Connect it in two minutes
Add the Nilyo app in ChatGPT, or enable developer mode and add a connector with the URL https://nilyo.com/mcp and OAuth. Then connect the mailbox: give the address and the password and the servers are detected from the address — you normally never type a host or a port. Only if detection fails are you asked for them, and the authoritative place to copy them from is the account settings of the mail client you already use.
Apple requires an app-specific password
Because two-factor authentication cannot be turned off on a modern Apple account, your Apple ID password will always be refused for IMAP. You generate an app-specific password in the security section of your Apple account and connect with that. Two details that trip people up: the address to use is your actual iCloud mail address, including an @icloud.com alias only if it is the mailbox rather than a forwarding alias, and a custom domain attached to iCloud Mail authenticates with the iCloud account behind it, not with the domain.
What it is actually good for here
A personal mailbox is mostly bookings, family logistics and the occasional thing that actually matters. The assistant is worth having for the last category: find the confirmation with the flight number, tell me what the landlord asked for, and leave the newsletters alone. Attachments come back as files, so a ticket or a lease is read rather than mentioned.
“What arrived since yesterday that needs an answer from me?”
“Find the thread where we agreed the delivery date and quote the message.”
A personal mailbox next to professional ones
iCloud is usually somebody’s personal address sitting beside a work mailbox elsewhere. Connecting both means a question like “did anyone answer about the flight” gets one answer instead of two searches, and each action names the mailbox it runs on so the two never mix.
When it stops working
Two causes cover nearly everything. The password is refused after it worked: an application password was revoked, or the mailbox password was changed — generate or update it and reconnect the same mailbox rather than adding a second one. The agent suddenly sees nothing: the session expired, and the card in the answer carries the reconnection link. A mailbox that moved host is reconnected with the new servers, not re-added, so anything referring to it keeps working.
Common questions
Can ChatGPT read my iCloud Mail?
Yes, over IMAP, with an app-specific password generated in your Apple account — the Apple ID password is always refused for IMAP because two-factor is mandatory.
Where do I generate the app-specific password?
In the security section of your Apple account, the same place you manage two-factor authentication. It is scoped to that one connection and can be revoked on its own.
Does an @icloud.com alias work?
Connect the mailbox itself. A forwarding alias receives mail but does not authenticate.
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.