📬 imapforward

Simple real-time IMAP email forwarder for syncing multiple email accounts into one. Built to replace deprecated gmailify tool for Gmail.

Features · Installation · Configuration · Docker

Features

• Real-time sync — Uses IMAP IDLE for instant email forwarding
• Multiple sources — Forward from multiple email accounts to a single Gmail
• Original headers preserved — Emails arrive with their original From, Reply-To, and other headers intact
• Selective folders — Choose which folders to sync (e.g. only INBOX)
• Auto cleanup — Optionally delete messages after successful forwarding
• Production-grade — Auto reconnect with exponential backoff, health check endpoint
• Minimal footprint — Only 1 runtime dependency (imapflow)
• Docker ready — Alpine-based image with built-in health checks

Installation

npm

npm install -g imapforward

Docker

docker pull ghcr.io/sinedied/imapforward:latest

Configuration

Create a config.json file:

{
  "target": {
    "host": "imap.gmail.com",
    "port": 993,
    "secure": true,
    "auth": {
      "user": "[email protected]",
      "pass": "your-app-password"
    }
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "name": "Work Email",
      "host": "imap.work.com",
      "port": 993,
      "secure": true,
      "auth": {
        "user": "[email protected]",
        "pass": "password"
      },
      "folders": ["INBOX"],
      "deleteAfterForward": false
    }
  ],
}

Configuration Reference

| Field | Type | Required | Default | Description | |-------|------|----------|---------|-------------| | target.host | string | yes | — | Target IMAP server hostname | | target.port | number | yes | — | Target IMAP server port | | target.secure | boolean | no | port-based | Use TLS (defaults to true for ports 465/993) | | target.auth.user | string | yes | — | Target IMAP username | | target.auth.pass | string | yes | — | Target IMAP password or app password | | target.folder | string | no | "INBOX" | Target mailbox folder to append messages to | | sources[].name | string | yes | — | Display name for the source | | sources[].host | string | yes | — | IMAP server hostname | | sources[].port | number | yes | — | IMAP server port | | sources[].secure | boolean | yes | — | Use TLS | | sources[].auth.user | string | yes | — | IMAP username | | sources[].auth.pass | string | yes | — | IMAP password | | sources[].folders | string[] | no | ["INBOX"] | Folders to monitor | | sources[].deleteAfterForward | boolean | no | false | Delete messages after forwarding | | healthCheck.port | number | no | 8080 | HTTP health check server port |

[!TIP] For Gmail, you need to have 2FA enabled and use an App Password instead of your regular password.

Usage

CLI

# Using default config.json in current directory
imapforward

# Custom config path
imapforward --config /path/to/config.json

# Set log level
imapforward --log-level debug

CLI Options

| Option | Short | Description | |--------|-------|-------------| | --config <path> | -c | Config file path (default: config.json) | | --log-level <level> | -l | Log level: debug, info, warn, error (default: info) | | --version | -v | Show version | | --help | -h | Show help |

Environment Variables

| Variable | Description | |----------|-------------| | IMAPFORWARD_CONFIG | Override config file path | | LOG_LEVEL | Override log level |

Docker

Run with Docker

docker run -d \
  --name imapforward \
  -v $(pwd)/config.json:/app/config.json:ro \
  ghcr.io/sinedied/imapforward:latest

Docker Compose

services:
  imapforward:
    image: ghcr.io/sinedied/imapforward:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - ./config.json:/app/config.json:ro

Health Check

The health check server is always enabled (default port 8080). You can customize the port in your config:

{
  "healthCheck": {
    "port": 9090
  }
}

The HTTP health endpoint is available at:

curl http://localhost:8080/health

Response:

{
  "status": "ok",
  "sources": [
    {
      "name": "Work Email",
      "connected": true,
      "lastSync": "2026-02-25T10:30:00.000Z",
      "error": null
    }
  ]
}

Status values: ok (all connected), degraded (some connected), error (none connected).

How It Works

1. Connects to each configured IMAP source account
2. Scans for unseen messages that haven't been forwarded yet
3. Appends each message to the target mailbox via IMAP preserving all original headers (raw RFC822)
4. Marks forwarded messages with a $Forwarded IMAP flag
5. Enters IMAP IDLE mode to watch for new messages in real-time
6. Automatically reconnects with exponential backoff on connection loss