njhaveri

There are two main differences: 1. Mimestream uses the Gmail API (instead of IMAP), so it supports more Gmail features: Gmail categorized inboxes, first-class labeling support (apply multiple, change color, etc), use all the Gmail aliases you have set up, use the signatures you set up in Gmail, and conduct server-side searches with Gmail search operators. A lot more is coming on this front, as the app is still in development. 2. This is a lighter-weight client with a minimal local cache. Mail downloads a copy of every message in your account and requires a lot more disk space to use.

That's a very fair question. Web apps made by providers are definitely several steps ahead feature-wise, because standardized protocols take a lot of time to evolve. My hope with Mimestream is to strike a middle ground here, by using the Gmail API to support more of the Gmail featureset, while retaining the ergonomics of a native client.

Hi HN! In the past, I spent over 7 years working on Apple Mail, and today I am really excited to share a new email client I'm building: Mimestream, a native macOS email client for Gmail.

Mimestream is written in Swift, and uses AppKit+SwiftUI for a clean, stock appearance. It's designed to be fast, lightweight, and use a minimal amount of disk space. Mimestream's advantages over using the Gmail web interface includes features like multiple accounts, a unified inbox, system notifications, swipe actions, dark mode, (some) offline support, tracker prevention, multiple keyboard shortcut sets, and more.

Mimestream differs from other email clients because it uses the Gmail API rather than IMAP, so it supports more Gmail-specific features like categorized inboxes, Gmail's search operators, first-class labels support (apply multiple via ⌘L, set colors, etc), synced aliases, synced signatures, etc. I'm planning a lot more work in this area, including server-side filter configuration, Google Drive support, G Suite directory autocomplete, and more.

The app is a traditional email client that makes direct connections to Gmail and stores your data on your Mac. There are no intermediary servers with access to your account or copies of your messages. Mimestream is free for a limited time during the public beta, but will eventually be a paid app by the time it gets to the Mac App Store.

I hope you enjoy trying out the beta, and I look forward to hearing your feedback!

Git is so pervasive in software development that I think you will be at a disadvantage if you give up on it.

This is the sort of situation where I would recommend taking a step back, finding a good book that covers the topic, and read it cover to cover. At least for me, taking time outs like this to learn something in an academic manner has paid big dividends over the years.

Been using Netlify's (server-log-based) analytics offering with my site. It feels maybe a little expensive for what it is, and definitely doesn't have many bells/whistles, but it's been a good-enough alternative.

If anybody is interested, I've been writing a Gmail-focused email client for macOS called Mimestream. It combines native macOS UI with Gmail-specific features such as categorized inboxes, colored labels, and aliases (made possible by the use of the Gmail API instead of IMAP).

I just opened up a public beta, and you can request immediate access on the website at https://mimestream.com. It's free during the beta period - I only ask for feedback: feedback@mimestream.com.

Unlike some other 3rd party email clients, it makes direct connections from your Mac to Gmail and stores data/credentials on your Mac. There's no intermediary servers.

I've never used one, but I have heard of some "Employer of Record" companies that have a physical presence in the country you're looking into hiring in. They'll effectively hire the employee on your behalf, and then you just pay their sister entity (in the same country as you) a consulting fee equal to the employee's salary plus whatever fees are applicable. Could be an option for companies looking to start doing this.

This is why people should be very careful before using any email app or service that gives a server/service access to their account...

One thing I have not seen posted here in snippets is the inclusion of:

:root { color-scheme: light dark; }

This allows the browser to change the default rendering of controls like inputs and textareas. It also sets up many defaults nicely. Please use this in conjunction with @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark).

Reference: https://webkit.org/blog/8840/dark-mode-support-in-webkit/ https://drafts.csswg.org/css-color-adjust-1/#color-scheme-pr...

When I started writing my Mac app, I made the somewhat nervous decision of going with Swift. So I am really quite excited to hear this news, since getting onto Windows is something I've always thought about as a possible future direction. Of course, there would be a ton of work to do, since many frameworks like Core Data etc are only available on Apple platforms…

I had the exact same experience on my app's website (https://mimestream.com) as well. I think initially, I was nervous about offering a beta download, so I wanted to manually vet each subscriber and manually send invites. Of course, even a 2 or 3 hour gap resulted in very poor conversion. Presenting the beta download link immediately after a user provided an email, obviously, has resulted in a world of difference.

After I upgraded to Jekyll 4, stopped using the GitHub pages gem (deploying to Netlify instead), it's been WAY faster for me personally!

I build my website with Jekyll 4 and use livereload, but have actually found some use out of this tool for writing small snippets. Seeing your CSS come to life with every keystroke in real time (without having to press CMD+S in your IDE) is surprisingly useful.

The main use-case where this tool has been useful, though, is when I'm working on my Mac app that uses WKWebView and Javascript pretty extensively. It's much faster to get little JS snippets right compared to the really slow build+run cycle in Xcode.

I’m working on a native Mac email client for Gmail that uses the Gmail API and support Gmail-specific features like labels and categorized inboxes. If you’re able enable access for 3rd party apps, and interested in beta testing this, would love to have you sign up at https://mimestream.com

People should really read the privacy policies before using any email app these days. Many popular ones state that they, at minimum, will keep access tokens on their servers, and many outright cache copies of your messages.

You can set this preference by going to the Mail menu > Preferences > Accounts. Select the account you want to adjust on the left, and in the first "Account Information" tab, there should be a pop-up for Download Attachments: [All, Recent, None]. The default for newly added accounts is "Recent".