Provided by: aerc_0.17.0-1ubuntu0.24.04.3_amd64 
NAME
aerc-config - configuration file format for aerc(1)
SYNOPSIS
There are three aerc config files: aerc.conf, binds.conf, and accounts.conf. The last one must be kept
secret, as it may include your account credentials. We look for these files in your XDG config home plus
aerc, which defaults to ~/.config/aerc. Alternate files can be specified via command line arguments, see
aerc(1).
Examples of these config files are typically included with your installation of aerc and are usually
installed in /usr/share/aerc.
Each file uses the ini format, and consists of sections with keys and values. A line beginning with # is
considered a comment and ignored, as are empty lines. New sections begin with [section-name] on a single
line, and keys and values are separated with =.
This manual page focuses on aerc.conf. binds.conf is detailed in aerc-binds(5) and accounts.conf in aerc-
accounts(5).
aerc.conf is used for configuring the general appearance and behavior of aerc.
GENERAL OPTIONS
These options are configured in the [general] section of aerc.conf.
default-save-path = <path>
Used as a default path for save operations if no other path is specified.
pgp-provider = auto|gpg|internal
If set to gpg, aerc will use system gpg binary and keystore for all crypto operations. If set to
internal, the internal openpgp keyring will be used. If set to auto, the system gpg will be preferred
unless the internal keyring already exists, in which case the latter will be used.
Default: auto
unsafe-accounts-conf = true|false
By default, the file permissions of accounts.conf must be restrictive and only allow reading by the
file owner (0600). Set this option to true to ignore this permission check. Use this with care as it
may expose your credentials.
Default: false
log-file = <path>
Output log messages to specified file. A path starting with ~/ is expanded to the user home dir. When
redirecting aerc's output to a file using > shell redirection, this setting is ignored and log
messages are printed to stdout.
log-level = trace|debug|info|warn|error
Only log messages above the specified level to log-file. Supported levels are: trace, debug, info,
warn and error. When redirecting aerc's output to a file using > shell redirection, this setting is
ignored and the log level is forced to trace.
Default: info
disable-ipc = true|false
Disable the execution of commands over IPC.
Default: false
term = <TERM>
Set the $TERM environment variable used for the embedded terminal.
Default: xterm-256color
enable-osc8 = true|false
Enable the embedded terminal to output OSC 8 (hyperlinks) escape sequences. Not all terminal
emulators handle OSC 8 sequences properly and can produce confusing results, disable this setting if
that occurs.
Default: false
default-menu-cmd = <cmd>
Default shell command to use for :menu. This will be executed with sh -c and will run in an popover
dialog.
Any occurrence of %f will be replaced by a temporary file path where the command is expected to write
output lines to be consumed by :menu. Otherwise, the lines will be read from the command's standard
output.
Example:
default-menu-cmd = fzf
UI OPTIONS
These options are configured in the [ui] section of aerc.conf.
index-columns = <column1,column2,column3...>
Describes the format for each row in a mailbox view. This is a comma separated list of column names
with an optional align and width suffix. After the column name, one of the < (left), : (center) or >
(right) alignment characters can be added (by default, left) followed by an optional width specifier.
The width is either an integer representing a fixed number of characters, or a percentage between 1%
and 99% representing a fraction of the terminal width. It can also be one of the * (auto) or = (fit)
special width specifiers. Auto width columns will be equally attributed the remaining terminal width.
Fit width columns take the width of their contents. If no width specifier is set, * is used by
default.
Default: date<20,name<17,flags>4,subject<*
column-separator = "<separator>"
String separator inserted between columns. When a column width specifier is an exact number of
characters, the separator is added to it (i.e. the exact width will be fully available for that
column contents).
Default: " "
column-<name> = <go template>
Each name in index-columns must have a corresponding column-<name> setting. All column-<name>
settings accept golang text/template syntax.
