A modern, self-hosted IMAP webmail UI with an inbox address system. Email Node does not send, receive, relay, or host mail by itself; it connects to catch-all IMAP mailboxes you already control, lets visitors create persistent inbox addresses on configured domains, and provides a browser inbox for reading matching messages.

• Inbox Address System Create persistent inbox addresses with secure passkey authentication. Users can log back in anytime to access mail delivered to that address.

• Multi-Domain Support Configure multiple domains backed by catch-all IMAP mailboxes. Users can choose from available domains when creating addresses.

• IMAP Webmail Inbox Polls IMAP on a configurable interval. View sender, subject, and message preview, then click to read full emails with sanitized HTML rendering.

• Modern, Responsive UI Clean interface with dark mode support, built with Tailwind CSS and Lucide icons. Mobile-friendly design with smooth animations.

• Secure Authentication

  • Session-based authentication with iron-session
  • Bcrypt password hashing for admin and user passkeys
  • Passkey regeneration with manual masking controls
  • Optional Cloudflare Turnstile CAPTCHA for address creation and login

• Admin Panel

  • First-run setup page for creating the initial admin user
  • Configure multiple domains with individual IMAP settings
  • Manage Turnstile CAPTCHA settings for address creation and login
  • Change admin credentials and customize site title
  • Dynamic admin path configuration

• SQLite Storage Self-contained temp-mail.db in data/ directory with automatic schema migrations.

• Node.js v18+ (recommended v20+)
• npm or yarn
• Docker Engine with Docker Compose v2 (docker compose) for manual container deployment
• A catch-all IMAP mailbox you control (one per domain)
• (Optional) A Cloudflare Turnstile account for CAPTCHA protection

curl -sSL https://github.com/tonyliuzj/email-node/releases/latest/download/email-node.sh -o email-node.sh && chmod +x email-node.sh && bash email-node.sh

Choose Docker install (Compose) in the installer to run the published Docker image with a persistent data/ directory. On Ubuntu/Debian hosts, the installer configures Docker's official apt repository, removes conflicting distro Docker packages such as docker.io, and installs Docker Engine with the Compose v2 plugin.

Manual Docker deployment requires the Compose v2 command form, docker compose. The legacy docker-compose executable is not used.

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/tonyliuzj/email-node.git
cd email-node

2. Create runtime secrets

cp example.env.local .env.local

Replace the placeholder SESSION_PASSWORD and DATA_ENCRYPTION_KEY values in .env.local with strong random values:

openssl rand -base64 32

3. Start the app

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

4. Open your browser Navigate to http://localhost:3000/setup and create the first admin user.

The Compose file uses the published image tonyliuzj/email-node:latest by default and mounts ./data to /app/data so the SQLite database survives container updates. The file is named docker-compose.yml; only the command syntax is Compose v2.

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/tonyliuzj/email-node.git
cd email-node

2. Install dependencies

npm install

3. Run in development mode

npm run dev

4. Open your browser Navigate to http://localhost:3000

5. Create the first admin user On a fresh database, the app redirects to http://localhost:3000/setup. Create your admin user there.

6. Configure your first domain In the admin panel, add a domain with your IMAP settings.

All settings are stored in the SQLite database at data/temp-mail.db. Configure everything through the admin panel.

Access the admin panel at /admin (or your custom admin path):

Add and manage multiple domains in the admin panel:

Important: Email Node is only a web UI and address manager. Each domain requires an external catch-all IMAP mailbox that receives all emails sent to *@yourdomain.com.

First-run admin setup: Fresh installs start without an admin account. Visit /setup to create the first admin user; after setup completes, /setup redirects to the admin login page.

