mcp-hey

A local Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that gives Claude read/write access to your Hey.com inbox via reverse-engineered web APIs.

mcp-hey has two moving parts: a Bun/TypeScript MCP server that exposes Hey tools over stdio, and a small Python helper that uses the system webview to capture session cookies at login. Everything runs locally — no cloud relay, no credentials stored, just session cookies on disk.

Heads up — unofficial API. Hey.com does not publish a public API; mcp-hey reverse-engineers its web endpoints and pairs them with browser-identical HTTP requests. Things can break without notice. The current documented surface lives in docs/API.md.

Features

• Read emails from Imbox, Feed, Paper Trail, Set Aside, and Reply Later
• Send and reply to email threads
• Search emails across boxes
• Organise mail (set aside, reply later, screen in/out, bubble up)
• Local SQLite cache for faster repeated reads and full-text search
• Lightweight — around 30 MB idle memory
• Browser-identical headers and TLS posture to avoid detection
• Runs entirely on your machine; stdio transport with no network exposure

Setup

Prerequisites

• Bun 1.1 or later
• Python 3.10 or later (plus UV if you want to follow the Python tooling in CLAUDE.md)
• A Hey.com account
• Platform: developed and tested on macOS and Linux. Windows users will likely need WSL — pywebview's Windows backend is not currently exercised.

Installation

1. Clone this repository

   git clone https://github.com/Sealjay/mcp-hey.git
   cd mcp-hey

2. Install dependencies

   bun install
   pip install -r auth/requirements.txt

3. First run — authenticate

   bun run dev

   The Python auth helper opens a system webview pointed at Hey.com. Log in as normal; the helper captures session cookies to data/hey-cookies.json (permissions locked to 600) and exits. The Bun process then keeps running as the MCP server waiting on stdio — press Ctrl+C once auth has completed; your configured MCP client will launch its own instance from here on. Subsequent runs reuse the stored session until it expires.

MCP client configuration

All three clients use the same command/args shape. On macOS, you'll almost certainly need the absolute path to bun — see macOS: bun PATH below.

Claude Code

The quickest route is the CLI:

claude mcp add --transport stdio hey --scope user -- bun run /absolute/path/to/mcp-hey/src/index.ts

The server is available immediately in the current session.

Alternatively, add to .mcp.json at your project root (or ~/.claude.json for a user-scoped server):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hey": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "bun",
      "args": ["run", "/absolute/path/to/mcp-hey/src/index.ts"]
    }
  }
}

If you edit the file directly, restart the Claude Code session to pick it up.

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hey": {
      "command": "bun",
      "args": ["run", "/absolute/path/to/mcp-hey/src/index.ts"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. You should see hey listed as an available integration.

Cursor

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hey": {
      "command": "bun",
      "args": ["run", "/absolute/path/to/mcp-hey/src/index.ts"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Cursor.

macOS: bun PATH

GUI apps (Claude Desktop, Cursor) and shells launched by Claude Code don't always inherit the PATH from your interactive terminal, so a Homebrew-installed bun may fail with spawn bun ENOENT or simply never connect. Fix by using the absolute path to bun in command:

• Apple Silicon Homebrew — /opt/homebrew/bin/bun
• Intel Homebrew — /usr/local/bin/bun
• Manual install — run which bun in your terminal to find it

Example:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hey": {
      "command": "/opt/homebrew/bin/bun",
      "args": ["run", "/absolute/path/to/mcp-hey/src/index.ts"]
    }
  }
}

Architecture

Component	Description
MCP server	Bun/TypeScript, stdio transport, ~30 MB idle memory
Auth helper	Python/pywebview, spawns on-demand for login via system webview
Cache	Local SQLite store for messages, threads, and search index
Communication	File-based session sharing via data/hey-cookies.json

Data flow

1. MCP client (Claude Desktop / Cursor) launches bun run src/index.ts over stdio.
2. On startup the server validates data/hey-cookies.json. If missing or expired it spawns auth/hey-auth.py, which opens Hey in a system webview and writes fresh cookies.
3. Tool calls hit Hey.com directly with browser-realistic headers; responses are parsed (HTML via node-html-parser) and cached in SQLite.
4. Write operations fetch a fresh CSRF token before submitting.

