One credential, several mailboxes
Connect each mailbox once in Nilyo — hosted sign-in for Google and Microsoft, host and password for generic IMAP. In n8n a single Nilyo API credential then reaches every connected mailbox, selected per step by its account identifier. That is the difference with four native nodes and four credentials that expire on four different days.
Identifiers that survive a reorganisation
IMAP identifiers are server-specific and change when a message moves; a Gmail label is not an IMAP folder even though both look like folders. The actions return the identifiers to reuse and the errors name the listing to call again, rather than failing silently on a folder name taken from a display label.
“List the emails received in the last twelve hours and summarize the ones that need an answer.”
“Reply to the last message in a thread with the text drafted earlier in the workflow.”
Threads and attachments
A workflow can read a full message with its headers, pull the whole thread in order, and download an attachment as binary so an LLM or a parsing node works on the PDF rather than on its filename. That is usually what turns an email workflow from a forwarder into something useful.
Drafts before sends
Creating a draft leaves the message in the mailbox’s own drafts folder, which is the right default while you calibrate what the workflow writes. Sending exists as its own action; pair it with a Wait node and an approval link when the mailbox is professional, because a wrong send there is not a private mistake.
New mail as a trigger
The Nilyo Trigger subscribes to email events for the mailboxes you choose and delivers them straight to the n8n webhook URL, so the workflow starts on arrival instead of polling every minute. It registers on publish and unregisters on unpublish, so a disabled workflow stops receiving.
Exact date windows
Asking for the last twelve hours returns twelve hours: filtering is exact on both Gmail and IMAP rather than rounded to the day, which is what stops a morning digest from quietly re-including yesterday.
Common questions
Why not the built-in Gmail and IMAP nodes?
Use them for a single mailbox on a single provider. Nilyo pays off when several mailboxes share a workflow, when the box is on a custom domain, or when an AI Agent should choose the action itself.
Does it work with OVH, Infomaniak or Ionos?
Yes. Generic IMAP is a first-class provider, with the host and port you already use in your mail client — usually detected automatically.
Are mailbox passwords visible in the workflow?
No. They stay in Nilyo and are never returned to n8n; the workflow only holds a personal token scoped to your own workspace.
Can an AI Agent node use it?
Yes, attached as a tool with the tool variant of the node type.
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.