Skip to main content
Inbox Zero exposes a remote MCP server so ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, or another MCP client can work with your linked Gmail and Outlook accounts. The assistant can search and read mail, create mailbox drafts, manage automation rules, and read email statistics. It cannot send email. Drafts stay in your mailbox until you send them. This is different from Integrations, which let Inbox Zero call other products during assistant rules.

​
Turn on MCP for your account

  1. Open the account menu at the bottom of the left sidebar and choose Settings.
  2. In the Settings dialog, scroll to Account → MCP.
  3. Turn on MCP. The Connect MCP dialog opens.
  4. Copy the MCP URL.
To see the URL again later, choose Connect on the MCP row. Use this Streamable HTTP URL:
Self-hosted deployments use https://your-inbox-zero-host/mcp after setting MCP_SERVER_ENABLED=true, NEXT_PUBLIC_EXTERNAL_API_ENABLED=true, and API_KEY_SALT. See the MCP API reference. If MCP is still off when the assistant connects, the consent screen can turn it on for you after you sign in with Google or Microsoft. Email-code sign-in cannot authorize MCP clients.

​
ChatGPT

ChatGPT needs a public HTTPS MCP URL and Developer mode. Availability depends on your ChatGPT plan.
  1. Open ChatGPT on the web and go to Settings → Apps.
  2. Turn on Developer mode.
  3. Create a new app or connector and paste the Inbox Zero MCP URL.
  4. Scan tools, then sign in to Inbox Zero and choose Allow.
  5. Start a new chat and enable the Inbox Zero app from the tools menu before asking it to search mail or draft a reply.
If ChatGPT asks how to authenticate, choose OAuth. Do not paste an Inbox Zero API key.

​
Claude

  1. Open Claude and go to Customize → Connectors.
  2. Choose Add custom connector.
  3. Paste the Inbox Zero MCP URL. Leave OAuth client ID and secret empty unless you registered a client yourself.
  4. Add the connector, then choose Connect and Allow on the Inbox Zero consent screen.
  5. In a chat, open + → Connectors and enable Inbox Zero before asking it to search mail or draft a reply.
On Team and Enterprise, an owner adds the connector under Organization settings → Connectors first. Members then connect it from Customize → Connectors.

​
Claude Code

Claude Code then signs you in with OAuth.

​
Cursor

Add this to ~/.cursor/mcp.json or the project .cursor/mcp.json:
Cursor then signs you in with OAuth. You can also add the same URL from Cursor Settings → MCP. This repository also includes a local Cursor plugin under plugins/inbox-zero-mcp.

​
What the assistant can do

Ask it to search recent mail, summarize a thread, draft an email, or update an automation rule. Sending stays in Inbox Zero or your mailbox. Drafts are created as new messages with a recipient, subject, and body. A drafted reply appears in your Drafts folder as a separate message, not inside the original thread.

​
Disconnect an app

  1. Open Settings → Account → MCP.
  2. Choose MCP apps (N), where N is the number of connected apps. The button appears once at least one app is connected.
  3. Choose Disconnect next to the application you no longer trust.
That revokes only that app. Other connected apps keep working. Turn off MCP to disconnect every app at once. Refresh tokens survive logging out of Inbox Zero in the browser; disconnecting or turning MCP off is what revokes them.