src/
├── pages/
│   ├── index.js                    # Landing page: address creation & login
│   ├── inbox.js                    # User inbox with email list & detail view
│   ├── [adminPath]/
│   │   ├── index.js                # Admin dashboard
│   │   └── login.js                # Admin login page
│   └── api/
│       ├── users/
│       │   ├── create.js           # Inbox address creation
│       │   ├── login.js            # User authentication
│       │   ├── logout.js           # User logout
│       │   └── me.js               # Get current user
│       ├── account/
│       │   ├── info.js             # Get user account details
│       │   └── regenerate-passkey.js # Regenerate user passkey
│       ├── [adminPath]/
│       │   ├── login.js            # Admin authentication
│       │   ├── logout.js           # Admin logout
│       │   ├── config.js           # Admin settings management
│       │   ├── domains.js          # Domain CRUD operations
│       │   ├── change-username.js  # Change admin username
│       │   └── change-password.js  # Change admin password
│       ├── emails.js               # Fetch IMAP messages for user
│       ├── domains.js              # Get active domains list
│       └── info.js                 # Get public site info
├── lib/
│   ├── db.js                       # SQLite database & schema
│   ├── session.js                  # Admin session management
│   ├── user-session.js             # User session management
│   ├── user-auth.js                # User authentication helpers
│   └── turnstile.js                # Turnstile verification
├── components/
│   ├── app-shell.js                # Shared app shell built with shadcn/ui
│   └── ui/                         # shadcn/ui components
│       └── ...
└── styles/
    └── globals.css                 # Global styles & Tailwind
data/
└── temp-mail.db                    # SQLite database (auto-created)
Dockerfile                          # Production container image
docker-compose.yml                  # Docker Compose deployment
email-node.sh                       # Interactive direct/Docker installer

• db.js - Database schema with tables for admin, settings, domains, emails, and sessions
• user-auth.js - Server-side authentication wrapper for protected pages
• emails.js - IMAP client that fetches messages for specific email addresses
• inbox.js - IMAP inbox UI with configurable auto-refresh
• [adminPath] - Dynamic admin routes based on configured admin path

npm run build
npm start

Email Node can be deployed to Vercel, but note that SQLite requires a persistent filesystem:

1. Connect your GitHub repository to Vercel
2. Ensure the data/ directory is writable and persisted
3. Consider using a volume or external database for production

The repository includes a production Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml. Use Docker Compose v2 commands only:

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

The one-click installer can install Docker for Ubuntu/Debian systems. It uses Docker's official apt packages:

docker-ce
docker-ce-cli
containerd.io
docker-buildx-plugin
docker-compose-plugin

Before installing those packages, the installer removes conflicting distro packages when present, including docker.io, docker-compose, containerd, and runc.

Useful Docker commands:

docker compose logs -f
docker compose ps
docker compose down

To expose a different host port, create or edit .env next to docker-compose.yml:

HOST_PORT=8080
CONTAINER_PORT=3000
DOCKER_IMAGE=tonyliuzj/email-node:latest

To build locally instead of using Docker Hub:

docker compose up -d --build

When using the installer, Docker mode pulls the published image first and builds from the cloned checkout if the pull fails.

Maintainers can build and publish the image to Docker Hub with:

docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 -t tonyliuzj/email-node:latest --push .

Most configuration is done through the admin panel. Environment variables:

• SESSION_PASSWORD - Secret used for encrypted sessions.
• DATA_ENCRYPTION_KEY - Secret used to encrypt stored IMAP and Turnstile secrets. If omitted, the app falls back to SESSION_PASSWORD.
• PORT - Port used by the Next.js server.
• HOST_PORT - Host port used by Docker Compose.
• CONTAINER_PORT - Container port used by Docker Compose.
• DOCKER_IMAGE - Docker image used by Docker Compose and the installer.

• Session-based authentication with iron-session for both admin and users
• Bcrypt password hashing for all credentials (admin and user passkeys)
• Secure passkey management with regeneration and manual masking controls
• Optional CAPTCHA protection via Cloudflare Turnstile for address creation and login
• Encrypted stored secrets for IMAP passwords and Turnstile secret keys
• Same-origin checks and rate limits on mutating API routes
• Secure cookie settings with httpOnly and secure flags

• Responsive Design - Mobile-first layout that adapts to all screen sizes
• Dark Mode Support - Automatic theme switching based on system preferences
• Auto Refresh - Inbox refresh interval is configurable from the admin dashboard
• Smooth Animations - Polished transitions and loading states
• Accessible UI - Keyboard navigation and screen reader support
• Copy to Clipboard - One-click copying of email addresses and passkeys

This project is MIT-licensed. Feel free to fork and adapt!