By default, these columns are defined:
column-date = {{.DateAutoFormat .Date.Local}}
column-name = {{index (.From | names) 0}}
column-flags = {{.Flags | join ""}}
column-subject = {{.ThreadPrefix}}{{if .ThreadFolded}}{{printf "{%d}" .ThreadCount}}{{end}}{{.Subject}}
See aerc-templates(7) for all available symbols and functions.
timestamp-format = <timeformat>
See time.Time#Format at https://godoc.org/time#Time.Format
Default: 2006-01-02 03:04 PM (ISO 8601 + 12 hour time)
this-day-time-format = <timeformat>
Index-only time format for messages that were received/sent today. If this is not specified,
timestamp-format is used instead.
this-week-time-format = <timeformat>
Index-only time format for messages that were received/sent within the last 7 days. If this is not
specified, timestamp-format is used instead.
this-year-time-format = <timeformat>
Index-only time format for messages that were received/sent this year. If this is not specified,
timestamp-format is used instead.
message-view-timestamp-format = <timeformat>
If set, overrides timestamp-format for the message view.
message-view-this-day-time-format = <timeformat>
If set, overrides timestamp-format in the message view for messages that were received/sent today.
message-view-this-week-time-format = <timeformat>
If set, overrides timestamp-format in the message view for messages that were recieved/sent within
the last 7 days.
message-view-this-year-time-format = <timeformat>
If set, overrides timestamp-format in the message view for messages that were received/sent this
year.
sidebar-width = <int>
Width of the sidebar, including the border. Set to zero to disable the sidebar.
Default: 20
empty-message = <string>
Message to display when viewing an empty folder.
Default: (no messages)
empty-dirlist = <string>
Message to display when no folders exists or are all filtered.
Default: (no folders)
empty-subject = <string>
Text to display in message list, when the subject is empty.
Default: (no subject)
mouse-enabled = true|false
Enable mouse events in the ui, e.g. clicking and scrolling with the mousewheel
Default: false
new-message-bell = true|false
Ring the bell when a new message is received.
Default: true
tab-title-account = <go_template>
The template to use for account tab titles. See aerc-templates(7) for available field names. To
conditionally show the unread count next to the account name, set to:
tab-title-account = {{.Account}} {{if .Unread}}({{.Unread}}){{end}}
Default: {{.Account}}
tab-title-composer = <go_template>
The template to use for composer tab titles. See aerc-templates(7) for available field names.
Default: {{.Subject}}
tab-title-viewer = <go_template>
The template to use for viewer tab titles. See aerc-templates(7) for available field names.
Default: {{if .Subject}}{{.Subject}}{{else}}(no subject){{end}}
pinned-tab-marker = "<string>"
Marker to show before a pinned tab's name.
Default: `
spinner = "<string>"
Animation shown while loading, split by spinner-delimiter (below)
Examples:
• spinner = "-_-,_-_"
• spinner = '. , .'
• spinner = ",|,/,-"
Default: "[..] , [..] , [..] , [..] , [..], [..] , [..] , [..] "
spinner-delimiter = <string>
Spinner delimiter to split string into an animation
Default: ,
spinner-interval = <duration>
The delay between each spinner frame
Default: 200ms
sort = <criteria>
List of space-separated criteria to sort the messages by, see :sort command in aerc(1) for reference.
Prefixing a criterion with -r reverses that criterion.
Example:
sort = from -r date
dirlist-left = <go template>
Template for the left side of the directory list. See aerc-templates(7) for all available fields and
functions.
Default: {{.Folder}}
dirlist-right = <go template>
Template for the right side of the directory list. See aerc-templates(7) for all available fields and
functions.
Default: {{if .Unread}}{{humanReadable .Unread}}/{{end}}{{if .Exists}}{{humanReadable
.Exists}}{{end}}
dirlist-delay = <duration>
Delay after which the messages are actually listed when entering a directory. This avoids loading
messages when skipping over folders and makes the UI more responsive. If you do not want that, set it
to 0s.
Default: 200ms
dirlist-tree = true|false
Display the directory list as a foldable tree.
