification of the server
certificate used by the SSL/TLS connection. Default is true.
Ignored when imap.tunnel is set.
imap.preformattedHTML
A boolean to enable/disable the use of html encoding when sending
a patch. An html encoded patch will be bracketed with <pre> and
have a content type of text/html. Ironically, enabling this
option causes Thunderbird to send the patch as a plain/text,
format=fixed email. Default is false.
imap.authMethod
Specify the authentication method for authenticating with the
IMAP server. If Git was built with the NO_CURL option, or if your
curl version is older than 7.34.0, or if you're running
git-imap-send with the --no-curl option, the only supported
methods are PLAIN, CRAM-MD5, OAUTHBEARER and XOAUTH2. If this is
not set then git imap-send uses the basic IMAP plaintext LOGIN
command.
In order to send an email to a specific folder, you need to know the
correct name of intended folder in your mailbox. The names like
"Junk", "Trash" etc. displayed by various email clients need not be
the actual names of the folders stored in the mail server of your
email provider.
In order to get the correct folder name to be used with git
imap-send, you can run git imap-send --list. This will display a list
of valid folder names. An example of such an output when run on a
Gmail account is:
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "INBOX"
* LIST (\HasChildren \Noselect) "/" "[Gmail]"
* LIST (\All \HasNoChildren) "/" "[Gmail]/All Mail"
* LIST (\Drafts \HasNoChildren) "/" "[Gmail]/Drafts"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren \Important) "/" "[Gmail]/Important"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren \Sent) "/" "[Gmail]/Sent Mail"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren \Junk) "/" "[Gmail]/Spam"
* LIST (\Flagged \HasNoChildren) "/" "[Gmail]/Starred"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren \Trash) "/" "[Gmail]/Trash"
Here, you can observe that the correct name for the "Junk" folder is
[Gmail]/Spam and for the "Trash" folder is [Gmail]/Trash. Similar
logic can be used to determine other folders as well.
Using tunnel mode:
[imap]
folder = "INBOX.Drafts"
tunnel = "ssh -q -C user@example.com /usr/bin/imapd ./Maildir 2> /dev/null"
Using direct mode:
[imap]
folder = "INBOX.Drafts"
host = imap://imap.example.com
user = bob
pass = p4ssw0rd
Using direct mode with SSL:
[imap]
folder = "INBOX.Drafts"
host = imaps://imap.example.com
user = bob
pass = p4ssw0rd
port = 123
; sslVerify = false
Note
You may want to use sslVerify=false while troubleshooting, if you
suspect that the reason you are having trouble connecting is
because the certificate you use at the private server example.com
you are trying to set up (or have set up) may not be verified
correctly.
Using Gmail's IMAP interface:
[imap]
folder = "[Gmail]/Drafts"
host = imaps://imap.gmail.com
user = user@gmail.com
port = 993
Gmail does not allow using your regular password for git imap-send.
If you have multi-factor authentication set up on your Gmail account,
you can generate an app-specific password for use with git imap-send.
Visit https://security.google.com/settings/security/apppasswords to
create it. Alternatively, use OAuth2.0 authentication as described
below.
Note
You might need to instead use: folder = "[Google Mail]/Drafts" if
you get an error that the "Folder doesn't exist". You can also
run git imap-send --list to get a list of available folders.
Note
If your Gmail account is set to another language than English,
the name of the "Drafts" folder will be localized.
If you want to use OAuth2.0 based authentication, you can specify
OAUTHBEARER or XOAUTH2 mechanism in your config. It is more secure
than using app-specific passwords, and also does not enforce the need
of having multi-factor authentication. You will have to use an
OAuth2.0 access token in place of your password when using this
authentication.
[imap]
folder = "[Gmail]/Drafts"
host = imaps://imap.gmail.com
user = user@gmail.com
port = 993
authmethod = OAUTHBEARER
Using Outlook's IMAP interface:
Unlike Gmail, Outlook only supports OAuth2.0 based authentication.
Also, it supports only XOAUTH2 as the mechanism.
[imap]
folder = "Drafts"
host = imaps://outlook.office365.com
user = user@outlook.com
port = 993
authmethod = XOAUTH2
Once the commits are ready to be sent, run the following command:
$ git format-patch --cover-letter -M --stdout origin/master | git imap-send
Just make sure to disable line wrapping in the email client (Gmail's
web interface will wrap lines no matter what, so you need to use a
real IMAP client).
