Kurir email client showing the sidebar with Imbox, Screener, Feed, and Paper Trail

Email as it should be. Not as Big Tech left it.

Let's be honest: your email is held hostage. Gmail reads everything to sell ads. Outlook buries what matters under "Focused" guesswork. Every free provider trades your privacy for profit.

And the self-hosted alternatives? They look like they were built in 2003 and never quite recovered.

It's time to take email back.

Kurir is a modern, self-hosted email client inspired by HEY. New senders are screened. Your Imbox is only people you've approved. Newsletters live in The Feed. Receipts go to Paper Trail. You host it, you own it.

One command installs everything. Your data never leaves your server. And it's 100% open source.

Carl-Fredrik Arvidson: Creator of Kurir

Little things, big difference.

Screener blocks unknown senders. The Feed collects newsletters. Paper Trail files receipts. Search finds everything. Everything in its right place.

Screener

New senders don't reach your inbox. You decide who gets in, who gets filed, and who gets blocked.

Imbox

Only mail from senders you've approved. The important stuff, and nothing else.

The Feed

Newsletters and subscriptions in a browsable feed. Browse when you want, not when they arrive.

Paper Trail

Receipts, confirmations, and notifications. Kept neatly separate so they're there when you need them.

Mobile app

Install as a PWA on iOS and Android. Push notifications keep you in the loop without a native app.

Full-text search

PostgreSQL-powered search across every email. Find anything, instantly.

Snooze & follow-ups

Snooze messages until later. Set follow-up reminders so nothing falls through the cracks.

Keyboard-first

Full keyboard shortcuts, command palette, and vim-style navigation. Never touch the mouse.

Compose in Markdown

Write emails in Markdown. Schedule sends. Auto-save drafts. Send from multiple accounts.

Threaded conversations

Messages grouped into threads. See the full conversation in one view, reply inline.

Dark mode

Light, dark, or match your system. Easy on the eyes at any hour.

Your server

Runs on your hardware. Your data stays on your server. No third parties, ever.

One more thing… Kurir is open source if you'd like to run it yourself.

If you want to customize Kurir for your own use, or just see how it looks from the inside out, you can download it and run it yourself. Have a great idea? Submit a PR to contribute and make it better. Our software license allows for flexible use with few restrictions.

View source

Support the project.

Kurir is free and open source. If it's useful to you and you'd like to help keep it going, consider supporting the project financially. Every bit helps cover hosting, development time, and infrastructure.

GitHub Sponsors

Monthly or one-time. Directly supports development.

Sponsor on GitHub

Coming soon

Managed hosting

Don't want to self-host? We'll run it for you.

Stay tuned

Common questions.

Is Kurir really free?

Yes. Kurir is 100% open source and free to self-host. There's no paid tier, no premium features behind a paywall. You get the whole thing.

What email providers work with Kurir?

Any provider that supports IMAP and SMTP — Gmail, Outlook, Fastmail, your own Postfix server, you name it. Kurir connects to your existing email account over standard protocols.

Do I need to move my email to a new server?

No. Kurir is a client, not a mail server. It syncs with your existing email account via IMAP. Your mail stays where it is — Kurir just gives you a better way to read and organize it.

Can I really run Kurir on my own server?

Absolutely. One curl command installs Docker, PostgreSQL, Redis, and Kurir itself on any Ubuntu or Debian server. The whole setup takes about two minutes.

What's the Screener?

When someone you've never heard from emails you, they land in the Screener instead of your Imbox. You can approve them (and choose where their mail goes), or block them entirely. You'll never see unwanted email again.

What's the license?

Kurir uses the O'Saasy License — essentially MIT, but with one extra clause: you can't take it and offer it as a competing hosted service. Self-hosting for personal or business use is completely fine.

Need help? Check out the documentation.

Yeah, why not, I'll try Kurir!

terminal

$ curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cfarvidson/kurir-server/main/install.sh | sudo sh

Read the docs to get started