Default: false
dirlist-collapse = <int>
If dirlist-tree is enabled, set level at which folders are collapsed by default. Set to 0 to disable.
Default: 0
next-message-on-delete = true|false
Moves to next message when the current message is deleted, archived, or moved.
Default: true
auto-mark-read = true|false
Set the seen flag when a message is opened in the message viewer.
Default: true
completion-popovers = true|false
Shows potential auto-completions for text inputs in popovers.
Default: true
completion-delay = <duration>
How long to wait after the last input before auto-completion is triggered.
Default: 250ms
completion-min-chars = <int>
The minimum required characters to allow auto-completion to be triggered after completion-delay.
Setting this to manual disables automatic completion, leaving only the manually triggered completion
with the $complete key (see aerc-binds(5) for more details).
Default: 1
border-char-vertical = "<char>"
border-char-horizontal = "<char>"
Set stylable characters (via the border element) for vertical and horizontal borders.
Default: " "
stylesets-dirs = <path1:path2:path3...>
The directories where the stylesets are stored. The config takes a colon-separated list of dirs. If
this is unset or if a styleset cannot be found, the following paths will be used as a fallback in
that order:
${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-~/.config}/aerc/stylesets
${XDG_DATA_HOME:-~/.local/share}/aerc/stylesets
/usr/local/share/aerc/stylesets
/usr/share/aerc/stylesets
styleset-name = <string>
The name of the styleset to be used to style the ui elements. The stylesets are stored in the
stylesets directory in the config directory.
Default: default
Have a look at aerc-stylesets(7) as to how a styleset looks like.
icon-unencrypted = <string>
The icon to display for unencrypted mails. The status indicator is only displayed if an icon is set.
icon-encrypted = <string>
The icon to display for encrypted mails.
Default: [e]
icon-signed = <string>
The icon to display for signed mails where the signature was successfully validated.
Default: [s]
icon-signed-encrypted = <string>
The icon to display for signed and encrypted mails where the signature was successfully verified. The
combined icon is only used if set, otherwise the signed and encrypted icons are displayed separately.
icon-unknown = <string>
The icon to display for signed mails which could not be verified due to the key being unknown.
Default: [s?]
icon-invalid = <string>
The icon to display for signed mails where verification failed.
Default: [s!]
icon-attachment = <string>
The icon to display in column-flags when the message has an attachment.
Default: a
icon-new = <string>
The icon to display in column-flags when the message is unread and new.
Default: N
icon-old = <string>
The icon to display in column-flags when the message is unread and old.
Default: O
icon-replied = <string>
The icon to display in column-flags when the message has been replied to.
Default: r
icon-flagged = <string>
The icon to display in column-flags when the message is flagged.
Default: !
icon-marked = <string>
The icon to display in column-flags when the message is marked.
Default: *
icon-draft = <string>
The icon to display in column-flags when the message is a draft.
Default: d
icon-deleted = <string>
The icon to display in column-flags when the message has been deleted.
Default: X
fuzzy-complete = true|false
When typing a command or option, the popover will now show not only the items /starting/ with the
string input by the user, but it will also show instances of items /containing/ the string, starting
at any position and need not be consecutive characters in the command or option.
reverse-msglist-order = true|false
Reverses the order of the message list. By default, the message list is ordered with the newest
(highest UID) message on top. Reversing the order will put the oldest (lowest UID) message on top.
This can be useful in cases where the backend does not support sorting.
Default: false
reverse-thread-order = true|false
Reverse display of the message threads. By default, the thread root is displayed at the top of the
tree with all replies below. The reverse option will put the thread root at the bottom with replies
on top.
Default: false
sort-thread-siblings = true|false
Sort the thread siblings according to the sort criteria for the messages. If sort-thread-siblings is
false, the thread siblings will be sorted based on the message UID. This option is only applicable
for client-side threading with a backend that enables sorting.
Default: false
threading-enabled = true|false
Enable a threaded view of messages. If this is not supported by the backend (IMAP server or notmuch),
threads will be built by the client.