In case you are using OAuth2.0 authentication, it is easier to use
credential helpers to generate tokens. Credential helpers suggested
in git-send-email(1) can be used for git imap-send as well.
It is still your responsibility to make sure that the email message
sent by your email program meets the standards of your project. Many
projects do not like patches to be attached. Some mail agents will
transform patches (e.g. wrap lines, send them as format=flowed) in
ways that make them fail. You will get angry flames ridiculing you if
you don't check this.
Thunderbird in particular is known to be problematic. Thunderbird
users may wish to visit this web page for more information:
https://kb.mozillazine.org/Plain_text_e-mail_-_Thunderbird#Completely_plain_email
git-format-patch(1), git-send-email(1), mbox(5)
Part of the git(1) suite
Git 2.53.0 2026-02-01 GIT-IMAP-SEND(1)
NAME
git-imap-send - Send a collection of patches from stdin to an IMAP
folder
SYNOPSIS
git imap-send [-v] [-q] [--[no-]curl] [(--folder|-f) <folder>]
git imap-send --list
DESCRIPTION
This command uploads a mailbox generated with git format-patch into
an IMAP drafts folder. This allows patches to be sent as other email
is when using mail clients that cannot read mailbox files directly.
The command also works with any general mailbox in which emails have
the fields From, Date, and Subject in that order.
Typical usage is something like:
$ git format-patch --signoff --stdout --attach origin | git imap-send
OPTIONS
-v, --verbose
Be verbose.
-q, --quiet
Be quiet.
-f <folder>, --folder=<folder>
Specify the folder in which the emails have to saved. For
example: --folder=[Gmail]/Drafts or -f INBOX/Drafts.
--curl
Use libcurl to communicate with the IMAP server, unless tunneling
into it. Ignored if Git was built without the
USE_CURL_FOR_IMAP_SEND option set.
--no-curl
Talk to the IMAP server using git's own IMAP routines instead of
using libcurl. Ignored if Git was built with the NO_OPENSSL
option set.
--list
Run the IMAP LIST command to output a list of all the folders
present.
CONFIGURATION
To use the tool, imap.folder and either imap.tunnel or imap.host must
be set to appropriate values.
Everything above this line in this section isn't included from the
git-config(1) documentation. The content that follows is the same as
what's found there:
imap.folder
The folder to drop the mails into, which is typically the Drafts
folder. For example: INBOX.Drafts, INBOX/Drafts or
[Gmail]/Drafts. The IMAP folder to interact with MUST be
specified; the value of this configuration variable is used as
the fallback default value when the --folder option is not given.
imap.tunnel
Command used to set up a tunnel to the IMAP server through which
commands will be piped instead of using a direct network
connection to the server. Required when imap.host is not set.
imap.host
A URL identifying the server. Use an imap:// prefix for
non-secure connections and an imaps:// prefix for secure
connections. Ignored when imap.tunnel is set, but required
otherwise.
imap.user
The username to use when logging in to the server.
imap.pass
The password to use when logging in to the server.
imap.port
An integer port number to connect to on the server. Defaults to
143 for imap:// hosts and 993 for imaps:// hosts. Ignored when
imap.tunnel is set.
imap.sslverify
A boolean to enable/disable verification of the server
certificate used by the SSL/TLS connection. Default is true.
Ignored when imap.tunnel is set.
imap.preformattedHTML
A boolean to enable/disable the use of html encoding when sending
a patch. An html encoded patch will be bracketed with <pre> and
have a content type of text/html. Ironically, enabling this
option causes Thunderbird to send the patch as a plain/text,
format=fixed email. Default is false.
imap.authMethod
Specify the authentication method for authenticating with the
IMAP server. If Git was built with the NO_CURL option, or if your
curl version is older than 7.34.0, or if you're running
git-imap-send with the --no-curl option, the only supported
methods are PLAIN, CRAM-MD5, OAUTHBEARER and XOAUTH2. If this is
not set then git imap-send uses the basic IMAP plaintext LOGIN
command.
GETTING A LIST OF AVAILABLE FOLDERS
In order to send an email to a specific folder, you need to know the
correct name of intended folder in your mailbox. The names like
"Junk", "Trash" etc. displayed by various email clients need not be
the actual names of the folders stored in the mail server of your
email provider.
