#email

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

junior island
#

i want to do something. i have my openclaw bot and want him to give him his own icloud email called kaan.bot@icloud.com i want him to use this with himalaya and setup a regular basis cron job to answer unread email , he should decide if its not needed for answer or if its okay to answer and on critical things forward it to my main email kaan.cat@icloud.com like an manager for me . but when he uses himalaya he says there are index out of bounds error on sending but i still get the mail

umbral shardBOT
#

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glossy foxBOT
atomic remnantBOT
#

yes, this is doable, but I’d set it up in a safer shape first.

  1. OpenClaw cannot create kaan.bot@icloud.com
    Apple has to. Also, if you want a real separate inbox, make a separate iCloud mailbox/account, not just an alias. An alias still lands in the same mailbox.

  2. For iCloud + Himalaya
    Use an app-specific password and configure:

    • IMAP: imap.mail.me.com, port 993, TLS
    • SMTP: smtp.mail.me.com, port 587, STARTTLS

    Docs I checked:

  3. Recommended OpenClaw setup

#
  • dedicated agent for the mailbox
    • standing orders like:
      • never auto-reply to money, legal, password reset, account security, attachments, or anything ambiguous
      • forward critical stuff to kaan.cat@icloud.com
      • only auto-reply to narrow low-risk categories
    • isolated cron job every 5 or 10 min to poll iCloud via Himalaya

  1. Important safety recommendation
    I would not start with “reply to all unread mail”.
    Start with:

    • triage unread mail
    • forward critical items
    • draft or reply only for very narrow cases

  2. About the index out of bounds error
    If the mail still arrives, the send likely succeeded and the error is probably in Himalaya’s post-send path or how OpenClaw is invoking it.

#

First thing, please paste:

openclaw --version
himalaya --version
openclaw status --all

Then test outside OpenClaw with a raw non-interactive send:

cat <<'EOF' | himalaya --account icloud template send
From: kaan.bot@icloud.com
To: kaan.cat@icloud.com
Subject: test

hello
EOF
#

And if it errors, run:

RUST_LOG=debug RUST_BACKTRACE=1 himalaya --account icloud template send
  1. Very likely workaround
    In the agent instructions, tell it to avoid interactive Himalaya compose/reply flows and use:
    • envelope list --output json
    • message read
    • template send

If you want, paste your current Himalaya config (redact passwords) plus the exact error text, and I’ll help you write the exact cron prompt + standing orders block.

junior island
#

kaanbot@vmd191245:~$ himalaya --account icloud template send
From: kaan.bot@icloud.com
To: kaan.cat@icloud.com
Subject: test

hello
EOF
error: unexpected argument '--account' found

Usage: himalaya [OPTIONS] [COMMAND]

For more information, try '--help'.
-bash: From:: command not found
-bash: To:: command not found
-bash: Subject:: command not found
-bash: hello: command not found
-bash: EOF: command not found
kaanbot@vmd191245:~$ himalaya --version
himalaya v1.2.0 +imap +wizard +sendmail +pgp-commands +smtp +maildir
build: linux gnu x86_64
git: unknown, rev unknown

atomic remnantBOT
#

yep, two different things happened there.

  1. My earlier example was malformed, because the mail body needs to be piped into Himalaya, not typed after the command in bash.
  2. Your Himalaya v1.2.0 does not support --account on the top-level CLI, so that part was wrong for your version.

Try this instead:

cat <<'EOF' | himalaya template send
From: kaan.bot@icloud.com
To: kaan.cat@icloud.com
Subject: test

hello
EOF
#

If you want the bot to always use a dedicated config, that’s even better:

cat <<'EOF' | himalaya -c ~/.config/himalaya/config.toml template send
From: kaan.bot@icloud.com
To: kaan.cat@icloud.com
Subject: test

hello
EOF

If kaan.bot@icloud.com is not the only/default account, I’d give the bot its own Himalaya config file and call it with -c every time. That avoids account-selection weirdness on 1.2.0.

Then, if you still get the index out of bounds message but the email is delivered, run:

# 
cat <<'EOF' | himalaya --trace template send
From: kaan.bot@icloud.com
To: kaan.cat@icloud.com
Subject: test

hello
EOF

That will tell us if this is a Himalaya bug vs an OpenClaw invocation issue.

Also paste:

openclaw --version
#

For the bot itself, I’d instruct it to use only:

  • himalaya -c ... envelope list
  • himalaya -c ... message read
  • himalaya -c ... template send

and not interactive compose/reply flows.

If you want, next reply I can write you:

  • a clean Himalaya config for iCloud
  • the AGENTS.md standing orders
  • the exact openclaw cron add command for this workflow.
junior island
#

Imap or maildir . smpt or startls

atomic remnantBOT
#

for iCloud:

  • Read mail: imap
  • Do not use: maildir (unless you already sync mail locally yourself)
  • Send mail: smtp
  • Encryption for send: start-tls

So the combo is:

  • IMAP: imap.mail.me.com, port 993, TLS
  • SMTP: smtp.mail.me.com, port 587, STARTTLS

In Himalaya terms:

backend.type = "imap"
# 
backend.host = "imap.mail.me.com"
backend.port = 993
backend.encryption.type = "tls"

message.send.backend.type = "smtp"
message.send.backend.host = "smtp.mail.me.com"
message.send.backend.port = 587
message.send.backend.encryption.type = "start-tls"

If you want, I can write the full ready-to-paste iCloud config next.

junior island
#

kaanbot@vmd191245:~$ cat <<'EOF' | himalaya template send
From: kaan.bot@icloud.com
To: kaan.cat@icloud.com
Subject: test

hello
EOF
Error:
0: cannot add IMAP message
1: cannot resolve IMAP task
2: unexpected NO response: Mailbox does not exist

Note: Run with --debug to enable logs with spantrace.
Note: Run with --trace to enable verbose logs with backtrace.

but i received it

atomic remnantBOT
#

nice, that’s actually good news.

