Show HN: Open-source superhuman like email client

[ElasticBottle]

Hey Hacker news,

Over the last couple months, I've been hacking with a friend on an email client for gmail that is similar to superhuman.

A little backstory, we think that superhuman, in it's current implementation is vim-like. We hope to mostly match the performance and usability there and expand it into something more vscode-like.

Looking for feedback and suggestions!

[latexr]

> we think that superhuman, in it's current implementation is vim-like.

What does this mean? Superhuman has AI integration, an expensive subscription model, is built with Electron¹, is backed by VC money, and a bunch of other things to arguably dislike and actively avoid. It seems like the polar opposite of vim.

> and expand it into something more vscode-like.

Again, what does this mean? Are you going to add even more telemetry to something that’s supposed to be private?

I’m really struggling to see how the comparison applies. You do know vim isn’t dead? People still use and love it, and with good reason.

¹ If I recall correctly.

[Retr0id]

I can't speak to the rest of the comparison, but regarding

> You do know vim isn’t dead? People still use and love it, and with good reason.

I interpret their sentiment as "if you prefer vscode to vim, you'll prefer us to superhuman". Whether that's true is another question, but it seems like that's what they're going for.

[iaresee]

> What does this mean?

I think it means its focused on hands-on-keyboard interaction with your email. Everything is acceessible via keyboard shortcuts and there's no need to reach for your mouse with Superhuman.

[satvikpendem]

Vim-like primarily in its mouse-free UX, not its other properties.

[benf76]

I think it’s a reference to the amazing but closed Superhuman.com email desktop app

[tr3ntg]

First line of Readme lost me.

> Email has been around since 1971 (according to Google GPT).

Why state a fact, reference your potentially incorrect source, and then not fact-check it yourself to totally avoid the need to mention your source in the first place? That seems… silly?

Edit: read more comments and see OP has clarified this is a joke. The joke is easy to miss (according to ChatGPT)

[riedel]

Would be quit thrilled to see decent powerful alternative to thunderbird. Will it actually support any open protocols like IMAP or JMAP? If you say vim-like how is the relation to mutt? ( Would really love to see a web app version of mutt actually)

[riordan]

Likewise; this ticks so many boxes for me, but as a hippy-dippy non-gmail user I too have to second the IMAP/JMAP ask.

Gmail absolutely hits that sweet spot of API capabilities and where the users are, so I can’t fault the project creators (or most every email client business these days) for building first (or exclusively) for it.

That said, seeing Outlook as coming soon on their login page is reassuring that they’re building in a way that won’t tie them to Gmail forever. And while few email providers outside of Fastmail are offering JMAP support, as an API it’s much closer to the degree of functionality expected by anyone building on top of Gmail’s API today. A great new client that gives a big section of the public a better way to “do email” might be what it takes for more services to start offering JMAP.

So hats off to y’all and fingers crossed on incorporating open standards.

[ljm]

Plenty of powerful or unique alternatives were built and became popular over the years, only for them to be snubbed out by big tech acquisitions.

Remember Sparrow? (acquired and killed by Google, turned into Inbox then killed again)

Remember Mailbox? (acquired and killed by Dropbox)

Tech incumbents actively stifling innovation in email. Meanwhile the actual email spec itself hasn't evolved for decades so you still have to write HTML like it's 1999.

[ElasticBottle]

hey Riedel, that's something we plan to look into (after we nail gmail and add outlook) as I personally have a mailbox on IMAP too.

Do join our discord or mailing list so that we can keep you posted about it if you're interested!

I've also never heard of Mutt sadly :') but couple of you mention it already so it's definitely on my list of things to try today! What is your experiences with Mutt so far? How does it stack up with other more mainstream clients?

[josephcsible]

> All third party components incorporated into the skylarinbox.com Software are licensed under the original license provided by the owner of the applicable component.

Can you elaborate on what components and licenses these are?

[dotancohen]

How does this client compare to the leading open source email client, Thunderbird? Can this client reply to emails with a custom From address, as catch-all domain users need? Can this client infer which custom From address to use from the mail being replied to?

[simbolit]

This only works with gmail, with outlook coming soon.

So it is not comparable at all.

Thunderbird is an email client, this is an interface to proprietary email services.

[ElasticBottle]

> Can this client reply to emails with a custom From address, as catch-all domain users need?

Sadly it does not support either.

we're currently looking towards gmail(current) => outlook => protocol layer for now. However, will definitely keep note of it.

> How does this client compare to the leading open source email client, Thunderbird?

Took a shot at this here: https://github.com/curdinc/skylar-email/issues/61. I'd be glad to elaborate more as needed.

I'd love to know about your thunderbird experience.

[gwbas1c]

> Looking for feedback and suggestions!

I'm not really sure what makes skylar-email different than my current email client.

Perhaps create a walkthrough / demo with screenshots that highlight different features?