Default: false
force-client-threads = true|false
Force threads to be built client-side. Backends that don't support threading will always build
threads client side.
Default: false
client-threads-delay = <duration>
Delay of inactivity after which the client threads are rebuilt. Setting this to 0s may introduce a
noticeable lag when scrolling through the message list.
Default: 50ms
show-thread-context = true|false
Enable showing of thread context. Note: this is not supported by all backends.
Default: false
THREAD PREFIX CUSTOMIZATION
You can fully customize the thread arrows appearance, which is defined by the following configurable
prefix parts:
thread-prefix-tip = <string>
Define the arrow head.
Default: ">"
thread-prefix-indent = <string>
Define the arrow indentation.
Default: " "
thread-prefix-stem = <string>
Define the vertical extension of the arrow.
Default: "│"
thread-prefix-limb = <string>
Define the horizontal extension of the arrow.
Default: ""
thread-prefix-folded = <string>
Define the folded thread indicator.
Default: ""
thread-prefix-unfolded = <string>
Define the unfolded thread indicator.
Default: ""
thread-prefix-first-child = <string>
Define the first child connector.
Default: ""
thread-prefix-has-siblings = <string>
Define the connector used if the message has siblings.
Default: ├─
thread-prefix-lone = <string>
Define the connector used if the message has no parents and no children.
Default: ""
thread-prefix-orphan = <string>
Define the connector used if the message has no parents and has children.
Default: ""
thread-prefix-last-sibling = <string>
Define the connector for the last sibling.
Default: └─
thread-prefix-last-sibling-reverse = <string>
Define the connector for the last sibling in reversed threads.
Default: ┌─
thread-prefix-first-child-reverse = <string>
Define the arrow appearance by selecting the first child connector in reversed threads.
Default: ""
thread-prefix-orphan-reverse = <string>
Customize the reversed threads arrow appearance by selecting the connector used if the message has no
parents and has children.
Default: ""
Default settings (mutt-style):
[PATCH aerc v5] ui: allow thread arrow customisation
├─>[aerc/patches] build success
├─>Re: [PATCH aerc v5] ui: allow thread arrow customisation
├─
└─>
├─>
│ ├─>
│ └─>
│ └─>
└─>
More compact, rounded threads that are also fold-aware:
┌[PATCH aerc v5] ui: allow thread arrow customisation
├─[aerc/patches] build success
├─Re: [PATCH aerc v5] ui: allow thread arrow customisation
├+
╰┬
├┬
│├─
│╰┬
│ ╰─
╰─
thread-prefix-tip = ""
thread-prefix-indent = ""
thread-prefix-stem = "│"
thread-prefix-limb = "─"
thread-prefix-folded = "+"
thread-prefix-unfolded = ""
thread-prefix-first-child = "┬"
thread-prefix-has-siblings = "├"
thread-prefix-orphan = "┌"
thread-prefix-lone = " "
thread-prefix-last-sibling = "╰"
CONTEXTUAL UI CONFIGURATION
The UI configuration can be specialized for accounts, specific mail directories and message subjects. The
specializations are added using contextual config sections based on the context.
The contextual UI configuration is merged to the base UiConfig in the following order: Base UIConfig >
Account Context > Folder Context.
[ui:account=AccountName]
Adds account specific configuration with the account name.
[ui:folder=FolderName]
Add folder specific configuration with the folder name.
[ui:folder~Regex]
Add folder specific configuration for folders whose names match the regular expression.
Example:
[ui:account=Work]
sidebar-width=...
[ui:folder=Sent]
index-format=...
[ui:folder~Archive/d+/.*]
index-format=...
STATUSLINE
These options are configured in the [statusline] section of aerc.conf.
status-columns = <column1,column2,column3...>
Describes the format for the statusline. This is a comma separated list of column names with an
optional align and width suffix. See [ui].index-columns for more details.
