126 Mail Cleanup#

A step-by-step assistant for cleaning up, backing up, and optimizing your NetEase 126.com email account via IMAP. Designed to help reclaim cloud storage, reduce clutter, and create a reliable local archive.

Why Use This Skill#

• Local backup: Download all emails and attachments to your machine — you own your data, not the cloud
• Cloud storage savings: 126 free accounts have limited space (typically 3-5GB); stripping large attachments can reclaim gigabytes, avoiding the need to pay for premium storage
• Inbox hygiene: Bulk-delete years of accumulated ads, subscriptions, and platform notifications while preserving important personal emails
• Safety first: Every destructive operation has a preview, confirmation, and backup step — nothing is permanently deleted without your approval

Commands#

CommandDescription/126mail setupConfigure IMAP credentials and verify connection/126mail backupDownload emails to local storage (supports resume)/126mail classifyScan and classify all emails by sender domain/126mail cleanupInteractively bulk-delete ads/subscriptions/126mail stripDownload large attachments locally, then replace originals with lightweight stubs on server/126mail statusShow current mailbox stats and cleanup progress

Setup — Step by Step#

Step 1: Enable IMAP Access on 126.com#

1. Log in to https://mail.126.com in a browser
2. Go to Settings (设置) > POP3/SMTP/IMAP
3. Enable IMAP/SMTP Service
4. Generate an Authorization Code (授权码) — this is NOT your login password
5. Save this code securely

Step 2: Configure the Skill#

Provide your credentials when prompted:

text

MAIL126_ADDRESS=your_email@126.com
MAIL126_AUTH_CODE=your_authorization_code

Step 3: Verify Connection#

Run /126mail setup to test the IMAP connection. The skill will:

• Connect to imap.126.com:993 (SSL)
• Send the required ID command (126 rejects clients without it)
• List all folders with email counts and total sizes

IMAP API Reference#

126.com IMAP has several quirks. This skill handles them automatically, but here is the reference for transparency:

Connection Requirements#

ItemValueServerimap.126.comPort993 (SSL)AuthLOGIN with authorization code (not password)ID Command****REQUIRED — must send ID ("name" "IMAPClient" "version" "1.0.0" ...) after login, or server rejects operations

Folder Name Encoding (Modified UTF-7)#

Chinese folder names are encoded. Common mappings:

Display NameIMAP Name已发送 (Sent)&XfJT0ZAB-草稿箱 (Drafts)&g0l6P3ux-已删除 (Trash)&XfJSIJZk-垃圾邮件 (Spam)&V4NXPpCuTvY-

Rate Limits#

OperationLimitFETCH (download)4GB per session before throttlingSEARCH, SIZE queriesUnlimitedUID SEARCH ALL3 secondsUID SEARCH FROM35 seconds per queryUID COPY0.25 sec/email, optimal batch = 50

Critical Rule: Always Use UID, Never Sequence Numbers#

This is the most important lesson. IMAP sequence numbers shift after any deletion. If you delete email #5, then email #6 becomes #5, #7 becomes #6, etc. Using sequence numbers after deletions WILL operate on wrong emails. Always use UID FETCH, UID STORE, UID COPY, UID SEARCH.

Phase 1: Local Backup ( /126mail backup)#

What It Does#

• Downloads all emails (including attachments) from all folders
• Saves each email as message.eml with a _meta.json sidecar
• Organized as: backup_dir/folder_name/UID_subject/
• Supports resume on interruption — tracks progress in _download_progress.json

Batch Strategy#

• Downloads in batches of 500 emails or 4GB (whichever comes first)
• Pauses between batches to avoid hitting 126's rate limit
• Reconnects every 20 emails to prevent timeout
• Socket timeout set to 300 seconds for large attachments

Key Decisions for User#

DecisionOptionsRecommendationWhich folders to back upAll / INBOX only / CustomStart with INBOX + SentInclude attachmentsYes / Skip large onesYes (they're your data)Batch size100-500 emails500 (maximize before rate limit)

Phase 2: Email Classification ( /126mail classify)#

What It Does#

1. Fetches metadata (subject, from, to, date, size) for ALL emails via IMAP — no content download needed
2. Groups emails by sender domain
3. Classifies into categories:
   • Platform/Ads: LinkedIn, Amazon, PayPal, JD, Taobao, etc.
   • Financial Notifications: Banks, brokers, payment services
   • Services: Cloud, SaaS, travel booking
   • Personal: Individual senders, known contacts
4. Outputs all_emails_meta.json (full index) and email_classification.json

Metadata-First Approach#

• SEARCH and ENVELOPE operations are NOT rate-limited on 126
• Can index 40,000+ emails in minutes
• UID is tagged on every record for later operations

