Mailbox MCP
Connect a mailbox

Set-up guide

Connect Claude to iCloud Mail and your Apple calendar.

Your @icloud.com mailbox in Claude or ChatGPT, with your Apple calendar and contacts on the same connection. One app-specific password from Apple opens all three, and the control panel fills in the servers for you.

  • Time About 5 minutes
  • You will need An app-specific password
  • Also connects Calendar and contacts

By Mark McNeece, Founder Published Editorially reviewed by Mark McNeece on Editorial standards

The short version

Claude can read, answer and file your iCloud Mail through Mailbox MCP. Make an app-specific password at account.apple.com, type your @icloud.com address into the control panel and press Find my settings, then paste the password.

The same password can open your Apple calendar and contacts, so Claude can see your week as well as your inbox.

Before you start

What you need: an app-specific password from Apple

iCloud won't let an app in with your Apple Account password. It wants an app-specific password instead: a separate one, made for one app, that you can delete without changing anything else.

Apple makes them at account.apple.com, under Sign-In and Security. It only offers them on an account with two-factor authentication on, which most Apple Accounts already have. Apple's own page has the steps.

Name it something you'll recognise later, such as "Mailbox MCP", and copy it straight away: Apple shows it once.

An app-specific password for iCloud Mail: the robot holding up a small device whose cable is plugged into the front of a mailbox.
One password, made for one app

Walkthrough

Connect Claude to iCloud Mail, step by step

  1. Make an app-specific password

    At account.apple.com, in Sign-In and Security, select App-Specific Passwords, then Generate an app-specific password. Copy it before you close the page.

  2. Type your iCloud address and press Find my settings

    In the control panel, add a mailbox, type your @icloud.com (or @me.com, or @mac.com) address and press Find my settings. The iCloud servers come back filled in, from the published settings for this provider.

    The Mailbox MCP control panel after Find my settings for an @icloud.com address: imap.mail.me.com on port 993 and smtp.mail.me.com on port 587 filled in, with a note that iCloud needs an app-specific password.
    Find my settings for an @icloud.com address: the servers are filled in, and the note says what kind of password iCloud wants.

  3. Paste the app-specific password

    Paste the app-specific password, not your Apple Account password, and connect. The panel opens the mailbox while you wait and tells you if anything was refused.

  4. Add the connector to Claude or ChatGPT

    In Claude: open Customize, then Connectors, press the + beside Connectors and find Mailbox MCP in Claude's directory, then press Connect (Anthropic's help says the button may read Install). Sign in to Mailbox MCP when it asks, and choose your iCloud mailbox.

    No directory on your plan or in your organisation? Add it as a custom connector instead: Customize, Connectors, + Add, Add custom connector, then paste the connector URL from the mailbox's Connector tab in the control panel. The Claude.ai set-up guide has every screen.

    In ChatGPT: select Plugins in the sidebar, find Mailbox MCP in the plugin directory, select Install plugin, then Continue to Mailbox MCP, and sign in. The ChatGPT set-up page covers developer mode too.

  5. Check that it worked

    Ask: Using Mailbox MCP, list my 5 most recent emails. If they're the ones you expect, it's connected, and nothing was marked as read.

Got the app-specific password? Connecting iCloud Mail is a paste and a sign-in, on the free tier with no card.

Connect a mailbox Sign in

The trap

The iCloud username trap, and why it doesn't bite here

Apple asks for different usernames for reading and for sending. For reading mail over IMAP:

Username: This is usually the name of your iCloud Mail email address (for example, johnappleseed, not johnappleseed@icloud.com). If your email client app can't connect to iCloud Mail using just the name of your email address, try using the full address.

Apple, iCloud Mail server settings for other email client apps

For sending, Apple asks for "Your full iCloud Mail email address". That split is why many mail apps half work with iCloud: mail arrives and nothing goes out.

Through Mailbox MCP, both forms work for mail, sending included. Connect with the short name or the full address and replies still go out. For the calendar and contacts, use your full Apple Account address, as the next section says.

The diary

Your Apple calendar and contacts, with the same password

Claude can see your iCloud calendar too. Apple's calendar and contacts live on servers of their own, and the same app-specific password opens them. You add them to the mailbox you've already connected, not as a second connector.

  • Calendar: https://caldav.icloud.com/
  • Contacts: https://contacts.icloud.com/

Use your full Apple Account email address as the username for both. Both addresses answered from this product when we probed them on 16 September 2026.