To completely mute the statusline (except for push notifications), explicitly set status-columns to
an empty string:
status-columns=
Default: left<*,center>=,right>*
column-separator = "<separator>"
String separator inserted between columns. See [ui].column-separator for more details.
Default: " "
column-<name> = <go template>
Each name in status-columns must have a corresponding column-<name> setting. All column-<name>
settings accept golang text/template syntax.
By default, these columns are defined:
column-left = [{{.Account}}] {{.StatusInfo}}
column-center = {{.PendingKeys}}
column-right = {{.TrayInfo}}
See aerc-templates(7) for all available symbols and functions.
separator = "<string>"
Specifies the separator between grouped statusline elements (e.g. for the {{.ContentInfo}},
{{.TrayInfo}} and {{.StatusInfo}} in column-<name>).
Default: " | "
display-mode = text|icon
Defines the mode for displaying the status elements.
Default: text
VIEWER
These options are configured in the [viewer] section of aerc.conf.
pager = <command>
Specifies the pager to use when displaying emails. Note that some filters may add ANSI escape
sequences to add color to rendered emails, so you may want to use a pager which supports ANSI.
Default: less -Rc
alternatives = <mime,types>
If an email offers several versions (multipart), you can configure which mimetype to prefer. For
example, this can be used to prefer plaintext over HTML emails.
Default: text/plain,text/html
header-layout = <header|layout,list...>
Defines the default headers to display when viewing a message. To display multiple headers in the
same row, separate them with a pipe, e.g. From|To. Rows will be hidden if none of their specified
headers are present in the message.
Notmuch tags can be displayed by adding Labels.
Authentication information from the Authentication-Results header can be displayed by adding DKIM,
SPF or DMARC. To show more information than just the authentication result, append a plus sign (+) to
the header name (e.g. DKIM+).
Default: From|To,Cc|Bcc,Date,Subject
show-headers = true|false
Default setting to determine whether to show full headers or only parsed ones in message viewer.
Default: false
always-show-mime = true|false
Whether to always show the mimetype of an email, even when it is just a single part.
Default: false
max-mime-height = height
Define the maximum height of the mimetype switcher before a scrollbar is used. The height of the
mimetype switcher is restricted to half of the display height. If the provided value for the height
is zero, the number of parts will be used as the height of the type switcher.
Default: 0
parse-http-links = true|false
Parses and extracts http links when viewing a message. Links can then be accessed with the open-link
command.
Default: true
COMPOSE
These options are configured in the [compose] section of aerc.conf.
editor = <command>
Specifies the command to run the editor with. It will be shown in an embedded terminal, though it may
also launch a graphical window if the environment supports it.
The following variables are defined in the editor's environment:
AERC_ACCOUNT
the name of the current account
AERC_ADDRESS_BOOK_CMD
the address-book-cmd specified for the current account in accounts.conf
Defaults to $EDITOR, or vi(1).
header-layout = <header|layout,list...>
Defines the default headers to display when composing a message. To display multiple headers in the
same row, separate them with a pipe, e.g. To|From.
Default: To|From,Subject
edit-headers = true|false
Edit headers directly into the text editor instead of having separate UI text inputs.
When this is set to true, the :cc, :bcc and :header commands do not work, editing email headers are
left to the text editor. address-book-cmd is not supported and address completion is left to the
editor itself. header-layout is ignored.
Default: false
address-book-cmd = <command>
Specifies the command to be used to tab-complete email addresses. Any occurrence of %s in the
address-book-cmd will be replaced with anything the user has typed after the last comma.
The command must output the completions to standard output, one completion per line. Each line must
be tab-delimited, with an email address occurring as the first field. Only the email address field is
required. The second field, if present, will be treated as the contact name. Additional fields are
ignored.
This parameter can also be set per account in accounts.conf.
