Mutt Configuration

Mutt is a well-known and powerful console-based email client. This page explains how to configure it to use your A/I account.

In the examples below, [email protected] is your account name (full email address), and PASSWORD the associated password.

Reading email (IMAP)

The IMAP protocol allows you to keep email messages on the server, with a hierarchical folder structure. It is quite practical, but only advised if you regularly delete old messages (otherwise sooner or later the server will run out of space).

To use Mutt with your A/I account in this fashion, add the following to Mutt’s ~/.muttrc configuration file:

set folder="imaps://[email protected]@mail.autistici.org:993/"
set imap_pass="PASSWORD"
set spoolfile=+INBOX

Reading email (POP)

The POP protocol allows you to download each new message from the server and store it on your computer instead.

Put this in your ~/.muttrc file if this is what you want:

set folder="pops://[email protected]@mail.autistici.org:995/"
set pop_pass="PASSWORD"
set spoolfile=+INBOX

If you have multiple email accounts configured in your muttrc, you might have conflicts preventing successful authentication. In that case try adding:

set pop_authenticators="digest-md5:apop:user"

Sending emails with Mutt

Recent versions of Mutt allow sending emails via SMTP directly from Mutt itself. To do so, add this to your ~/.muttrc:

set from="[email protected]"
set use_from=yes
set smtp_url="smtps://[email protected]@smtp.autistici.org:465/"
set ssl_force_tls=yes

If you’re having trouble authenticating successfully, try adding the following line as well:

set smtp_authenticators="login:plain"

Sending emails via msmtp

Older versions of Mutt can only send emails by using an external program. A common choice for this purpose is msmtp.

set sendmail="/usr/bin/msmtp -a [email protected]"