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InboxSweeper
What it is
InboxSweeper is a free tool for clearing old promotional email and newsletters, with options to unsubscribe, move selected mail to Trash, or report senders as spam. Gmail is fully supported; Yahoo and other IMAP inboxes are experimental. Its Sloth mode targets mail older than two years with a 25-sender cap, Normal covers mail older than one year with a 50-sender cap, and MadMax includes recent promotional mail with a 100-sender cap. Before anything is moved, sweeps preview counts; financial, security, payment, receipt, and government mail is protected. Messages moved to Trash are described as recoverable for about 30 days. The tool runs on your computer and says it does not upload mail, credentials, or tokens. It offers a local browser interface, a terminal CLI, AI-agent instructions, and a one-file Windows executable. One-click and mailto unsubscribe methods are supported, while web-link-only options are flagged for manual handling. Yahoo IMAP exposes only about the 10,000 most recent messages per folder. Anonymous usage counters can be disabled with INBOXSWEEPER_NO_TELEMETRY=1.
For and against
For
- Free and open source, with no account or subscription
- Preview counts before messages are moved
- Protects financial, security, payment, receipt, and government mail
- Runs locally without uploading mail, credentials, or tokens
- Offers browser, terminal, and Windows executable options
Against
- Yahoo and other IMAP inboxes are experimental
- Yahoo IMAP exposes only about 10,000 recent messages per folder
- Web-link-only unsubscribe options require manual handling
The verdict
InboxSweeper provides several ways to review and clear promotional mail, with protected categories and messages sent to Trash rather than permanently deleted. Its strongest support is for Gmail; users of other IMAP inboxes should account for the experimental status and Yahoo folder limit.
Who it suits
InboxSweeper suits people who want to clear promotional mail locally, with a web interface for users who prefer not to configure a technical setup and a terminal option for coders. Gmail users have the fully supported provider; Yahoo and other IMAP users should note the experimental status.
Plans and prices
Free
Gmail fully supported · Yahoo/other IMAP experimental · Sloth 25 senders/run · Normal 50 senders/run
Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
On the record
- API and SDKs
- The project documents IMAP connectivity and a local browser UI but does not publish a separate web API or SDK.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Authentication
- The product uses a scoped Gmail or Yahoo app password over IMAP rather than OAuth or Google Sign-In.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Build verification
- The Windows executable and releases provide GitHub and PyPI provenance attestations that can be checked with GitHub CLI or PyPI metadata.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Cleaning actions
- It can unsubscribe, move selected mail to Trash, or report selected senders as spam.github.com · read 29 Sep 2026
- Cleaning modes
- Sloth targets mail older than two years with a 25-sender run cap, Normal targets mail older than one year with a 50-sender cap, and MadMax includes recent promotional mail with a 100-sender cap.github.com · read 29 Sep 2026
- Company facts
- The project identifies Mukundan Govindaraj as its author; no legal company name, headquarters, founding year, employee count, or funding information is stated on the reviewed pages.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Credentials
- It uses a scoped app password rather than Google OAuth, with credentials stored in macOS Keychain or a locked file.github.com · read 29 Sep 2026
- Credential storage
- Credentials are stored in macOS Keychain or protected local files and can also be supplied through environment variables.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Developer interface
- The documented developer interface is a Python command-line tool with wizard, setup, counts, profile, sweep, spam, unsub-list, unsub-run, serve, and uninstall commands.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Email providers
- Gmail is fully supported; Yahoo and other IMAP inboxes are experimental.github.com · read 29 Sep 2026
- Feature: cleaning modes
- Sloth targets mail older than two years, Normal targets mail older than one year, and MadMax includes recent promotional mail.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Feature: dry run
- Sweeps preview message counts and support dry-run operation before confirmation.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Feature: protected mail
- Financial, security, payment, receipt, transactional, and government senders are automatically protected from sweeps.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Feature: recoverable deletion
- Delete operations move mail to the provider Trash/Bin folder, described as recoverable for about 30 days, instead of permanently deleting it.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Feature: sender profiling
- The profile command ranks bulk senders so users can identify the noisiest sources before acting.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Feature: spam reporting
- Reporting spam is a separate deliberate workflow that starts with no senders selected and requires confirmation.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Feature: unsubscribe
- The tool handles RFC 8058 one-click unsubscribe and mailto unsubscribe through message headers.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Gmail support
- Gmail is the fully supported provider and the tool uses Gmail server-side search through the X-GM-RAW extension.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
