---
name: "aerc-jmap"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "aerc"
version: "0.22.0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/aerc-jmap"
---

# aerc-jmap(5)

JMAP configuration for aerc(1)

## NAME

aerc-jmap - JMAP configuration for [**aerc**(1)](/aerc/1.md)

## SYNOPSIS

aerc implements the JMAP protocol as specified by RFCs 8620 and 8621.

## CONFIGURATION

Basic JMAP configuration may be done interactively with the **:new-account** command.

In *accounts.conf* (see [**aerc-accounts**(5)](/aerc-accounts/5.md)), the following JMAP-specific options are available:

**source** = *\<scheme\>*://\[*\<username\>*\]\[*:\<password\>@*\]*\<hostname\>*\[*:\<port\>*\]/*\<path\>*

Remember that all fields must be URL encoded. The *@* symbol, when URL encoded, is *%40*.

*\<hostname\>*\[*:\<port\>*\]/*\<path\>* is the HTTPS JMAP session resource as specified in RFC 8620 section 2 without the leading *https://* scheme.

Possible values of *\<scheme\>* are:

*jmap*

JMAP over HTTPS using Basic authentication.

*jmap+oauthbearer*

JMAP over HTTPS using OAUTHBEARER authentication

The username is ignored and may be left empty. If specifying the password, make sure to prefix it with *:* to make it explicit that the username is empty. Or set the username to any random value. E.g.:

```
source = jmap+oauthbearer://:s3cr3t@example.com/jmap/session
source = jmap+oauthbearer://me:s3cr3t@example.com/jmap/session
```

Your source credentials must have the *urn:ietf:params:jmap:mail* capability.

**source-cred-cmd** = *\<command\>*

Specifies the command to run to get the password for the JMAP account. This command will be run using *sh -c command*. If a password is specified in the **source** option, the password will take precedence over this command.

Example:

source-cred-cmd = pass hostname/username

**outgoing** = *jmap://*

The JMAP connection can also be used to send emails. No need to repeat the URL nor any credentials. Just the URL scheme will be enough.

Your source credentials must have the *urn:ietf:params:jmap:submission* capability.

**cache-state** = *true*\|*false*

Cache all email state (mailboxes, email headers, mailbox contents, email flags, etc.) on disk in a levelDB database located in folder *~/.cache/aerc/\<account\>/state*.

The cached data should remain small, in the order of a few megabytes, even for very large email stores. Aerc will make its best to purge deleted/outdated information. It is safe to delete that folder when aerc is not running and it will be recreated from scratch on next startup.

Default: *false*

**cache-blobs** = *true*\|*false*

Cache all downloaded email bodies and attachments on disk as individual files in *~/.cache/aerc/\<account\>/blobs/\<xx\>/\<blob\_id\>* (where *\<xx\>* is a subfolder named after the last two characters of *\<blob\_id\>*).

Aerc will not purge the cached blobs automatically. Even when their related emails are destroyed permanently from the server. If required, you may want to run some periodic cleanup based on file creation date in a crontab, e.g.:

@daily find ~/.cache/aerc/foo/blobs -type f -mtime +30 -delete

Default: *false*

**use-labels** = *true*\|*false*

If set to *true*, mailboxes with the *archive* role (usually *Archive*) will be hidden from the directory list and replaced by an **all-mail** virtual folder. The name of that folder can be configured via the **all-mail** setting.

**:archive** *flat* may still be used to effectively "tag" messages with the hidden *Archive* mailbox so that they appear in the **all-mail** virtual folder. When the **all-mail** virtual folder is selected, **:archive** *flat* should not be used and will have no effect. The messages will be grayed out but will never be refreshed until aerc is restarted.

Also, this enables support for the **:modify-labels** (alias **:tag**) command.

Default: *false*

**all-mail** = *\<name\>*

Name of the virtual folder that replaces the role=*archive* mailbox when **use-labels** = *true*.

Default: *All mail*

**server-ping** = *\<duration\>*

Interval the server should ping the client at when monitoring for email changes. The server may choose to ignore this value. By default, no ping will be requested from the server.

See https://pkg.go.dev/time#ParseDuration.

## NOTES

JMAP messages can be seen as "labels" or "tags". Every message must belong to one or more mailboxes (folders in aerc). Each mailbox has a "role" as described in *https://www.iana.org/assignments/imap-mailbox-name-attributes/*.

When deleting messages that belong only to the selected mailbox, aerc will attempt to "move" these messages to a mailbox with the *trash* role. If it cannot find such mailbox or if the selected mailbox is the *trash* mailbox, it will effectively destroy the messages from the server.

**:delete** removes messages from the selected mailbox and effectively does the same thing as **:tag -\<selected\_folder\>**.

**:cp \<foo\>** is an alias for **:tag \<foo\>** or **:tag +\<foo\>**.

**:mv \<foo\>** is a compound of **:delete** and **:cp** and can be seen as an alias of **:tag -\<selected\_folder\> +\<foo\>**.

**:archive** *flat* is an alias for **:tag -\<selected\_folder\> +\<archive\>**.

## SEE ALSO

[**aerc**(1)](/aerc/1.md) [**aerc-accounts**(5)](/aerc-accounts/5.md)

## AUTHORS

Originally created by Drew DeVault and maintained by Robin Jarry who is assisted by other open source contributors. For more information about aerc development, see *https://sr.ht/~rjarry/aerc/*.