Project structure

mcp-hey/
  src/
    index.ts           # MCP server entry point
    hey-client.ts      # HTTP client with cookie injection
    session.ts         # Session management and validation
    errors.ts          # Error classes and sanitisation
    cache/             # SQLite cache (db, schema, messages, search)
    tools/             # MCP tool implementations
      read.ts          # Reading and listing
      send.ts          # Send, reply, forward
      organise.ts      # Triage, labels, bubble up, etc.
      http-helpers.ts  # Shared CSRF retry and endpoint fallback
    __tests__/         # Test suites
  auth/
    hey-auth.py        # Python auth helper (pywebview)
    requirements.txt
  data/
    hey-cookies.json   # Session storage (gitignored, chmod 600)
  docs/
    API.md             # Hey.com API surface documentation
    TOOLS.md           # MCP tool reference (41 tools)

Available tools

41 tools grouped by function. See docs/TOOLS.md for parameters, return shapes, and error behaviour.

Category	Tools
Read	hey_list_imbox, hey_imbox_summary, hey_list_feed, hey_list_paper_trail, hey_list_set_aside, hey_list_reply_later, hey_list_screener, hey_list_trash, hey_list_spam, hey_list_drafts, hey_read_email
Labels & Collections	hey_list_labels, hey_list_label_emails, hey_add_label, hey_remove_label, hey_list_collections, hey_list_collection_emails, hey_add_to_collection, hey_remove_from_collection
Send	hey_send_email, hey_reply, hey_forward
Triage	hey_set_aside, hey_unset_aside, hey_reply_later, hey_remove_reply_later, hey_mark_unseen, hey_trash, hey_restore, hey_spam, hey_not_spam, hey_ignore_thread, hey_unignore_thread
Bubble up	hey_bubble_up, hey_bubble_up_if_no_reply, hey_pop_bubble
Screener	hey_screen_in, hey_screen_in_by_id, hey_screen_out
Search	hey_search
Cache	hey_cache_status

Privacy and security

• No credentials are ever stored — only session cookies, written with 600 permissions.
• Authentication happens entirely inside Hey's own login page (system webview).
• All data stays on your machine. No telemetry is emitted by this project.
• MCP uses stdio transport — the server never opens a network listener.
• Session validity is checked on startup and before sensitive operations.

See SECURITY.md for how to report vulnerabilities.

Limitations

• Prompt-injection risk: as with many MCP servers, this one is subject to the lethal trifecta. A malicious email arriving in your inbox could attempt to instruct Claude to exfiltrate other messages. Treat the tool surface accordingly and review risky actions before approving them.
• Unofficial API: Hey.com's frontend can change without notice and break things. Expect occasional breakage and check docs/API.md for known deltas.
• No real-time notifications: polling only.
• Attachment uploads are not yet supported.
• Single account per MCP server instance.
• Account risk: aggressive or abnormal access patterns could in theory trigger Hey's anti-abuse systems. The server respects x-ratelimit headers and backs off exponentially, but there are no guarantees.

Troubleshooting

• Auth webview does not open — confirm Python 3.10+ is on PATH and pip install -r auth/requirements.txt succeeded. On Linux ensure a webview backend is available (python -c "import webview" should not error).
• 401/403 responses after weeks of use — your Hey session has expired. Delete data/hey-cookies.json and run bun run dev again to re-auth.
• Rate limits (429) — the client respects x-ratelimit headers and backs off. If you see sustained 429s, reduce concurrent tool use or wait a few minutes.
• MCP client can't launch the server — args must be an absolute path, not relative. If bun itself fails with spawn bun ENOENT, see macOS: bun PATH.
• Cookie name changed — Hey has renamed session cookies before (e.g. _hey_session → session_token, see CLAUDE.md for the log). If auth silently fails after a Hey update, capture fresh cookies and compare.

Contributing

Contributions welcome via pull request. Please:

• Use conventional commits (feat, fix, docs, refactor, test, perf, cicd, revert, WIP).
• Run bun run format and bun run lint before pushing.
• Ensure bun test passes.
• Update docs/API.md if you discover or change any Hey.com API behaviour.

See CLAUDE.md for the full development workflow.

Licence

MIT Licence — see LICENCE.