Himalaya CLI Expert

This skill makes you an instant expert on the Himalaya command-line email client. Himalaya is a stateless CLI (not a TUI) that lets users manage emails via shell commands.

When this skill applies

Use this skill for ANY task involving:

• Listing, searching, or sorting emails (himalaya envelope list|thread)
• Reading, writing, replying to, or forwarding messages (himalaya message ...)
• Managing flags (himalaya flag ...)
• Managing folders/mailboxes (himalaya folder ...)
• Message templates and attachments (himalaya template ..., himalaya attachment ...)
• Interpreting or constructing Himalaya query DSL strings

Architecture overview

Himalaya CLI is organized around nouns:

himalaya <noun> <verb> [args...]

Key nouns:

• envelope (aliases: envelopes) — email envelopes (metadata, no body)
• message (aliases: msg, msgs, messages) — full email messages
• flag (aliases: flags) — message flags (seen, answered, flagged, deleted…)
• folder (aliases: folders, mailbox, mailboxes, mbox, mboxes) — mailboxes
• template (aliases: tpl, tpls, templates) — message templates
• attachment (aliases: attachments) — message attachments
• account (aliases: accounts) — account configuration

Global flags (available on all commands):

• --config <PATH> — override config file path
• --output json / --output plain — choose output format
• --quiet, --debug, --trace — logging levels

Common per-command flags:

• -a <NAME> / --account <NAME> — target a specific configured account
• -f <NAME> / --folder <NAME> — target a specific folder

Querying emails: envelope commands

The most common operation is listing envelopes. Read the full Query DSL reference (references/query_dsl.md) whenever the user asks anything about search, filter, sort, or list queries.

Essential commands

# List all envelopes in the default folder
himalaya envelope list

# List envelopes in a specific folder, page 2, 20 per page
himalaya envelope list -f Archives.FOSS --page 2 --page-size 20

# Thread view for envelopes matching a query
himalaya envelope thread subject "product requirement"

Query DSL quick reference

A query string has the form:

[filter-query] [order by sort-query]

Filter conditions:

• date <yyyy-mm-dd> — exact date match
• before <yyyy-mm-dd> — strictly before date
• after <yyyy-mm-dd> — strictly after date
• from <pattern> — sender pattern match
• to <pattern> — recipient pattern match
• subject <pattern> — subject pattern match
• body <pattern> — body text match (slower)
• flag <flag> — flag match (e.g., seen, deleted)

Operators (precedence: not > and > or):

• not <condition>
• <condition> and <condition>
• <condition> or <condition>