OpenClaw email setup

OpenClaw treats email as a trigger, not a chat channel. WhatsApp, Telegram and Slack are channels: you talk, it answers in the same place. Email comes in through one of two automations, and the result goes to a channel you choose.

The first is Gmail Pub/Sub, which wires Gmail inbox events into OpenClaw through Google Cloud. The second is the bundled IMAP plugin, which works with any mailbox that speaks IMAP, such as Fastmail or iCloud, and needs no Google Cloud project or public web address.

It watches one mailbox. For each new message from a sender you allow, it starts a separate, locked-down session with a reader agent you define. That reader should have almost no tools, so a message saying "follow this link and run a command" can only be summarised, not obeyed. With delivery on, the summary lands in your chosen channel, say your Telegram.

The plugin is strict by design. It does not mark mail read, move it, or look at anything already in the box. It skips messages older than 48 hours. By default it only accepts a sender whose message passes DMARC, so a forged From line gets nowhere.

Give it a mailbox of its own. The plugin watches an existing account, and anything in that inbox from an allowed sender becomes work for the agent. A dedicated address like assistant@yourcompany.com keeps your bank and your family out of it.

Then set up three things in your OpenClaw config. Define a restricted reader agent with a sandbox. Enable the imap plugin with the mailbox's host, port 993 and password. List allowedSenders. Full addresses or whole domains like @yourcompany.com both work. An empty list switches the account off, which is safer than it sounds. Finish with openclaw security audit --deep, then send yourself a test message asking it to run a command, and check that it only summarises it.

Want to write to your assistant like a person and get an answer in the same thread? Stock OpenClaw leaves that to you. OpenClaw on Faivelo closes the gap. Each one is made with its own mailbox. When you email it, the message is checked against its list of people, which starts with you, and against DMARC. Then it goes to OpenClaw as a turn, and the answer is sent back from its own address.

It runs on a box of its own for $9 a month, with 2 GB of memory, the size OpenClaw recommends. WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord and Slack link from its page, and its control panel opens signed in. If two-way email is the main thing you need, Hermes has it built in; see OpenClaw vs Hermes Agent and Hermes Agent email setup.