Build Mailient
KINDAreplaces $29/mosaves $348/yrback to the verdict
Before step 1
you will need
- An email account with IMAP/SMTP access and an app password, or patience for OAuth
- An LLM API key, and acceptance that your mail text goes to that provider
- A machine or small VPS that stays awake to poll
- Basic comfort debugging MIME, threading and character encodings
Delivery order
Scaffold the smallest runnable application and document its commands.
done whenThe project starts from a documented command in a clean checkout.
Implement the primary data model and core workflow.
done whenThe main object can be created, read and changed end to end.
Add validation, safe failure states, and persistence.
done whenBad input is refused with a readable message and nothing is left corrupted.
Cover the critical path with automated tests.
done whenThe highest-risk behavior fails the suite when it breaks.
Exercise a clean install from the README and fix every missing step.
done whenA fresh clone reaches the first successful workflow using only the README.
That is the whole plan for Mailient. What it deliberately does not cover is below · check the gaps before you call it a replacement.
- A mobile app and real push notifications, which is where most email actually gets read
- Managed OAuth with Google and Microsoft, including the review process and token refresh pain
- Someone else absorbing provider API changes, rate limits and broken threading
- Polish: keyboard shortcuts, fast search, snooze, undo send, offline behavior
- Any sending reputation work if the product handles outbound at scale
Need the files? The project pack on the verdict page hands your agent the whole brief · more email.