MCP Support

Connect your AI assistant to Unbox

Use the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to let a trusted AI agent help with your domain inbox — search threads, draft replies, send mail, and manage spam or bin — with the same limits and security as the Unbox web app.

Overview

Unbox MCP is for personal account owners who want an AI assistant — in Cursor, Workbuddy, OpenClaw, or any MCP-compatible host — to work with their hosted mail. It is not a developer API for building apps on Unbox; for transactional send from your domain, see our HTTP API docs.

ProtocolModel Context Protocol (MCP)

ScopePersonal inbox — read, search, reply, send, spam & bin

AuthenticationBrowser sign-in → short-lived session

What agents can do

After you sign in, your agent can call Unbox tools on your behalf:

Read inbox & threads — List conversations, open a thread, and fetch individual messages.
Search mail — Find messages across your inbox with natural-language queries.
Send & reply — Compose new mail or reply to a thread from your Unbox addresses, subject to your plan send limits.
Organize — Mark spam, restore from spam, move to recycle bin, or restore — one message at a time.

Bulk empty spam or bin, API key generation, and team workspace actions are not available through MCP in v1.

How it works

Your AI client connects to the Unbox MCP server. The server calls Unbox account APIs using a normal web session — the same kind you get when you sign in at unbox.im.

Add Unbox to your MCP client configuration (see Setup below).
Ask your agent to sign in — it opens a browser link where you approve access with your Unbox account.
Once connected, ask your agent to read mail, draft replies, or organize messages.

Sign in

Unbox uses browser login so you always approve access. Your agent starts the flow with the login tools, then you complete sign-in in the browser:

Your agent calls unbox_login_start and shows you a browser URL.
Open the link, sign in to Unbox if needed, and copy the one-time link code shown on the page.
Paste the code back to your agent (unbox_login_complete).
Your session stays active for the normal Unbox web session period — sign in again when it expires.

https://unbox.im/en/auth/desktop/link?source=mcp

Need an account first? Create your Unbox ID, then return to connect your agent.

Setup

Add Unbox as an MCP server in your AI client. Remote HTTP transport is the simplest way to connect to Unbox cloud:

Remote HTTP (recommended)

Point your MCP client at the Unbox MCP endpoint. After adding the server, use the login tools to authenticate:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "unbox": {
      "url": "https://unbox.im/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

HTTP MCP may be disabled on some deployments until enabled by the operator. If connection fails, try again later or contact support.

Common tools

Once signed in, your agent can use tools such as:

unbox_login_start — open browser login
unbox_login_complete — exchange link code for session
unbox_list_threads — inbox feed
unbox_search_inbox — search messages
unbox_reply_to_email — reply to a message
unbox_send_email — send new mail

Supported clients

Any MCP-compatible agent host can connect to Unbox. We test and document:

Cursor — Add Unbox under MCP servers in Cursor settings, then sign in via the browser flow.
Workbuddy — Configure a remote MCP server URL pointing at Unbox, then authenticate with your account.
OpenClaw — Connect OpenClaw to the Unbox MCP HTTP endpoint and complete browser login.

Security

Browser login — You sign in through Unbox in your browser — agents never see your password.
Account owner only — MCP access is limited to the personal account owner, not team members or shared workspaces.
Same limits as the web app — Send quotas, spam rules, and transactional policy apply to agent actions the same way they do in the inbox UI.
No bulk delete — Agents cannot empty spam, empty bin, or rotate API keys through MCP in v1.

Create free account Transactional API docs