MailRovers is now available as an open-source desktop email client for Gmail on macOS. It stores your mailbox data, drafts, search indexes, and AI-generated content locally on your Mac instead of routing everything through a third-party server.
MailRovers includes built-in support for OpenAI-compatible AI models. You can use AI to summarize long email threads, generate reply suggestions, and review conversations. To use these features, you’ll need your own OpenAI-compatible API key.
It also supports offline access. Once your mailbox has synced, you can continue reading cached conversations and searching your email even when you are offline.
Your Gmail messages, local drafts, search indexes, and AI output remain on your Mac. Gmail refresh tokens and AI API keys are encrypted using Electron’s safeStorage before they are stored locally.
MailRovers is still in alpha, so you should expect some rough edges. Current limitations include:
- macOS only.
- Gmail only.
- No Windows or Linux support.
- No support for Outlook or other email providers.
- No signed or notarized public Mac app.
- No automatic updates.
- Synchronization only runs while the desktop app is open.
If you are interested in trying MailRovers, you should be aware that there is no downloadable installer yet. You will need to build and run it from the source code. Requirements include:
- macOS.
- Node.js 22.14 or newer.
- pnpm 10.12.1.
- A Google Cloud Desktop OAuth client with the Gmail API enabled.
- Your own OpenAI-compatible API key if you want AI features.
Explore the project on GitHub.
