mq (mail query)

mq is a fast, lightweight, read-only terminal application for querying and viewing emails from a notmuch database. It is designed around GNU readline keybindings and acts as a specialized search tool built to complement existing terminal email clients like aerc or mutt.

Features

• Fast search: Live search with debouncing using native notmuch bindings.
• HTML previews: Renders HTML emails to plain text with html2text.
• Multiple views: Open emails in your pager, view HTML in a browser, or check folder info.
• Read-only: Queries without modifying your notmuch database or Maildir.

Installation

Ensure you have Rust, Cargo, pkg-config, and libnotmuch headers installed.

git clone https://seed.boers.email/z2AdUML1AaZmUVidUJ4vwQDJhmvKg.git mq
cd mq
cargo install --path .

Note: For NixOS users, a devenv.nix is provided to drop into a configured shell environment automatically.

Configuration

mq leverages your default notmuch configuration transparently.

You can optionally override application settings by creating ~/.config/mq/config.toml:

# Auto-discovered if omitted. Overrides the active notmuch db.
# database_path = "/home/user/Maildir"

# Overrides $PAGER environment variable
# pager = "less -R"

# Overrides system default browser for opening HTML attachments
# browser = "xdg-open"

# Maximum queries to return (Default: 100)
# max_results = 500

Keybindings

Global Context

Key	Action
q / Esc	Unfocus search, close popups, or exit mq
?	Toggle help overlay and syntax guide

Search Mode (Focus: /)

Key	Action
Enter	Unfocus search and move to Result View
Ctrl+a / Ctrl+e	Go to start/end of line
Ctrl+b / Ctrl+f	Move backward/forward one character
Alt+b / Alt+f	Move backward/forward one word
Alt+d	Delete forward word
Ctrl+d	Delete character under cursor
Ctrl+u	Clear from cursor to start of line
Ctrl+k	Clear from cursor to end of line
Ctrl+w	Delete backward word
Ctrl+Left/Right	Move cursor by word
Home/End	Move cursor to the start/end of the query

Result View

Key	Action
j / k	Navigate the email list down/up
Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u	Jump 10 items down/up in the list
Enter	Open the selected email with your system $PAGER
PgDn/PgUp	Scroll the preview pane down/up
Ctrl+f/b	Scroll the preview pane down/up (result view only)
h / l	Scroll the preview pane horizontally (left/right)
o	Extract the HTML part and open it in the system browser
f	Show native Maildir folder info (useful for finding the thread in aerc)

Query Syntax

Standard notmuch Xapian syntax applies directly:

• from:alice@example.com
• subject:"weekly report"
• date:yesterday..today
• tag:unread AND folder:Work

(For comprehensive query capabilities, access the ? menu within mq)