Example with carddav-query(1):
address-book-cmd = carddav-query %s
Example with khard(1):
address-book-cmd = khard email --remove-first-line --parsable %s
file-picker-cmd = <command>
Specifies the command to be used to select attachments. Any occurrence of %s in the file-picker-cmd
will be replaced with the argument <arg> to :attach -m <arg>. Any occurence of %f will be replaced by
the location of a temporary file, from which aerc will read the selected files.
If %f is not present, the command must output the selected files to standard output, one file per
line. If it is present, then aerc does not capture the standard output and instead reads the files
from the temporary file which should have the same format.
Examples:
file-picker-cmd = fzf --multi --query=%s file-picker-cmd = ranger --choose-files=%f
reply-to-self = true|false
If set to false, do not mail yourself when replying (e.g., if replying to emails previously sent by
yourself, address your replies to the original To and Cc).
Default: true
empty-subject-warning = true|false
Warn before sending an email with an empty subject.
Default: false
no-attachment-warning = <regexp>
Specifies a regular expression against which an email's body should be tested before sending an email
with no attachment. If the regexp matches, aerc will warn you before sending the message. Leave empty
to disable this feature.
Uses Go's regexp syntax, documented at https://golang.org/s/re2syntax. The (?im) flags are set by
default (case-insensitive and multi-line).
Example:
no-attachment-warning = ^[^>]*attach(ed|ment)
format-flowed = true|false
When set, aerc will generate Format=Flowed bodies with a content type of "text/plain; Format=Flowed"
as described in RFC3676. This format is easier to handle for some mailing software, and generally
just looks like ordinary text. To actually make use of this format's features, you'll need support in
your editor.
Default: false
lf-editor = true|false
By default, aerc will use RFC2822 standard \r\n (CRLF) line breaks when composing messages. Use this
option for text editors that only support non-standard \n (LF) line breaks.
Default: false
MULTIPART CONVERTERS
Converters allow generating multipart/alternative messages by converting the main text/plain body into
any other text MIME type with the :multipart command. Only exact MIME types are accepted. The commands
are invoked with sh -c and are expected to output valid UTF-8 text.
Only text/<subtype> MIME parts can be generated. The text/plain MIME type is reserved and cannot be
generated. You still need to write your emails by hand in your favorite text editor.
Converters are configured in the [multipart-converters] section of aerc.conf.
Example:
[multipart-converters]
text/html=pandoc -f markdown -t html --standalone
Obviously, this requires that you write your main text/plain body using the markdown syntax. Also, mind
that some mailing lists reject emails that contain text/html alternative parts. Use this feature
carefully and when possible, avoid using it at all.
FILTERS
Filters are a flexible and powerful way of handling viewing parts of an opened message. When viewing
messages aerc will show the list of available message parts and their MIME type at the bottom, but unless
a filter is defined for a specific MIME type, it will only show a menu with a few options (allowing you
to open the part in an external program, save it to disk or pipe it to a shell command). Configuring a
filter will allow viewing the output of the filter in the configured pager in aerc's built-in terminal.
Filters are configured in the [filters] section of aerc.conf. The first filter which matches the part's
MIME type will be used, so order them from most to least specific. You can also match on non-MIME types,
by prefixing with the header to match against (non-case-sensitive) and a comma, e.g. subject,text will
match a subject which contains text. Use header,~regex to match against a regex.
Note that aerc will pipe the content into the configured filter program, so filters need to be able to
read from standard input. Many programs support reading from stdin by putting - instead of a path to a
file. You can also chain together multiple filters by piping with |.
aerc ships with some default filters installed in the libexec directory (usually
/usr/libexec/aerc/filters). Note that these may have additional dependencies that aerc does not have
alone.
The filter commands are invoked with sh -c command. The following folders are prepended to the system
$PATH to allow referencing filters from their name only.
${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-~/.config}/aerc/filters
~/.local/libexec/aerc/filters
${XDG_DATA_HOME:-~/.local/share}/aerc/filters
$PREFIX/libexec/aerc/filters
$PREFIX/share/aerc/filters
/usr/libexec/aerc/filters
/usr/share/aerc/filters
If you want to run a program in your default $PATH which has the same name as a builtin filter (e.g.