In order to get the correct folder name to be used with git
imap-send, you can run git imap-send --list. This will display a list
of valid folder names. An example of such an output when run on a
Gmail account is:
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "INBOX"
* LIST (\HasChildren \Noselect) "/" "[Gmail]"
* LIST (\All \HasNoChildren) "/" "[Gmail]/All Mail"
* LIST (\Drafts \HasNoChildren) "/" "[Gmail]/Drafts"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren \Important) "/" "[Gmail]/Important"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren \Sent) "/" "[Gmail]/Sent Mail"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren \Junk) "/" "[Gmail]/Spam"
* LIST (\Flagged \HasNoChildren) "/" "[Gmail]/Starred"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren \Trash) "/" "[Gmail]/Trash"
Here, you can observe that the correct name for the "Junk" folder is
[Gmail]/Spam and for the "Trash" folder is [Gmail]/Trash. Similar
logic can be used to determine other folders as well.
EXAMPLES
Using tunnel mode:
[imap]
folder = "INBOX.Drafts"
tunnel = "ssh -q -C user@example.com /usr/bin/imapd ./Maildir 2> /dev/null"
Using direct mode:
[imap]
folder = "INBOX.Drafts"
host = imap://imap.example.com
user = bob
pass = p4ssw0rd
Using direct mode with SSL:
[imap]
folder = "INBOX.Drafts"
host = imaps://imap.example.com
user = bob
pass = p4ssw0rd
port = 123
; sslVerify = false
Note
You may want to use sslVerify=false while troubleshooting, if you
suspect that the reason you are having trouble connecting is
because the certificate you use at the private server example.com
you are trying to set up (or have set up) may not be verified
correctly.
Using Gmail's IMAP interface:
[imap]
folder = "[Gmail]/Drafts"
host = imaps://imap.gmail.com
user = user@gmail.com
port = 993
Gmail does not allow using your regular password for git imap-send.
If you have multi-factor authentication set up on your Gmail account,
you can generate an app-specific password for use with git imap-send.
Visit https://security.google.com/settings/security/apppasswords to
create it. Alternatively, use OAuth2.0 authentication as described
below.
Note
You might need to instead use: folder = "[Google Mail]/Drafts" if
you get an error that the "Folder doesn't exist". You can also
run git imap-send --list to get a list of available folders.
Note
If your Gmail account is set to another language than English,
the name of the "Drafts" folder will be localized.
If you want to use OAuth2.0 based authentication, you can specify
OAUTHBEARER or XOAUTH2 mechanism in your config. It is more secure
than using app-specific passwords, and also does not enforce the need
of having multi-factor authentication. You will have to use an
OAuth2.0 access token in place of your password when using this
authentication.
[imap]
folder = "[Gmail]/Drafts"
host = imaps://imap.gmail.com
user = user@gmail.com
port = 993
authmethod = OAUTHBEARER
Using Outlook's IMAP interface:
Unlike Gmail, Outlook only supports OAuth2.0 based authentication.
Also, it supports only XOAUTH2 as the mechanism.
[imap]
folder = "Drafts"
host = imaps://outlook.office365.com
user = user@outlook.com
port = 993
authmethod = XOAUTH2
Once the commits are ready to be sent, run the following command:
$ git format-patch --cover-letter -M --stdout origin/master | git imap-send
Just make sure to disable line wrapping in the email client (Gmail's
web interface will wrap lines no matter what, so you need to use a
real IMAP client).
In case you are using OAuth2.0 authentication, it is easier to use
credential helpers to generate tokens. Credential helpers suggested
in git-send-email(1) can be used for git imap-send as well.
CAUTION
It is still your responsibility to make sure that the email message
sent by your email program meets the standards of your project. Many
projects do not like patches to be attached. Some mail agents will
transform patches (e.g. wrap lines, send them as format=flowed) in
ways that make them fail. You will get angry flames ridiculing you if
you don't check this.
Thunderbird in particular is known to be problematic. Thunderbird
users may wish to visit this web page for more information:
https://kb.mozillazine.org/Plain_text_e-mail_-_Thunderbird#Completely_plain_email
SEE ALSO
git-format-patch(1), git-send-email(1), mbox(5)
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
Git 2.53.0 2026-02-01 GIT-IMAP-SEND(1)