mailsocket — MCP server
An MCP server that exposes
mailsocket to AI coding agents as native tools, so an
agent can create a throwaway inbox and block on the OTP or magic link
without writing any polling code. It wraps the
Python SDK —
no second HTTP client, no re-implemented polling.
What it does
create_inbox(label?) | a fresh inbox id + address |
wait_for_otp(inbox_id, timeout?=60, min_confidence?=0, since?) | the headline — blocks (bounded: requested deadline clamped to 120s locally, 55s on the remote server) and returns the OTP string + confidence + subject/from/id/received_at. Default since omitted: only messages arriving after this call are matched. |
wait_for_link(inbox_id, timeout?=60, since?) | the extracted magic link (returned, not followed) + subject/from/id/received_at. Default since omitted: only messages arriving after this call are matched. |
list_inboxes(limit?, cursor?) | one page of inboxes owned by the key (server default page size 25) + next_cursor/has_more |
list_messages(inbox_id, has_otp?, subject_contains?, sender?, limit?, cursor?) | one page of messages, optionally filtered (server default page size 25) + next_cursor/has_more |
get_latest(inbox_id) | the newest message, without blocking |
delete_inbox(inbox_id) | remove an inbox when done |
Errors from the SDK (AuthError / NotFound / RateLimited / WaitTimeout)
are turned into clean MCP tool errors — no stack traces, and the API key is
never echoed back.
Reusing an inbox
create_inbox needs no since — a fresh inbox only ever has new messages.
By default, wait_for_otp/wait_for_link omit since entirely, so the
server matches only messages arriving AFTER the call (the request start
time). But if you reuse an existing inbox (e.g. to request a second
OTP/link), pass since explicitly: otherwise a call with no since will
correctly ignore anything already sitting in the inbox, which is right for
most reuse, but if you actually WANT to catch a code that already arrived
before you called the tool, pass either the time right before you triggered
the new email (ISO8601 or unix seconds), or the id of the last message you
saw (msg_..., meaning "only messages after that one") — both tools return
id/received_at on the matched message so you can chain since=<id> into
the next call on that same inbox.
Requirements
- Python 3.10+
- A mailsocket API key — from the dashboard or
POST /api/v1/agents/register.
Install
No install needed with uv:
uvx mailsocket-mcp
Or install with pip:
pip install mailsocket-mcp
mailsocket-mcp
Either way, it reads MAILSOCKET_API_KEY (and optional
MAILSOCKET_BASE_URL) from the environment. If the key is missing it exits
with a clear message and status 2; the key is never logged.
Register with an MCP client
Claude Desktop / Cursor
Add this to your client's MCP config file — claude_desktop_config.json for
Claude Desktop, ~/.cursor/mcp.json for Cursor:
{
"mcpServers": {
"mailsocket": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["mailsocket-mcp"],
"env": {
"MAILSOCKET_API_KEY": "ms_live_..."
}
}
}
}
Claude Code CLI
claude mcp add mailsocket -e MAILSOCKET_API_KEY=ms_live_... -- uvx mailsocket-mcp
Any other MCP-compatible client works the same way: point it at the
mailsocket-mcp executable (or uvx mailsocket-mcp) over stdio and pass the
key through the environment.
Remote server (no install)
The same tools are hosted at https://mcp.mailsocket.app/mcp over
Streamable HTTP. Send your key on every request as a header:
Authorization: Bearer ms_live_.... Never put the key in the URL; a
?api_key= request is rejected.
Claude Code CLI
claude mcp add --transport http mailsocket https://mcp.mailsocket.app/mcp \
--header "Authorization: Bearer ms_live_..."
Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json)
{
"mcpServers": {
"mailsocket": {
"url": "https://mcp.mailsocket.app/mcp",
"headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ms_live_..." }
}
}
}
VS Code (.vscode/mcp.json)
{
"servers": {
"mailsocket": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://mcp.mailsocket.app/mcp",
"headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ms_live_..." }
}
}
}
Any client that can set a custom HTTP header works the same way (OpenAI Agents
SDK, the n8n MCP Client node, your own code).
Things to know:
- Claude.ai, Claude Desktop connectors and Smithery need OAuth, which is
planned but not available yet. Until then, use the local stdio server above
in those clients (Claude Desktop), or use a header-capable client.
- On the remote server,
wait_for_otp / wait_for_link wait at most 55s per
call, which keeps each response under proxy timeouts. On a timeout, call the
tool again.
- The server is stateless: no session to keep, and every request is
authenticated on its own. It has no key of its own and only acts with yours,
under your normal API rate limits.
- Self-hosting:
mailsocket-mcp-http runs the same server (see
mailsocket_mcp/remote.py for its env vars).
Env vars
MAILSOCKET_API_KEY | yes (secret) | Your mailsocket API key (ms_live_...). |
MAILSOCKET_BASE_URL | no | Override the API base URL. Defaults to https://dash.mailsocket.app/api/v1. |
Develop
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest
Tests make no external or live-API requests. The SDK client is faked, and the
remote-transport tests talk to a local fake upstream on 127.0.0.1.
Changelog
- 0.3.0 — BEHAVIOUR CHANGE (via
mailsocket>=0.2.0): wait_for_otp /
wait_for_link now omit since by default instead of forwarding 0
("any message already in the inbox"). The old default could return a
STALE OTP/link already sitting in a reused inbox; the new default matches
only messages arriving after the call. Pass since=0 explicitly to keep
the old behaviour.
- 0.2.3 —
wait_for_otp / wait_for_link accept an optional since (ISO8601, unix seconds or a message id) so a reused inbox returns the NEW code; results include the message id and received_at.
- 0.2.2 — depends on
mailsocket>=0.1.3 (stricter _seg id validation in the underlying Python SDK).