Email Agent

An AI-powered email management application built with the Claude Agent SDK for Elixir.

Overview

This example demonstrates how to build an intelligent email agent that integrates IMAP email access with Claude AI for natural language email queries and management.

What This Demonstrates

• IMAP Integration: Connecting to email servers via IMAP protocol
• SQLite Storage: Local email persistence without Ecto
• Claude Agent SDK: AI-powered natural language email search
• GenServer Patterns: Process supervision and connection management
• Automation Rules: File-based email processing rules

Architecture

+------------------+     +------------------+     +------------------+
|                  |     |                  |     |                  |
|   IMAP Server    |<--->|  IMAP.Connection |<--->|     Storage      |
|   (Gmail, etc)   |     |    GenServer     |     |     (SQLite)     |
|                  |     |                  |     |                  |
+------------------+     +------------------+     +------------------+
                                                          ^
                                                          |
                                                          v
                         +------------------+     +------------------+
                         |                  |     |                  |
                         |   Claude Agent   |<--->|   Rules Engine   |
                         |      (SDK)       |     |     (JSON)       |
                         |                  |     |                  |
                         +------------------+     +------------------+

Key Components

Setup

1. Prerequisites

• Elixir 1.15+
• Erlang/OTP 26+
• Claude CLI authenticated (claude login)
• Email account with IMAP access

2. Installation

cd examples/email_agent
mix deps.get

3. Configuration

Copy the example environment file:

cp .env.example .env

Edit .env with your credentials:

# Required
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-your-api-key
IMAP_HOST=imap.gmail.com
IMAP_PORT=993
EMAIL_ADDRESS=your-email@gmail.com
EMAIL_PASSWORD=your-app-password

# Optional
MAX_EMAILS_TO_FETCH=50
SYNC_INTERVAL_SECONDS=300

Gmail Setup

For Gmail users:

1. Enable 2-Factor Authentication on your Google account
2. Generate an App Password:
   • Go to Google Account Security
   • Under "2-Step Verification", click "App passwords"
   • Generate a new password for "Mail"
3. Use the 16-character App Password (not your regular password)

Usage

Starting the Application

# Start with IEx shell
iex -S mix

# Or run in production mode
MIX_ENV=prod mix run --no-halt

Basic Operations

# Sync emails from IMAP server
EmailAgent.sync_emails()

# List recent emails
{:ok, emails} = EmailAgent.list_emails(limit: 10)

# Search emails
{:ok, results} = EmailAgent.search("quarterly report")

# Ask Claude about your emails
{:ok, response} = EmailAgent.ask("Find emails from John about the project")

# Apply automation rules
{:ok, processed_count} = EmailAgent.apply_rules()

AI-Powered Queries

The agent understands natural language:

EmailAgent.ask("What are my unread emails about?")
EmailAgent.ask("Summarize emails from last week")
EmailAgent.ask("Find important emails with attachments")
EmailAgent.ask("Which emails need a response?")

Automation Rules

Rules are defined in priv/rules.json:

{
  "rules": [
    {
      "name": "Label newsletters",
      "condition": {
        "from_contains": "newsletter"
      },
      "action": {
        "type": "label",
        "label": "newsletters"
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Star urgent emails",
      "condition": {
        "subject_contains": "urgent"
      },
      "action": {
        "type": "star"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Condition Types

• from_contains: Sender address contains string
• subject_contains: Subject contains string
• has_attachment: Email has attachments (boolean)
• older_than_days: Email is older than N days

Action Types

• label: Add a label to the email
• move: Move to a folder
• mark_read: Mark as read
• star: Star the email

Testing

# Run all tests
mix test

# Run with coverage
mix coveralls

# Run specific test file
mix test test/email_agent/storage_test.exs

Security Considerations

This is a demonstration application for local development only.

Security Notes

1. Credentials Storage: Credentials are stored in plain text in .env files
2. No Authentication: The application has no user authentication
3. Local Only: Not designed for production deployment
4. Database Security: SQLite database is unencrypted

Best Practices

• Never commit .env files to version control
• Use app-specific passwords (not your main password)
• Run only on trusted networks
• Delete the database when done testing

Project Structure

email_agent/
├── config/
│   ├── config.exs
│   ├── dev.exs
│   ├── test.exs
│   └── prod.exs
├── lib/
│   └── email_agent/
│       ├── application.ex      # OTP Application
│       ├── agent.ex            # Claude SDK integration
│       ├── email.ex            # Email struct
│       ├── email_parser.ex     # RFC 5322 parsing
│       ├── rules.ex            # Automation engine
│       ├── storage.ex          # SQLite storage
│       └── imap/
│           ├── client.ex       # Real IMAP client
│           ├── connection.ex   # GenServer
│           └── connection_behaviour.ex
├── priv/
│   └── rules.json              # Automation rules
├── test/
│   ├── email_agent/
│   │   ├── agent_test.exs
│   │   ├── email_parser_test.exs
│   │   ├── rules_test.exs
│   │   ├── storage_test.exs
│   │   └── imap/
│   │       └── connection_test.exs
│   └── test_helper.exs
├── .env.example
├── .gitignore
├── mix.exs
└── README.md

Dependencies

Troubleshooting

Connection Issues

# Check if IMAP is configured
System.get_env("IMAP_HOST")

# Start in storage-only mode
# (Just don't set IMAP environment variables)

Gmail Authentication Errors

• Ensure 2FA is enabled
• Use App Password, not regular password
• Check for spaces in the password

Database Issues

# Reset the database
mix db.reset

Reference

This example is inspired by the claude-agent-sdk-demos/email-agent TypeScript demo.

License

MIT License - See the main Claude Agent SDK repository for details.