Cursus
A terminal mail client with an account-free demo. Available for Apple Silicon Macs.
A mail client for people who like the terminal—and still expect a good reading experience.
Cursus brings account tabs, a folder tree, a message list, and a reader into one terminal window. Arrow keys work; Vim movement is optional. A built-in instructional inbox lets you explore with fictional mail before connecting an account.
Read, organize, reply
- Read across multiple accounts, with a Unified inbox and expandable folder trees.
- Keep reading separate from marking mail read. Opening a message does not mark it read.
- Use JMAP with Fastmail or Stalwart to archive, move, label, star, and send mail.
- Compose, reply, and forward in your own editor, with To, Cc, and Bcc fields.
- Read HTML-only messages as text, without loading remote images or scripts.
- Adjust the layout and appearance in a commented configuration file.
IMAP support is narrower: folder browsing, reading, and explicit read/unread changes. IMAP sending/SMTP and other IMAP actions are not implemented. There is no offline mailbox cache, server-side search, resumable-draft interface, or undo.
Install with Homebrew
With Homebrew installed, run:
brew install pwelty/tap/cursus
Then launch it in your terminal:
cursus
No Rust toolchain or GitHub account is required. On a fresh profile, Cursus opens the fictional demo inbox without mail credentials. Use the arrow keys to explore, ? for help, and uppercase Q to quit. If you already have configured accounts, launching Cursus can connect to them.
For real mail, follow the account instructions in the generated configuration at ~/.config/cursus/config.toml (or your configured XDG location). Set EDITOR to an editor you have installed before composing messages. Saving a changed, valid message and successfully exiting the editor sends it; there is no separate send-confirmation screen.
Download directly
Download Cursus 0.1.0 for Apple Silicon, or visit the release page for checksums and release notes.
The archive includes installation instructions and third-party notices. The compiled executable is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple. Do not disable macOS security or remove quarantine to run it.
Availability and feedback
Version 0.1.0 is experimental, for Apple Silicon Macs, and has been tested on macOS 26.5.2. Intel Mac, Linux, and Windows downloads are not included in this release; older macOS versions are not yet qualified.
The binary is publicly available; application source and Git history remain private. Report problems or suggestions in Cursus issues. Please leave credentials and private mail out of reports and screenshots.
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