Inbox Zero: Open Source Email & Communication

What is Inbox Zero?

What it is

Inbox Zero is an open-source AI email assistant written in TypeScript and placed in the email productivity ecosystem. It is a web application built with Next.js, shadcn/ui, Prisma, and related tools. The project describes itself as a 24/7 assistant that organizes email, drafts replies, manages calendar context, and handles attachments.

The concrete problem is inbox overload. The app aims to help users reach inbox zero by sorting messages, tracking replies that are due, blocking unwanted mail, and reducing manual email tasks. The README states that the mission is to help users spend less time in the inbox. It presents itself as an open-source alternative to Fyxer, with customization and security as stated advantages.

Key capabilities

The AI assistant organizes the inbox and pre-drafts replies in the user's tone and style.
AI rules let users explain in plain English how the assistant should handle incoming email.
Reply Zero tracks emails that need a reply and emails awaiting responses.
Bulk Unsubscriber, Bulk Archiver, and Cold Email Blocker reduce unwanted mail through unsubscribe, archive, and automatic blocking.
Email Analytics tracks activity and trends, while Meeting Briefs provide pre-meeting context from email and calendar.
Smart Filing saves attachments to Google Drive or OneDrive, and Slack or Telegram integration lets users manage email from chat.

Who uses it and how

Busy email users can use the hosted app at getinboxzero.com to organize inboxes, draft replies, and track reply obligations.
Self-hosters can run the app with the Inbox Zero CLI, which starts Docker containers and exposes the web interface at localhost:3000.
Developers can clone the repository, start Postgres and Redis with Docker Compose, install dependencies with pnpm, run setup, migrate with Prisma, and start the app locally.
Users who work from chat can manage email from Slack or Telegram instead of opening the web app.

Getting started

Inbox Zero offers a hosted version at getinboxzero.com. Self-hosting uses Docker and Node.js v24+ with npx @inbox-zero/cli setup and npx @inbox-zero/cli start, while local development uses Docker Compose for Postgres and Redis, pnpm install, npm run setup, Prisma migrations, and pnpm dev.

When to use it — and when not to

Choose Inbox Zero when you want an open-source, self-hostable alternative to Fyxer for inbox triage, reply drafting, bulk cleanup, and meeting preparation. A self-hoster must operate Docker, Node.js v24+, Prisma migrations, Postgres, and Redis, and configure integrations such as Gmail, OpenAI, Slack, Telegram, Google Drive or OneDrive, PostHog, and Resend. The young repository age, NOASSERTION license, zero listed contributors, and 209 open issues mean maturity, legal clarity, and operational polish may require review before production use.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

Inbox Zero - your 24/7 AI email assistant

Organizes your inbox, pre-drafts replies, manages your calendar, and organizes attachments. Chat with it from Slack or Telegram to manage your inbox on the go. Open source alternative to Fyxer, but more customizable and secure.
Website · Discord · Issues

Mission

To help you spend less time in your inbox, so you can focus on what matters most.

Features

AI Personal Assistant: Organizes your inbox and pre-drafts replies in your tone and style.
AI Rules for email: Explain in plain English how your AI should handle your inbox.
Reply Zero: Track emails to reply to and those awaiting responses.
Bulk Unsubscriber: One-click unsubscribe and archive emails you never read.
Bulk Archiver: Clean up your inbox by bulk archiving old emails.
Cold Email Blocker: Auto‑block cold emails.
Email Analytics: Track your activity and trends over time.
Meeting Briefs: Get personalized briefings before every meeting, pulling context from your email and calendar.
Smart Filing: Automatically save email attachments to Google Drive or OneDrive.
Slack & Telegram Integration: Chat with your AI assistant from Slack or Telegram to manage your inbox without leaving the apps you already use.

Learn more in our docs.

Feature Screenshots


AI Assistant	Reply Zero

Gmail client	Bulk Unsubscriber

Demo Video

Built with

Star History

Feature Requests

To request a feature open a GitHub issue, or join our Discord.

Getting Started

We offer a hosted version of Inbox Zero at getinboxzero.com.

Self-Hosting

The fastest way to self-host Inbox Zero is with the CLI:

Prerequisites: Docker and Node.js v24+

npx @inbox-zero/cli setup      # One-time setup wizard
npx @inbox-zero/cli start      # Start containers

Open http://localhost:3000

For complete self-hosting instructions, production deployment, OAuth setup, and configuration options, see our Self-Hosting Docs.

Local Development

Prerequisites: Docker, Node.js v24+, and pnpm v10+

git clone https://github.com/elie222/inbox-zero.git
cd inbox-zero
docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up -d   # Postgres + Redis
pnpm install
npm run setup                                     # Interactive env setup
cd apps/web && pnpm prisma migrate dev && cd ../..
pnpm dev

Open http://localhost:3000

After pnpm install, if you want to use the local Google emulator, start it with:

docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml --profile google-emulator up -d

Then point apps/web/.env at it with:

GOOGLE_BASE_URL=http://localhost:4002
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=emulate-google-client.apps.googleusercontent.com
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=emulate-google-secret

If you want to use the local Microsoft emulator, start it with:

docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml --profile microsoft-emulator up -d

Then point apps/web/.env at it with:

MICROSOFT_BASE_URL=http://localhost:4003
MICROSOFT_CLIENT_ID=emulate-microsoft-client-id
MICROSOFT_CLIENT_SECRET=emulate-microsoft-secret

See the Contributing Guide for more details including devcontainer setup.

Contributing

View open tasks in GitHub Issues and join our Discord to discuss what's being worked on.

Docker images are automatically built on every push to main and tagged with the commit SHA (e.g., elie222/inbox-zero:abc1234). The latest tag always points to the most recent main build. Formal releases use version tags (e.g., v2.26.0).

Frequently asked questions

Is Inbox Zero free to use?

Inbox Zero is open source. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does Inbox Zero do?

AI email assistant that automates, organizes, and declutters

What is Inbox Zero written in?

Inbox Zero is primarily written in TypeScript. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/elie222/inbox-zero, and it has 12,238 GitHub stars.