SMTP send worked.
The error is almost certainly from Himalaya trying to save a copy into the IMAP Sent mailbox after sending.

So the problem is not “can’t send mail”, it’s “can’t append to the Sent folder”.

Next step

Run:

himalaya folder list

Then map the real folder names in your config. For iCloud it’s often something like Sent Messages, not just Sent.

Example:

# 
[accounts.icloud.folder.alias]
inbox = "INBOX"
sent = "Sent Messages"   # use the exact name from `himalaya folder list`
drafts = "Drafts"
trash = "Deleted Messages"

Why this fits your error

template send:

  1. sends via SMTP
  2. then tries to add/save the sent mail via IMAP
  3. IMAP says Mailbox does not exist
  4. you still receive the mail, because step 1 already succeeded

So yeah, this is a Sent-folder mapping issue, not a send failure.

#

Paste the output of:

himalaya folder list

and I’ll tell you the exact alias block to use.

near musk
#

Just for my learning curve: I assume he is creating a skill to deal with processing its mailbox. Is the cron job executing the skill or is this an agent? I assume an Agent must learn skills first, right? So this would be then the "e-mail parser agent" that consists of skills than have been trainied and tested through specific prompts, correct?

atomic remnantBOT
#

close, but one important correction, the agent is not trained on the skill.

Think of it as 3 layers:

  1. Agent

    • the actual assistant/session
    • has identity, workspace, standing orders, tool permissions

  2. Skill

    • a reusable instruction pack, basically “how to use X”
    • not training, more like a runtime playbook
    • the agent can read/follow it when relevant

  3. Cron

    • just the scheduler
    • it wakes the agent on a schedule and gives it a prompt/task
#

So in this mailbox case, the usual pattern is:

  • cron wakes up every N minutes
  • the agent gets a prompt like “check unread email and follow standing orders”
  • the agent then uses tools or a Himalaya skill / exec command to do the work

So no, it’s not really “an email parser agent made of trained skills”.

It’s more like:

  • email agent = instructions + permissions + mailbox identity
  • skills = helper recipes it can use
  • cron = timer

Good docs for this split:

junior island
atomic remnantBOT
#

yeah, pretty heavily 😄

I spend a lot of time helping people with OpenClaw setup, cron, agents, auth, channel weirdness, that whole pile.

For config details I still double-check the docs/source instead of winging it, because OpenClaw moves fast and bad guesses are how you get roasted. If you want, I can help you wire this mailbox flow up cleanly.

near musk
junior island
atomic remnantBOT
#

honestly, that’s a pretty solid combo.

OpenClaw is new-ish mental-model stuff, but 30 years of UNIX/Linux experience helps a lot. Most of the pain is usually:

  • auth/config shape
  • agent vs cron vs tools
  • channel/provider quirks
  • not the actual shell/Linux part

So you’re probably not “new” in the hard way, just new to OpenClaw’s vocabulary.

#

yeah, that’s the part that gets tricky.

“Autonomous” in OpenClaw usually means all 4 of these are lined up:

  1. Authority

    • clear standing orders in AGENTS.md
    • what it may do, what needs escalation, what is forbidden

  2. Wake-up mechanism

    • cron, heartbeat, or an external trigger
    • for your iCloud case, cron polling is the sane first version

  3. Tool access

    • the agent must actually be allowed to use what it needs, like exec, cron, maybe message

  4. Reliable execution

    • decent model
#
  • commands that are non-interactive and scriptable
    • good error handling

So the problem is usually not “OpenClaw can’t be autonomous”, it’s that one of those layers is missing.

Paste this first:

openclaw --version

Then tell me which of these is happening:

  • cron never runs
  • cron runs but the agent does nothing useful
  • it answers but does not use tools
  • it uses Himalaya but errors out
junior island
#

so i wanted to ask you if you have managed to actually get him work on something so he doesnt just say "im on it " but nothing is in the backround

near musk
atomic remnantBOT
#

yep, pretty much 😅

The annoying part is that “agent development” is often less about magic prompts and more about making the boring parts reliable:

  • clear authority
  • deterministic tools
  • good wake-up path
  • small blast radius when it guesses wrong

Once that part is solid, the agent suddenly looks way smarter. Before that, it just feels flaky.

near musk
#

best would be that the user prompts OpenClaw to step by step guide through first the requirements gathering to understand what the user wants, then write a specification the user can agree/diagree or improve prior to building the bot on its own.

atomic remnantBOT
#

yep, that’s exactly the right shape.

Spec first, build second.

The clean loop is:

  1. requirements gathering
    what problem, what authority, what guardrails, what inputs/outputs

  2. draft a spec
    user reviews it, disagrees, tightens scope

  3. build against the spec
    agent, tools, cron, prompts, failure handling

  4. test and refine
    especially edge cases and “do nothing” cases