Emerail

A Ruby on Rails email aggregator that allows you to consolidate multiple email accounts into a single unified inbox.

Features

• User authentication with Devise
• Support for multiple email accounts per user
• IMAP email synchronization
• Background job processing with Sidekiq
• Email message pagination
• Read/unread status tracking
• Attachment detection
• Rate limiting with Rack::Attack
• Incremental email syncing (only fetches new messages)

Tech Stack

• Ruby 3.4.7
• Rails 8.1.1
• PostgreSQL
• Sidekiq for background jobs
• Redis for job queue
• Devise for authentication
• Kaminari for pagination
• Rack::Attack for rate limiting

Prerequisites

• Ruby 3.4.7 (use rbenv or rvm)
• PostgreSQL (version 9.3+)
• Redis (for Sidekiq)
• Bundler

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone <repository-url>
cd Emerail

2. Install dependencies:

bundle install

3. Setup environment variables: Create a .env file in the root directory:

# Database (optional if using defaults)
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://localhost/emerail_development

# Rails
RAILS_ENV=development

4. Create and setup the database:

rails db:create
rails db:migrate

Running the Application

You need to run three separate processes:

1. Redis Server

redis-server

2. Sidekiq (Background Jobs)

In a new terminal:

bundle exec sidekiq

3. Rails Server

In another terminal:

rails server

The application will be available at http://localhost:3000

Usage

1. Create an Account

• Visit http://localhost:3000/users/sign_up
• Register with your email and password

2. Add an Email Account

• Navigate to /email_accounts/new
• Fill in your IMAP details:
  • Provider: Select "imap"
  • IMAP Host: e.g., imap.gmail.com
  • IMAP Port: e.g., 993
  • IMAP SSL: Check if using SSL/TLS
  • Username: Your email address
  • Password: Your email password or app-specific password

3. Sync Emails

Emails are synced automatically via background jobs. To manually trigger a sync:

rails console

Then run:

account = EmailAccount.first
SyncEmailAccountJob.perform_async(account.id)

4. View Emails

• Visit http://localhost:3000 to see your aggregated emails
• Click on any email to view its full content
• Emails are automatically marked as read when viewed

Configuration

Email Sync Settings

Edit app/services/email_sync_service.rb to adjust:

• BATCH_SIZE: Number of emails to process at once (default: 50)
• DEFAULT_SYNC_DAYS: How many days back to sync on first sync (default: 30)

Rate Limiting

Edit config/initializers/rack_attack.rb to adjust rate limits:

• Login attempts: 5 per minute per email
• Signups: 5 per 5 minutes per IP
• API requests: 300 per 5 minutes per IP
• Email account creation: 10 per hour per IP

Pagination

Edit app/controllers/email_messages_controller.rb to change items per page (default: 50)

Common Email Provider Settings

Gmail

• IMAP Host: imap.gmail.com
• IMAP Port: 993
• SSL: Yes
• Note: You'll need to use an App Password (not your regular password)
• Enable IMAP in Gmail settings

Outlook/Hotmail

• IMAP Host: outlook.office365.com
• IMAP Port: 993
• SSL: Yes

Yahoo

• IMAP Host: imap.mail.yahoo.com
• IMAP Port: 993
• SSL: Yes
• Note: You'll need to use an App Password

Database Schema

Users

• Email authentication with Devise
• Has many email accounts

Email Accounts

• Belongs to a user
• Stores IMAP credentials (encrypted password)
• Tracks last sync time
• Supports multiple providers (IMAP, Gmail OAuth, Outlook OAuth)

Email Messages

• Belongs to an email account
• Stores message content, metadata, and status
• Tracks read/unread status
• Detects attachments

Development

Running Tests

rails test

Console

rails console

Database Console

rails dbconsole

Deployment

The project includes Docker support via Kamal. See .kamal/ directory for deployment configuration.

Security Considerations

1. Email passwords are encrypted using has_secure_password
2. Rate limiting is enabled to prevent abuse
3. User authentication required for all email operations
4. Unique message IDs prevent duplicate emails

Future Enhancements

• OAuth support for Gmail and Outlook
• Email search functionality
• Folder/label support
• Email composition and sending
• Attachment downloads
• Email filtering and rules
• Mobile responsive design
• Email threading

License

This project is available as open source.

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch
3. Commit your changes
4. Push to the branch
5. Create a Pull Request