Draft Management

The mailos draft command (alias for drafts) provides comprehensive draft email management with automatic synchronization to your email account's Drafts folder.

Overview

Create, manage, and send draft emails with full IMAP synchronization. Drafts are saved both locally and to your email provider's Drafts folder, ensuring they're accessible from any email client.

Basic Usage

# Create a single draft interactively
mailos draft --interactive

# Create multiple drafts (alias)
mailos drafts --interactive

# List drafts from IMAP Drafts folder
mailos draft --list

# Read full draft content from IMAP
mailos draft --read

# Generate drafts with AI
mailos draft --ai "create follow-up email for meeting" --count 3

# Send all drafts
mailos send --drafts

Command-Line Flags

Basic Options

Flag	Short	Type	Default	Description	Example
--account		string		Email account to use	mailos drafts --account value
--bcc	-B	[]string		BCC recipients	mailos drafts --bcc value
--body	-b	string		Email body (Markdown supported)	mailos drafts --body value
--cc	-c	[]string		CC recipients	mailos drafts --cc value
--subject	-s	string		Email subject	mailos drafts --subject value
--to	-t	[]string		Recipient email addresses	mailos drafts --to value

Advanced Options

Flag	Short	Type	Default	Description	Example
--ai		bool	false	Use AI to generate drafts from query	mailos drafts --ai
--attach	-a	[]string		Attachments	mailos drafts --attach value
--count	-n	int	1	Number of drafts to generate (with AI)	mailos drafts --count value
--data		string		Data file (CSV/JSON) for bulk draft generation	mailos drafts --data value
--edit-uid		uint32	0	UID of existing draft to edit/update	mailos drafts --edit-uid value
--file	-f	string		Read body from file	mailos drafts --file value
--force		bool	false	Force create draft bypassing dynamic content warnings	mailos drafts --force
--interactive	-i	bool	false	Interactive mode for creating drafts	mailos drafts --interactive
--list	-l	bool	false	List drafts from IMAP Drafts folder	mailos drafts --list
--no-signature	-S	bool	false	Don't add signature	mailos drafts --no-signature
--plain	-P	bool	false	Send as plain text only	mailos drafts --plain
--priority		string	normal	Email priority (high/normal/low)	mailos drafts --priority value
--read	-r	bool	false	Read full content of drafts from IMAP	mailos drafts --read
--replace		[]string		Replace dynamic content with KEY=VALUE pairs (e.g., --replace USER_NAME=John --replace DATE=2024-01-01)	mailos drafts --replace value
--signature		string		Custom signature	mailos drafts --signature value
--template		string		Use a template for draft generation	mailos drafts --template value

Output Options

Flag	Short	Type	Default	Description	Example
--output		string		Output directory for drafts (default: ~/.email/drafts)	mailos drafts --output value

Key Features

📮 Automatic IMAP Synchronization

• Drafts are automatically saved to your email account's Drafts folder
• Compatible with Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and other IMAP providers
• Drafts appear instantly in your email client
• Proper RFC 822 email format with \Draft IMAP flag

📝 Local and Remote Storage

• Local files saved to draft-emails/ directory
• Remote copies in your email provider's Drafts folder
• Dual storage provides backup and cross-device access

🎯 Smart Draft Detection

• Automatically detects the correct Drafts folder name
• Handles provider-specific folders ([Gmail]/Drafts, INBOX.Drafts, etc.)
• Creates Drafts folder if it doesn't exist

Command Options

mailos draft [options]

Option	Description
--list, -l	List drafts from IMAP Drafts folder
--read, -r	Read full content of drafts from IMAP
--interactive, -i	Create drafts interactively with prompts
--ai	Use AI to generate drafts from a query
--count N, -n N	Number of drafts to generate (with AI)
--template STRING	Use a template for draft generation
--data FILE	Data file (CSV/JSON) for bulk generation
--output DIR	Output directory (default: "draft-emails")

Draft File Format

Drafts are saved as Markdown files with YAML frontmatter:

---
to: recipient@example.com
cc: cc@example.com
bcc: bcc@example.com
subject: Meeting Follow-up
priority: high
send_after: 2024-01-15 09:00:00
attachments:
  - report.pdf
  - presentation.pptx
---

Dear Team,

Following up on our meeting yesterday...

