A local-first email account manager for developers and power users
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MailShelf is a desktop app for storing and managing large numbers of email accounts — with quick access to credentials, notes, tags, and statuses. Built for people who work with many accounts daily and need them organized in one place.
Everything stays on your machine. No cloud, no sync, no telemetry.
- Features
- Installation
- Groups & Folders
- Tag Rules
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Data & Privacy
- Build from Source
- Releasing a New Version
- Tech Stack
- Groups / Folders — organize accounts into named folders with color coding; filter the list by group from the sidebar
- Drag & drop into groups — grab the ⠿ handle on any card and drop it onto a group in the sidebar
- Auto-group on create — if a group is selected in the sidebar, new accounts are added to it automatically
- Smart tags — autocomplete from existing tags, create new ones inline, filter by tag in the sidebar
- Inline tag editing — add or remove tags directly from the account card without opening the form
- Status tracking — Active, Exhausted, Waiting Reset, Dead, Archived
- Fast search — full-text search across email, notes, and tags (SQLite FTS5)
- One-click copy — copy email or password instantly
- Quick status change — click the status badge on any card to cycle through statuses
- Smart bulk actions — select multiple accounts by tag / status / provider, then change status, manage tags, move to group, or delete
- Bulk tag management — add or remove tags across multiple selected accounts at once
- Confirmation dialogs — all destructive actions require confirmation
- Tag Rules — automatically change account status on a schedule based on tags (after N days, on a specific day of the month, or on a specific weekday)
- Catch-up logic — if the app was offline and missed a scheduled rule, it fires immediately on the next launch
- Import / Export — JSON and CSV formats for portable backups
- Keyboard shortcuts — full keyboard navigation, press
?to see all shortcuts - Encrypted storage — passwords encrypted with AES-256-GCM, key protected by OS keychain (DPAPI / Keychain / libsecret)
- Virtualized list — handles thousands of accounts without lag
- Update checker — checks GitHub Releases on startup; downloads and installs updates in the background with your confirmation
Go to Releases and download the installer for your platform:
| Platform | File |
|---|---|
| 🪟 Windows | MailShelf Setup x.x.x.exe or portable .exe |
| 🍎 macOS | MailShelf-x.x.x.dmg |
| 🐧 Linux | MailShelf-x.x.x.AppImage or .deb |
Windows SmartScreen warning: On first launch Windows may show "Windows protected your PC — Unknown publisher". This is expected — the app is open-source and not commercially code-signed yet.
Click More info → Run anyway.
To verify the file hasn't been tampered with, check the SHA256 checksum listed on the Releases page:
Get-FileHash .\MailShelf-Setup-x.x.x-x64.exe -Algorithm SHA256
Groups are first-class entities stored separately from tags. Each group has a name and a color.
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Create a group | Click + next to "Groups" in the sidebar |
| Filter by group | Click the group name in the sidebar |
| Move account (drag) | Grab the ⠿ handle on the card, drop onto a group in the sidebar |
| Move account (bulk) | Select accounts → Group button in the bulk action bar |
| Auto-assign on create | Select a group first — new accounts are added to it automatically |
| Rename / recolor | Hover the group → pencil icon |
| Delete group | Hover the group → trash icon → confirm (accounts become ungrouped, not deleted) |
Tag Rules automate status transitions based on a tag and a schedule.
Example: accounts tagged waiting-reset with status Waiting Reset automatically switch to Active on the 1st of every month.
Trigger types:
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| After N days | Fires when the account's status hasn't changed for N days |
| Day of month | Fires on a specific day of each month (1–28) |
| Day of week | Fires on a specific weekday each week |
Rules are evaluated on every app startup and then once per hour. If the app was offline and missed scheduled firings, the rule fires immediately on the next launch.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+N |
New account |
Ctrl+F |
Focus search |
Ctrl+E |
Edit selected |
Ctrl+A |
Select all |
Ctrl+C |
Copy email |
Ctrl+Shift+C |
Copy password |
Delete |
Delete selected |
↑ / ↓ |
Navigate list |
? |
Show all shortcuts |
| Item | Location |
|---|---|
| Database (Windows) | %APPDATA%\mailshelf\mailshelf.db |
| Database (Linux) | ~/.config/mailshelf/mailshelf.db |
| Database (macOS) | ~/Library/Application Support/mailshelf/mailshelf.db |
| Settings | settings.json in the same folder as the database |
- Passwords are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before storing
- Encryption key is stored in the OS keychain via Electron
safeStorage - Auto-update downloads from GitHub Releases over HTTPS — no other network activity
- Updates download silently in the background and install only when you click Restart & Install
Requirements: Node.js 18+
git clone https://github.com/yourname/mailshelf.git
cd mailshelf
npm install
npm run dev # development mode
npm run dist:win # build Windows installer + portable
npm run dist:mac # build macOS DMG
npm run dist:linux # build Linux AppImage + debAll three platforms are built automatically on GitHub Actions when you push a version tag. Use the release script to bump the version, commit, tag, and push in one step.
Stable releases:
npm run release # patch bump: 1.0.0 → 1.0.1
npm run release minor # minor bump: 1.0.0 → 1.1.0
npm run release major # major bump: 1.0.0 → 2.0.0Pre-releases:
npm run release:beta # 1.0.0 → 1.0.1-beta.0
npm run release:beta minor # 1.0.0 → 1.1.0-beta.0
npm run release:beta # 1.0.1-beta.0 → 1.0.1-beta.1
npm run release:rc # 1.0.0 → 1.0.1-rc.0
npm run release:stable # 1.0.1-beta.3 → 1.0.1 (promote to stable)The script asks for confirmation, then pushes the tag. GitHub Actions builds Windows, macOS, and Linux in parallel and publishes a release with an auto-generated changelog.
Pre-release tags (containing -) are published as GitHub pre-releases and are only delivered to users who opted into the beta update channel in Settings → Updates.
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