- name
- apple-mail-search
- description
- 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.
- homepage
- https://github.com/steipete/clawdbot
- metadata
- {"clawdbot":{"emoji":"📬","os":["darwin"],"requires":{"bins":["sqlite3"]}}}
Apple Mail Search
Search Apple Mail.app emails instantly via SQLite. ~50ms vs 8+ minutes with AppleScript.
Installation
# Copy mail-search to your PATH
cp mail-search /usr/local/bin/
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/mail-searchUsage
mail-search subject "invoice" # Search subjects
mail-search sender "@amazon.com" # Search by sender email
mail-search from-name "John" # Search by sender name
mail-search to "recipient@example.com" # Search sent mail
mail-search unread # List unread emails
mail-search attachments # List emails with attachments
mail-search attachment-type pdf # Find PDFs
mail-search recent 7 # Last 7 days
mail-search date-range 2025-01-01 2025-01-31
mail-search open 12345 # Open email by ID
mail-search stats # Database statisticsOptions
-n, --limit N Max results (default: 20)
-j, --json Output as JSON
-c, --csv Output as CSV
-q, --quiet No headers
--db PATH Override database pathExamples
# Find bank statements from last month
mail-search subject "statement" -n 50
# Get unread emails as JSON for processing
mail-search unread --json | jq '.[] | .subject'
# Find all PDFs from a specific sender
mail-search sender "@bankofamerica.com" -n 100 | grep -i statement
# Export recent emails to CSV
mail-search recent 30 --csv > recent_emails.csvWhy This Exists
| Method | Time for 130k emails |
|---|---|
| AppleScript iteration | 8+ minutes |
| Spotlight/mdfind | Broken since Big Sur |
| SQLite (this tool) | ~50ms |
Apple removed the emlx Spotlight importer in macOS Big Sur. This tool queries the Envelope Index SQLite database directly.
Technical Details
Database: ~/Library/Mail/V{9,10,11}/MailData/Envelope Index
Key tables:
messages- Email metadata (dates, flags, FKs)subjects- Subject linesaddresses- Email addresses and display namesrecipients- TO/CC mappingsattachments- Attachment filenames
Limitations:
- Read-only (cannot compose/send)
- Metadata only (bodies in .emlx files)
- Mail.app only (not Outlook, etc.)
Advanced: Raw SQL
For custom queries, use sqlite3 directly:
sqlite3 -header -column ~/Library/Mail/V10/MailData/Envelope\ Index "
SELECT m.ROWID, s.subject, a.address
FROM messages m
JOIN subjects s ON m.subject = s.ROWID
LEFT JOIN addresses a ON m.sender = a.ROWID
WHERE s.subject LIKE '%your query%'
ORDER BY m.date_sent DESC
LIMIT 20;
"License
MIT