Key Decisions for User#

DecisionOptionsRecommendationClassification strictnessAggressive / ConservativeConservative — review before deleteTime cutoff for deletionAll time / Before 2025 / CustomBefore current year (keep recent)Domain whitelistAuto / Manual reviewAlways manually review KEEP list

Phase 3: Bulk Cleanup ( /126mail cleanup)#

What It Does#

1. Shows classified email counts by category
2. User reviews and approves DELETE_DOMAINS list and KEEP_DOMAINS list
3. Safety net: Copies target emails to a staging folder (e.g., "广告邮件") BEFORE deleting from INBOX
4. Deletes from INBOX via UID STORE +FLAGS \Deleted + EXPUNGE
5. Random-sample verification (10 emails spot-checked)

The Safe Deletion Flow#

text

INBOX emails  ──UID COPY──>  广告邮件夹 (staging copy)
     │
     └── UID STORE \Deleted + EXPUNGE (remove from INBOX)

User verifies in web client...

广告邮件夹  ──permanent delete──>  Gone (only after user confirms)

Key Decisions for User#

DecisionOptionsRecommendationDeletion scopeBy domain / By category / By dateBy domain — most preciseStaging folderCreate new / Use existingCreate "广告邮件" for reviewWhen to purge stagingImmediately / After 7 days / ManualManual — check in web client firstVerification sample size5 / 10 / 2010 random emails

Common DELETE_DOMAINS Reference#

text

linkedin.com, crunchbase.com, amazon.com, jd.com,
service.taobao.com, airbnb.com, booking.com, uber.com,
ctrip.com, trip.com, godaddy.com, coursera.org,
service.netease.com, insideapple.apple.com,
accounts.google.com, intl.paypal.com, citibank.com,
mail.meituan.com, sf-express.com, ...

Common KEEP_DOMAINS Reference#

text

svb.com, gusto.com, berkeley.edu, alibaba-inc.com,
live.com, 139.com, pku.edu.cn, ...

Always let the user review and customize these lists based on their own email history.

Phase 4: Large Attachment Stripping ( /126mail strip)#

What It Does (Two-Phase Safety Process)#

Phase A — Download Only (read-only, no server changes)

1. Search all folders for emails > threshold (default 50MB)
2. Download each email's attachments to local backup
3. Save metadata ( _meta.json) for each
4. Track progress in _progress.json
5. Reconnect every 5 emails to avoid timeout

Phase B — Strip and Replace (destructive, requires explicit confirmation)

1. For each downloaded email:
   • Fetch the full message with FLAGS and INTERNALDATE
   • Remove attachment parts from the MIME structure
   • Append a notice: [附件已移除 - 已备份到本地] with file list and original size
   • Upload the lightweight replacement (preserving original flags and date)
   • Delete the original heavy email
2. Track progress — resumable if interrupted

Storage Savings Example#

BeforeAfterSaved70 emails @ 50-200MB each70 emails @ 5-50KB each~3.4GB

Key Decisions for User#

DecisionOptionsRecommendationSize threshold10MB / 20MB / 50MB / 100MB50MB (best ROI)Which foldersAll / INBOX onlyAll foldersVerify downloads before strippingYes / SkipAlways Yes — Phase B is destructive

Error Handling#

ErrorCauseResolutionLOGIN failedWrong auth code or IMAP not enabledRe-generate authorization code at 126 settingsID command rejectedMissing ID command after loginSkill sends ID automatically — report if this occursFETCH timeoutRate limit hit (~4GB)Save progress, wait 1-2 hours, resumeBAD commandFolder name encoding wrongSkill uses correct Modified UTF-7Sequence number mismatchUsed sequence instead of UIDSkill always uses UID operations

Progress Tracking#

All operations save progress to JSON files:

• _download_progress.json — Full backup progress
• _progress.json — Large email strip progress
• cleanup_progress.md — Human-readable summary

This means every operation is resumable. If your connection drops, rate limit hits, or you close your laptop — just run the command again and it picks up where it left off.

Recommended Workflow#

1. /126mail setup — Connect and verify
2. /126mail status — See current mailbox state
3. /126mail backup — Full local backup (run multiple times if rate-limited)
4. /126mail classify — Index and classify all emails
5. /126mail cleanup — Review and bulk-delete ads/subscriptions
6. /126mail strip — Reclaim space from large attachments
7. /126mail status — Verify results

Technical Notes#

• Python 3.6+ with imaplib and email (standard library only, no pip dependencies)
• All IMAP operations use SSL (port 993)
• Modified UTF-7 encoding handled automatically for Chinese folder names
• ID command sent on every connection to satisfy 126's requirement
• All file names sanitized to remove illegal characters
• Duplicate attachment filenames handled with suffix numbering