You type the address and the password
That is normally all. The servers are detected from the address, so there is no host, port or encryption to look up. You are asked for them only when detection fails, and the place to copy them from is the account settings of the mail client already using that mailbox — not a table on a web page that will be wrong in a year.
The app-password trap
This is the single most common failure and it does not look like what it is. 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. The error is indistinguishable from a wrong password, so people retype the correct one five times before looking it up.
An alias is not a mailbox
An alias receives mail but does not authenticate. Connect the real login — the one in your mail client — and the same goes for a catch-all or a shared address that forwards into a personal box: the box is what you connect, the forward is not.
What it does once connected
List and search the mailbox, read a thread in order, download an attachment as a file, create a draft in your own drafts folder, and send when you ask. The questions worth asking are the ones that need everything read: what arrived that needs an answer, which threads are waiting on you, what did we commit to in writing.
“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.”
Identifiers move, so they are resolved
IMAP identifiers are server-specific and change when a message is filed; a Gmail label is not an IMAP folder even though both look like folders in an interface. The tools return the identifiers to reuse and the errors name the listing to call again, rather than failing on a folder name invented from a display label.
The same tools as everywhere else
Once connected, an IMAP mailbox behaves exactly like a Gmail or a Microsoft one. That is what lets a single question cross a personal address, a company address and a client’s server — and it is the reason to treat IMAP as first-class rather than as the fallback nobody tests.
Common questions
Which hosts work?
Any compatible IMAP host: OVH, Infomaniak, Ionos, Gandi, Zoho, Fastmail, a company server. Gmail and Microsoft work too, though their hosted sign-in is easier.
Do I need to know my IMAP server?
Usually not, it is detected from the address. If detection fails, copy the values from the mail client already using the mailbox.
Why is my password refused?
Almost always two-factor authentication: the host expects an application-specific password generated in its own settings.
Is my password stored?
It is held to maintain the connection and never returned to the agent, never visible in a tool argument and never in a response.
Can it handle several mailboxes?
Yes, each action names the mailbox it runs on, so one question can cross a personal box, a shared one and a client’s.
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
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