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Setting Up msmtp for Sending

Setting Up msmtp for Sending#

This tutorial sets up msmtp as an external mail sender for NeoMutt. You’ll install msmtp, write a configuration, send a test message, and connect it to NeoMutt.

NeoMutt has built-in SMTP support (see Set Up SMTP), but using an external tool like msmtp gives you logging, queuing, and per-account profiles independent of NeoMutt’s config. This is the approach used by tools like mutt-wizard.

Prerequisites#

  1. A working mail account with SMTP access (server, port, username, and password).

  2. msmtp installed on your system.

  3. NeoMutt installed.

On Fedora/RHEL:

sudo dnf install msmtp

On Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt install msmtp

On macOS:

brew install msmtp

Write the msmtp Configuration#

  1. Create the file ~/.config/msmtp/config (or ~/.msmtprc):

# Default settings applied to all accounts
defaults
auth           on
tls            on
tls_trust_file /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
logfile        ~/.config/msmtp/msmtp.log

# Account definition
account        you@example.com
host           smtp.example.com
port           465
tls_starttls   off
from           you@example.com
user           you@example.com
passwordeval   "pass you@example.com"

Replace the server, port, user, and password command with your values.

Understanding the Key Settings#

Setting

Purpose

auth on

Enable SMTP authentication

tls on

Enable TLS encryption

tls_starttls

off for implicit TLS (port 465); on for STARTTLS (port 587)

tls_trust_file

Path to system CA certificates (see the table below)

passwordeval

Runs a command to retrieve your password

logfile

Where msmtp writes delivery logs

Port and TLS Combinations#

Port

Protocol

tls_starttls

465

Implicit TLS

off

587

STARTTLS

on

Certificate File#

The tls_trust_file path varies by distribution:

Distribution

Path

Debian / Ubuntu

/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt

Fedora / RHEL

/etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt

Arch Linux

/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt

macOS (Homebrew)

/usr/local/etc/openssl/cert.pem

Password Retrieval#

For passwordeval, use any command that prints your password to stdout:

passwordeval "pass you@example.com"
passwordeval "gpg --batch -q --decrypt ~/.smtp-pass.gpg"
passwordeval "secret-tool lookup service smtp user you@example.com"

See Password Manager for more options.

Secure the Configuration File#

msmtp requires that its config file is not world-readable:

chmod 600 ~/.config/msmtp/config

Send a Test Message#

  1. Send a test email from the command line:

echo "Test from msmtp" | msmtp you@example.com

  1. Check the log file for confirmation:

cat ~/.config/msmtp/msmtp.log

Expected result: the log shows a successful delivery and the message arrives in your inbox.

If delivery fails, check the error in the log. Common problems are wrong port/TLS settings or an incorrect password command.

Connect msmtp to NeoMutt#

  1. Add this line to your neomuttrc:

set sendmail = "msmtp -a you@example.com"

The -a flag selects the msmtp account by name.

  1. Compose and send a message in NeoMutt (press m).

Expected result: NeoMutt hands the message to msmtp for delivery.

Add a Second Account#

  1. Append another account block to your msmtp config:

account        work@company.com
host           smtp.company.com
port           587
tls_starttls   on
from           work@company.com
user           work@company.com
passwordeval   "pass work@company.com"

  1. Switch accounts in NeoMutt using a folder-hook:

folder-hook "work@company.com" "set sendmail='msmtp -a work@company.com'"
folder-hook "you@example.com"  "set sendmail='msmtp -a you@example.com'"

Expected result: NeoMutt uses the right SMTP account for each mailbox.

See Managing Multiple Email Accounts for the complete multi-account setup.

Next Steps#