/usr/bin/colorize), use its absolute path.
The following variables are defined in the filter command environment:
AERC_MIME_TYPE
the part MIME type/subtype
AERC_FORMAT
the part content type format= parameter (e.g. format=flowed)
AERC_FILENAME
the attachment filename (if any)
AERC_SUBJECT
the message Subject header value
AERC_FROM
the message From header value
Note that said email body is converted into UTF-8 before being passed to filters.
If show-headers is enabled, only the currently viewed part body is piped into the filter command. A
special .headers filter command can be defined to post process the full headers.
EXAMPLES
text/plain
Color some things, e.g. quotes, git diffs, links, etc.:
text/plain=colorize
The built-in colorize filter can be configured in the [viewer] section of styleset files. See aerc-
stylesets(7).
Wrap long lines at 100 characters, while not messing up nested quotes. Handles format=flowed emails
properly:
text/plain=wrap -w 100 | colorize
from,<sender>
Another example of hard wrapping lines of emails sent by a specific person. Explicitly reflow all
paragraphs instead of only wrapping long lines. This may break manual formatting in some messages:
from,thatguywhoneverhardwrapshismessages=wrap -r -w 72 | colorize
subject,~<regexp>
Use rainbow coloring with lolcat(1) for emails sent by software forges:
subject,~Git(hub|lab)=lolcat -f
text/html
Render html to a more human readable version and colorize:
text/html=html | colorize
Use pandoc to output plain text:
text/html=pandoc -f html -t plain
text/calendar
Parse calendar invites:
text/calendar=calendar
text/*
Catch any other type of text that did not have a specific filter and use bat(1) to color these:
text/*=bat -fP --file-name="$AERC_FILENAME" --style=plain
.headers
Colorize email headers when show-headers is true.
.headers=colorize
message/delivery-status
When not being able to deliver the provider might send such emails:
message/delivery-status=colorize
message/rfc822
When getting emails as attachments, e.g. on some mailing lists digest format is sending an email with
all the digest emails as attachments. Requires caeml(1) to be on PATH:
message/rfc822=caeml | colorize
https://github.com/ferdinandyb/caeml
application/mbox
Emails as attachments in the mbox format. For example aerc can also create an mbox from messages with
the :pipe command. Requires catbox(1) and caeml(1) to be on PATH:
application/mbox=catbox -c caeml | colorize
https://github.com/konimarti/catbox
application/pdf
Render pdf to text and rewrap at 100 character width. Requires pdftotext(1) to be on PATH:
application/pdf=pdftotext - -l 10 -nopgbrk -q - | fmt -w 100
https://www.xpdfreader.com/pdftotext-man.html
image/*
This is a tricky topic. It's possible to display images in a terminal, but for high resolution images
the terminal you are using either needs to support sixels or the kitty terminal graphics protocol.
Unfortunately, aerc's built-in terminal supports neither, so only highly pixelated images can be
shown natively. A workaround is possible by asking the terminal to draw on top of aerc and then
remove the image when done viewing.
The built-in terminal can show pixelated images with catimg(1):
image/*=catimg -w$(tput cols) -
See the wiki at https://man.sr.ht/~rjarry/aerc/ for more examples and possible customizations of the
built-in filters.
OPENERS
Openers allow you to specify the command to use for the :open and :open-link actions on a per-MIME-type
basis. The :open-link URL scheme is used to determine the MIME type as follows: x-scheme-
handler/<scheme>. They are configured in the [openers] section of aerc.conf.
{} is expanded as the temporary filename or URL to be opened with proper shell quoting. If it is not
encountered in the command, the filename/URL will be appended to the end of the command. The command will
then be executed with sh -c.
Like [filters], openers support basic shell globbing. The first opener which matches the part's MIME type
(or URL scheme handler MIME type) will be used, so order them from most to least specific.