Then Claude can read your week, book and move your own appointments, and find a person in your contacts. The CalDAV and CardDAV page has the detail, and AI calendar scheduling shows what it's like to use.

An Apple calendar connected along with iCloud Mail: the robot pointing at a desk calendar with booked days, the mailbox behind him.
Mail, diary and contacts on one connection

ChatGPT

Connect ChatGPT to iCloud Mail

ChatGPT's own mail apps connect Gmail and Outlook, and nothing from Apple. Mailbox MCP brings iCloud Mail to ChatGPT the same way it does to Claude: connect the mailbox in the control panel, then install Mailbox MCP from the ChatGPT plugin directory and choose it.

The ChatGPT set-up page walks through every screen, including developer mode.

Troubleshooting

If iCloud says the password is wrong

It's almost always the Apple Account password in the box instead of an app-specific one. iCloud refuses the account password from any app, so make an app-specific password and paste that.

Changed your Apple Account password lately? Apple says that "all of your app-specific passwords will be revoked automatically" when you do. Make a new one and connect again with it.

For the calendar or contacts, a refusal there with a mailbox that works usually means the username: use your full Apple Account address.

Reasons iCloud refuses a password from an app: the robot counting on his fingers beside a screen of greyed-out rows.
Usually the wrong kind of password

Limits

What an iCloud connection doesn't do

  • An app-specific password, always

    It can't use your Apple Account password, and neither can any other app. Two-factor authentication has to be on for Apple to make one.

  • One mailbox each

    One connection is one mailbox. A second iCloud address is a second connection with its own connector URL.

  • 20 MB a message

    Attachments are capped at 20 MB a message in total, not per file.

  • Calendar added separately

    Connecting the mailbox doesn't connect the calendar. You add the calendar and contacts addresses to the same mailbox afterwards.

  • Not a backup tool

    It is not a backup, an archive or a migration tool.

Questions

Questions about iCloud Mail, Apple Calendar and AI

Can Claude connect to iCloud email?

Not on its own: Anthropic's built-in mail connectors are for Gmail and Microsoft 365. Through Mailbox MCP, yes. Make an app-specific password at account.apple.com, connect your @icloud.com address in our control panel, then add Mailbox MCP to Claude from its directory or as a custom connector. Claude can then read, search, answer and file your iCloud Mail.

Should I give Claude access to my iCloud?

Give it the mailbox, not your Apple Account password. An app-specific password is made for one app, Claude never sees your Apple Account password, and you can delete it at account.apple.com at any time to end the access. In our control panel you can also hold the connection to Read only, so Claude can read but not send or move anything.

Can ChatGPT read iCloud Mail?

Through Mailbox MCP, yes. ChatGPT's own mail apps connect Gmail and Outlook, not iCloud. Connect your iCloud mailbox in our control panel with an app-specific password, then install Mailbox MCP from the ChatGPT plugin directory and choose the mailbox.

Do I need an app-specific password for iCloud Mail?

Yes. iCloud won't accept your Apple Account password from an app. Apple makes app-specific passwords at account.apple.com, under Sign-In and Security, and says your account must be protected with two-factor authentication to use them. If you change your Apple Account password, Apple revokes them all, so make a new one then.

What is my iCloud IMAP username?

Apple says it's usually the name before the @, such as johnappleseed rather than johnappleseed@icloud.com, and to try the full address if that fails. Through Mailbox MCP either form works for mail, sending included. For the calendar and contacts, use your full Apple Account address.

Can Claude see my iCloud calendar and contacts?

Yes, once you add them to the mailbox you've connected. The calendar is at caldav.icloud.com and the contacts at contacts.icloud.com, with the same app-specific password and your full Apple Account address as the username. Then Claude can read your week, book and move your own appointments, and find people in your contacts.

Is it free to connect iCloud Mail to Claude?

Yes, to start. Every mailbox gets 5 calls a day free, with no card. Pro gives a mailbox up to 1,000 calls a day at £2.92 a month, paid annually at £34.99 + VAT.

Attribution

Sources

Connect your iCloud mailbox.

Free on any mailbox with 5 calls a day, and Pro up to 1,000 a day at £2.92 a month, paid annually at £34.99 + VAT.

Connect a mailbox See what Free and Pro cost