You normally type nothing but the address
Give the mailbox address and its password and the servers are detected. You are only asked for host, port and encryption when detection fails, and the authoritative place to copy them from is the account settings of the mail client already using that mailbox — not a forum post, and not a table on a page like this one that will be stale in a year.
Two-factor means an app password
This is the single most common failure. Once a host enables two-factor authentication, it stops accepting the account password over IMAP and expects an application-specific password generated in its own interface. Some hosts require one unconditionally. The error looks exactly like a wrong password, which is why people retype the right one five times.
Aliases do not authenticate
An alias receives mail but is not a mailbox: connect the real login, the one your mail client uses. The same applies to shared or catch-all addresses that forward into a personal box — the box is what you connect, the forward is not.
Identifiers are resolved, never guessed
IMAP folder and message identifiers are server-specific and they move: a message that changes folder can change identifier, and a Gmail label is not an IMAP folder even though both look like folders. The tools return the identifiers to reuse and the errors name the listing to call again, instead of failing on a folder name invented from a display label.
“List what arrived in my professional mailbox since yesterday and tell me what needs an answer.”
“Find the thread where we agreed the delivery date and quote the message.”
The same tools as Gmail and Outlook
Once connected, an IMAP mailbox behaves like any other: folders, threads, attachments as files, drafts, sending. So a workflow can span a Gmail, a Microsoft mailbox and a client’s IMAP box without branching, which is the whole reason to treat IMAP as first-class rather than as a fallback.
Common questions
Which hosts work?
Any compatible IMAP host — OVH, Infomaniak, Ionos, Gandi, Zoho, Fastmail, a company server. Gmail and Microsoft also work over IMAP, though their hosted sign-in is the easier route.
Do I need to know my IMAP server?
Usually not: it is detected from the address. You are asked only if detection fails, and your mail client’s settings are the place to copy it from.
Why is my password refused?
Almost always two-factor authentication: the host expects an application-specific password generated in its own settings rather than your account password.
Are my mailbox credentials stored?
They are held to maintain the connection and are never returned to the agent, never visible in a tool argument and never included in a response.
How Email works with Nilyo
Connection. Gmail and Microsoft 365/Outlook through their official sign-in (the “Unipile” name appears on the consent screen: Unipile SAS operates the connection). Any other mailbox through IMAP/SMTP: OVH, Zoho, iCloud, IONOS, Infomaniak, Fastmail, Yahoo, GMX and self-hosted servers.
What your agent can do. Folders and labels, listing and searching messages, reading with attachments, drafts, sending and true replies, moving and labelling, contacts on Gmail and Microsoft.
Pacing and safety. No local budget; provider limits apply. IMAP mailboxes are read live, so listings are paged (50 messages max per page).
- “How many emails today” uses the folder counts of the mailbox; “today” is a date filter, never a guess.
- On IMAP a message id changes after a move; Nilyo returns the new id so the agent keeps working on the right message.
All Email guides
Related guides
Give Nilyo to your agent.
Paste one setup link. Your agent can guide OAuth, account connection and the first useful action.