Best regards,
Your Name

Sending Drafts

Send All Drafts

mailos send --drafts

Preview Before Sending

mailos send --drafts --dry-run

Filter by Priority

# Only send high priority drafts
mailos send --drafts --filter="priority:high"

Filter by Recipient

# Only send to specific domain
mailos send --drafts --filter="to:*@company.com"

Additional Send Options

# Confirm each draft before sending
mailos send --drafts --confirm

# Keep drafts after sending
mailos send --drafts --delete-after=false

# Log sent emails
mailos send --drafts --log-file="sent.log"

Reading Drafts from IMAP

List All Drafts

# Show draft headers (subject, to, date)
mailos draft --list

Read Full Draft Content

# Show complete draft with body content
mailos draft --read

The draft reader will:

• Connect to your email provider
• Automatically detect the Drafts folder
• Display all drafts with proper formatting
• Show flags (Draft, Seen, etc.)
• Format dates in readable format

Interactive Draft Creation

When using --interactive, you'll be prompted for:

1. To: Primary recipient email address
2. CC: Carbon copy recipients (optional)
3. Subject: Email subject line
4. Body: Email content (Markdown supported)
5. Priority: high/normal/low (default: normal)

Press Enter twice after the body to finish.

AI-Powered Draft Generation

# Generate drafts from natural language
mailos draft --ai "create 3 follow-up emails for recent client meetings"

# Specify number of drafts
mailos draft --ai "thank you email" --count 5

Template-Based Drafts

# Use a template (coming soon)
mailos draft --template=follow-up --data=contacts.csv

Draft Organization

draft-emails/
├── 001-meeting-follow-up-2024-01-15-143022.md
├── 002-project-update-2024-01-15-143045.md
├── 003-thank-you-2024-01-15-143102.md
├── sent/                 # Successfully sent (if --delete-after=false)
│   └── 001-meeting-follow-up-2024-01-15-143022.md
└── failed/               # Failed to send
    └── 003-thank-you-2024-01-15-143102.md

IMAP Folder Detection

The system automatically detects your provider's Drafts folder:

Provider	Common Folder Names
Gmail	[Gmail]/Drafts
Outlook	Drafts
Yahoo	Draft
Fastmail	INBOX.Drafts
Generic	Drafts, Draft

Error Handling

• If IMAP save fails, local draft is still created
• Warning displayed but operation continues
• Drafts can still be sent using local files

Examples

Weekly Newsletter Draft

# Create draft interactively
mailos draft --interactive

# Enter details:
To: team@company.com
Subject: Weekly Update - Week 3
Body: 
## This Week's Highlights
- Completed project milestone
- New team member onboarded
- Client meeting scheduled

# Draft saved locally and to email account

Batch Follow-up Emails

# Create multiple drafts
mailos draft --interactive
# Answer 'y' when asked "Create another draft?"

# Review all drafts
ls draft-emails/

# Send with confirmation
mailos send --drafts --confirm

Priority-Based Sending

# Create drafts with different priorities
mailos draft --interactive  # Set priority: high
mailos draft --interactive  # Set priority: normal

# Send only high priority
mailos send --drafts --filter="priority:high"

# Later, send normal priority
mailos send --drafts --filter="priority:normal"

Troubleshooting

Draft Not Appearing in Email Client

• Check your email client's Drafts folder
• Refresh/sync your email client
• Verify IMAP is enabled in your email settings

IMAP Connection Failed

• Ensure app-specific password is configured
• Check IMAP is enabled for your account
• Verify network connectivity

Drafts Folder Not Found

• System will attempt to create Drafts folder
• Falls back to INBOX if creation fails
• Local draft is always created successfully

Best Practices

1. Use Priority Levels: Organize drafts by importance
2. Preview Before Sending: Always use --dry-run first
3. Keep Backups: Use --delete-after=false for important drafts
4. Batch Similar Emails: Create related drafts together
5. Review IMAP Status: Check for sync confirmation messages

Related Commands

• mailos send - Send individual emails
• mailos template - Manage email templates
• mailos interactive - Interactive email mode
• mailos read - Read emails from inbox

See Also

• Send Command - Detailed sending options
• Template Management - Create reusable templates {/* TODO: broken link removed — target page interactive.md does not exist in this repo. Restore once an Interactive Mode doc is added. */}