Also, can you explain the basic requirements? I assume an imap email server? Does it run on Windows / MacOS, or do I need to figure out how to host it?

[ElasticBottle]

> Perhaps create a walkthrough / demo with screenshots that highlight different features?

Sounds good, will take note and add that in for future showcases!

> Also, can you explain the basic requirements? I assume an imap email server? Does it run on Windows / MacOS, or do I need to figure out how to host it?

Ya, so it turns out I might have been misleading when I mention email client which a couple others have pointed out. Going to update my post to be more accurate.

Right now it's more of a Gmail client. runs in a browser, and you can access it at curdinc.com/1

[dinkleberg]

The banner in your readme says excalidraw but links to your site.

[ElasticBottle]

Was using their readme as a basis and it seems like I forgot to update one link which is affecting like half the folks :')

Thanks for pointing it out! Fix is on the way out!

[captn3m0]

I used Nylas for a while, followed my Mailspring when that died, but building an electron based app, especially something as complicated as a email client is hard.

I’d suggest focusing on your core requirements, and supporting plugins to delegate the hard work.

Gonna try this out!

[remram]

Is superhuman a product name? I'm confused by this post.

[jjice]

Yeah, it's a fairly new (few years) email client that some people swear by. I believe they have a focus on being keyboard oriented.

[ale42]

Given the e-mail client is basically the program that I leave open and use all the time, seeing an Electron app makes me think twice or more about even trying it. Electron is very heavy on system resources (battery power included).

And as several people pointed out: generic IMAP/SMTP support! Personally I don't use Outlook nor gmail, my mailbox is only accessible through IMAP.

[ElasticBottle]

Fair enough, if we ever do a dedicated client, we would hopefully invest in something more efficient. Likely going to stay on browser for a while more though, since most people already have their browsers opens, having a tab open feels lightweight enough especially compared to an electron app.

Yeap, we hear you folks on the IMAP/SMTP support! Feel free to sign up on the email list or join our discord to keep up to date with developments!

Out of curiosity, What client do you use today? How's the experience been for the workflow that you use it for?

[benf76]

Can this work with proton mail?

[sampli]

Hey.com is one of my favorite “new design” email clients. The OTP feature in Skylar seems cool, maybe they can steal it ;)

[ElasticBottle]

Stealing is the greatest form of flattery!

What do you love most about hey.com? Maybe we could steal you over ;)

[FergusArgyll]

are there docs? how do I build it myself?

[ElasticBottle]

Yeap.

https://github.com/curdinc/skylar-email/blob/main/CONTRIBUTI...

should point you in the right direction. Feel free to ping back here, on github, or on Discord.

[lol_catz]

does it jmap?

[palata]

> Email has been around since 1971 (according to Google GPT).

So now LLMs are considered trustworthy references? Is it really that hard to read something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email#History?

Spoiler: it seems wrong.

[scrapcode]

The irony of posting a Wikipedia source in the same comment.

Not that I disagree with your sentiment, but when I was in school Wiki sources were forbidden across the board.

[ElasticBottle]

spoiler: it was a joke

[CPLX]

Hijacking this thread (sorry) but does anyone really love Superhuman these days?

I want it to be great, and have given it a couple chances, but it never has paid off for me. Having conversation view for email be mandatory is one of several examples that make me thing it's just not a serious thing.

[gnicholas]

I don’t see the email signature much anymore, but maybe people just removed them. I know they rolled out a student discount that’s pretty substantial. If I could get it for $5/month, I’d consider it. But I’m not a student anymore!

[iaresee]

I love-hate it. Work pays for it. And I feel guilty work spends money on it. But I love it so much more than Gmail's native interface.

[h23bhati]

co-builder here...

> Hijacking this thread (sorry) but does anyone really love Superhuman these days? Not a huge fan, used it one, apart from the cost - it does have some nice features - keyboard first, super responsive, and sleek (although dark mode could use some love). Which led us to building the client - TLDR: create a customizable, tabular client with connectors to Gmail(current)/Outlook/Native.

> I want it to be great, and have given it a couple chances, but it never has paid off for me. Having conversation view for email be mandatory is one of several examples that make me thing it's just not a serious thing. Curious about learning more about your experience - always open to ideas... What were you looking for and how did it disappoint?

[sergiosgc]

An email client for gmail is not an email client. It's a Gmail client.

[ElasticBottle]

fair enough, outlook will be coming soon.

Would love to pick your brain on what would make for a great email client

[liendolucas]

Open-source superhuman email client? I don't know... Maybe the author is not aware of mutt: http://www.mutt.org/ (or neomutt: https://neomutt.org/). Which in my opinion is way way closer to "superhuman".

[palata]

Or Aerc! https://aerc-mail.org/

[ElasticBottle]

I am actually not aware of mutt, but now that two others have mentioned it, I will definitely take a look!

Thanks!

do you use it? What do you use it most for?

[satvikpendem]

All that text and not a single screenshot. What does it actually look and feel like to use?