How to Connect Claude to Your Email on a Mac

Two ways to give Claude your email

Claude has a built-in Gmail connector, and it can use any MCP server you add. Which one fits depends on where your mail lives and how much you want Claude to do on its own.

If all your mail is one Gmail account and you only use Claude in the browser, the connector is the short path. If you have more than one account, use iCloud or your own domain, work in Claude Code, or want a mail app where you see everything Claude did, use a local server.

Claude Desktop: install the Postage extension

1. Open Postage, then Settings > Agents, and turn on Let agents connect to Postage.
2. Under Connect, find Claude Desktop and press Install in Claude Desktop. Postage makes a token for Claude Desktop and hands Claude Desktop a small extension.
3. Claude Desktop shows its own install dialog. Confirm it. There is no Node.js to install and no file to edit.
4. Start a new chat and ask: "List my Postage accounts." The Claude Desktop row in Postage turns green when it connects.

The extension appears in Claude Desktop under Settings > Desktop app > Extensions, where you can turn it off or remove it.

Prefer to edit the config file yourself?

Open the Claude menu in the menu bar, choose Settings, then Developer > Edit Config, and add this to claude_desktop_config.json. This route runs npx, so it needs Node.js. Restart Claude Desktop afterwards.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "postage": {
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "http://127.0.0.1:47913/mcp", "--header", "Authorization:${POSTAGE_AUTH}"],
      "command": "npx",
      "env": { "POSTAGE_AUTH": "Bearer YOUR_POSTAGE_TOKEN" }
    }
  }
}

Why a custom connector won't work

Claude's Customize > Connectors > Add custom connector is for remote servers. Anthropic's help article says Claude connects to them from Anthropic's cloud infrastructure, and the server has to be reachable over the public internet. Postage's server listens only on 127.0.0.1, your own Mac, so a custom connector can't reach it. That's on purpose: nothing on the internet can talk to your mailbox through Postage. Use the extension above instead.

Claude Code: one command

In Postage, Settings > Agents > Claude Code > Copy Command gives you this line with your token filled in. Run it in Terminal. --scope user makes Postage available in every project.

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user postage http://127.0.0.1:47913/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_POSTAGE_TOKEN"

Then type /mcp in Claude Code to see Postage connected, and ask for something: "Summarize what came in overnight" or "Draft replies to everyone waiting on me." Postage's built-in prompts show up as /mcp__postage__organize_inbox and friends.

What Claude can do, and what it can't

• Read only (the default): search, read threads and attachments, see unread counts, preview a batch of changes.
• Organize and draft: also archive, move, flag, mark read, create folders, save drafts and prepare messages for you.
• Full: also move mail to Trash. Never a permanent delete.

At every level, a message Claude writes opens in a Postage compose window with a banner naming Claude. You edit it, press Send or close it, and Claude is told which. Every change Claude makes is listed in Settings > Agents > Activity with Undo for a week.

Questions