Example:
[openers]
x-scheme-handler/irc=hexchat
x-scheme-handler/http*=printf '%s' {} | wl-copy
text/html=surf -dfgms
text/plain=gvim {} +125
message/rfc822=thunderbird
HOOKS
Hooks are triggered whenever the associated event occurs. The commands are run in a shell environment
with information added to environment variables.
They are configured in the [hooks] section of aerc.conf.
aerc-startup = <command>
Executed when aerc is started is received in the selected folder. If it is used to run certain
commands at startup. The hook is executed as soon as the UI is initialized and does not wait for all
accounts to be fully loaded.
Variables:
• AERC_VERSION
• AERC_BINARY
Example:
aerc-startup = aerc :terminal calcurse && aerc :next-tab
mail-received = <command>
Executed when new mail is received in the selected folder. This will only work reliably with maildir
and some imap servers.
Variables:
• AERC_ACCOUNT
• AERC_FOLDER
• AERC_FROM_NAME
• AERC_FROM_ADDRESS
• AERC_SUBJECT
Example:
mail-received = notify-send "[$AERC_ACCOUNT/$AERC_FOLDER] New mail from $AERC_FROM_NAME"
"$AERC_SUBJECT"
mail-deleted = <command>
Executed when a message is deleted from a folder. Note that this hook is triggered when moving a
message from one folder to another.
Variables:
• AERC_ACCOUNT
• AERC_FOLDER
Example:
mail-deleted = mbsync "$AERC_ACCOUNT:$AERC_FOLDER"
mail-added = <command>
Executed when a message is added to a folder. Note that this hook is not triggered when a new message
is received (use mail-received for that) but rather is only triggered when aerc itself adds a message
to a folder, e.g. when moving or copying a message.
Variables:
• AERC_ACCOUNT
• AERC_FOLDER
Example:
mail-added = mbsync "$AERC_ACCOUNT:$AERC_FOLDER"
mail-sent = <command>
Executed when a message is sent. This does not necessarily signify successful posting, if a queueing
system like msmtpq is used.
Variables:
• AERC_ACCOUNT
• AERC_FROM_NAME
• AERC_FROM_ADDRESS
• AERC_SUBJECT
• AERC_TO
• AERC_CC
Example:
mail-sent = if [ "$AERC_ACCOUNT" = "gmail" ]; then mbsync gmail; fi
aerc-shutdown = <command>
Executed when aerc shuts down. Aerc will wait for the command to finish before exiting.
Variables:
• AERC_LIFETIME
TEMPLATES
Template files are used to populate the body of an email. The :compose, :reply and :forward commands can
be called with the -T flag with the name of the template name. The available symbols and functions are
described in aerc-templates(7).
aerc ships with some default templates installed in the share directory (usually
/usr/share/aerc/templates).
These options are configured in the [templates] section of aerc.conf.
template-dirs = <path1:path2:path3...>
The directory where the templates are stored. The config takes a colon-separated list of dirs. If
this is unset or if a template cannot be found, the following paths will be used as a fallback in
that order:
${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-~/.config}/aerc/templates
${XDG_DATA_HOME:-~/.local/share}/aerc/templates
/usr/local/share/aerc/templates
/usr/share/aerc/templates
new-message = <template_name>
The default template to be used for new messages.
Default: new_message
quoted-reply = <template_name>
The default template to be used for quoted replies.
Default: quoted_reply
forwards = <template_name>
The default template to be used for forward as body.
Default: forward_as_body
SEE ALSO
aerc(1) aerc-accounts(5) aerc-binds(5) aerc-imap(5) aerc-jmap(5) aerc-maildir(5) aerc-notmuch(5) aerc-
templates(7) aerc-sendmail(5) aerc-smtp(5) aerc-stylesets(7) carddav-query(1)
AUTHORS
Originally created by Drew DeVault and maintained by Robin Jarry who is assisted by other open source
contributors. For more information about aerc development, see https://sr.ht/~rjarry/aerc/.
2025-06-19 AERC-CONFIG(5)