apple-mail-search
Fast Apple Mail search via SQLite on macOS. Search emails by subject, sender, date, attachments - results in ~50ms vs 8+ minutes with AppleScript. Use when asked to find, search, or list emails.
Why use this skill?
Search Apple Mail instantly via SQLite. Replace slow AppleScript with a 50ms search tool for unread emails, attachments, and specific senders.
Install via CLI (Recommended)
clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/mneves75/apple-mail-searchWhat This Skill Does
The apple-mail-search skill provides a high-performance interface for searching your Apple Mail mailbox by querying the underlying SQLite 'Envelope Index' database directly. While standard macOS search methods like Spotlight have become unreliable for mail since macOS Big Sur, and AppleScript interactions are notoriously slow (often taking 8+ minutes to scan 130,000 emails), this tool returns results in approximately 50 milliseconds. It acts as an ultra-fast retrieval layer for your email metadata, allowing you to filter by subject, sender, date, unread status, and attachments, making it an essential tool for users with large mail archives.
Installation
To install this skill, use the ClawHub CLI:
clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/mneves75/apple-mail-search
Alternatively, for manual setup:
- Copy the
mail-searchbinary to your system path:cp mail-search /usr/local/bin/ - Grant execution permissions:
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/mail-search - Ensure you have read access to the directory
~/Library/Mail/.
Use Cases
This skill is designed for power users and automated workflows that require instant access to email metadata. Common use cases include: searching for specific invoices by subject line, identifying unread messages from specific domains, filtering emails containing PDF attachments for archiving, and programmatic extraction of email data into JSON or CSV formats for external processing. It is particularly useful for developers or administrative assistants who spend time managing large volumes of correspondence.
Example Prompts
- "Find all unread emails from '@amazon.com' and show me their subjects."
- "Search my inbox for any emails containing 'invoice' sent during the month of January 2025."
- "List the last 10 emails that have PDF attachments and output them as a CSV file."
Tips & Limitations
This tool is strictly read-only and cannot compose, send, or modify emails. It accesses metadata (subjects, sender info, dates, attachment filenames) but does not index the body content stored within individual .emlx files. Because it queries the raw SQLite database, it is specific to the Apple Mail.app environment and will not function with Outlook or other third-party clients. Always ensure the path to your 'Envelope Index' is correctly configured if you are using a non-standard Mail data location.
Metadata
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Find the right skillPaste this into your clawhub.json to enable this plugin.
{
"plugins": {
"official-mneves75-apple-mail-search": {
"enabled": true,
"auto_update": true
}
}
}Tags(AI)
Flags: file-read