Fastmail and Mutt

Mar 16, 2025 - 1 minute read

I recently decided to try out using the Mutt terminal email client. It’s an easy way to read and reply to email, especially for email mailing lists. I use Fastmail as my email service, and searching for exisitng .muttrc config files made getting up and runnning relatively straitforward, but it took some trial and error to get Mutt to use Drafts and Sent Items correctly.

The below should be enough to get you started:

# VARIABLES
set my_server = imap.fastmail.com
set my_smtp_server = smtp.fastmail.com
set my_user = email@fastmail.com
set my_pass =

# IMAP SETTINGS
set imap_user = $my_user
set imap_pass = $my_pass
set folder = "imaps://$my_server/"
set mbox = "+INBOX"
set postponed = "+Drafts"
set record = "+Sent Items"
set spoolfile = "+INBOX"
set trash = "+Trash"

# SMTP SETTINGS
set smtp_url = "smtp://$my_user:$my_pass@$my_smtp_server:587/"
set smtp_pass = $my_pass
set ssl_force_tls = yes

Note: You will need to create an app password in Fastmail. You can do this under Settings -> Privacy & Security. Scroll down to Connected apps & API tokens, and select Manage app password and access.