Mailcow

Reading Emails

List all email UIDs

docker exec mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1 doveadm search -u [email protected] ALL

List recent emails (since date)

docker exec mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1 doveadm search -u [email protected] SINCE 17-Feb-2026

Get email headers (subject, from, date)

docker exec mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1 doveadm fetch -u [email protected] "hdr" mailbox INBOX uid UID 2>/dev/null | grep -iE "^(Subject|From|Date):"

Get email body (decoded)

docker exec mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1 doveadm fetch -u [email protected] "body" mailbox INBOX uid UID 2>/dev/null | python3 -c "
import sys, quopri, re
data = sys.stdin.read()
decoded = quopri.decodestring(data.encode()).decode('utf-8', errors='replace')
print(decoded)
"

Extract links from an email

docker exec mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1 doveadm fetch -u [email protected] "body" mailbox INBOX uid UID 2>/dev/null | python3 -c "
import sys, quopri, re
data = sys.stdin.read()
decoded = quopri.decodestring(data.encode()).decode('utf-8', errors='replace')
links = re.findall(r'href=\"(https?://[^\"]+)\"', decoded)
for l in links:
    print(l)
"

List all subjects quickly

for uid in \$(docker exec mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1 doveadm search -u [email protected] ALL 2>/dev/null | awk '{print \$2}'); do
  subj=\$(docker exec mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1 doveadm fetch -u [email protected] "hdr" mailbox INBOX uid \$uid 2>/dev/null | grep -i "^Subject:" | head -1)
  from=\$(docker exec mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1 doveadm fetch -u [email protected] "hdr" mailbox INBOX uid \$uid 2>/dev/null | grep -i "^From:" | head -1)
  echo "UID \$uid: \$subj | \$from"
done

Check other folders (Junk, Sent, Trash)

docker exec mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1 doveadm mailbox list -u [email protected]
docker exec mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1 doveadm search -u [email protected] mailbox Junk ALL

Delivery Logs

Check if an email was received/rejected

docker logs mailcowdockerized-postfix-mailcow-1 --tail 100 2>&1 | grep -i "[email protected]"

Check for greylisting issues

docker logs mailcowdockerized-postfix-mailcow-1 --tail 200 2>&1 | grep -i "greylist"

Greylisting

Greylisting config: /etc/rspamd/local.d/greylist.conf inside the rspamd container.

Check current config

docker exec mailcowdockerized-rspamd-mailcow-1 cat /etc/rspamd/local.d/greylist.conf

Disable greylisting (if emails aren't arriving)

docker exec mailcowdockerized-rspamd-mailcow-1 sh -c 'echo "enabled = false;" > /etc/rspamd/local.d/greylist.conf'
cd /opt/services/mailcow && docker compose restart rspamd-mailcow

Re-enable greylisting

docker exec mailcowdockerized-rspamd-mailcow-1 sh -c 'cat > /etc/rspamd/local.d/greylist.conf << EOF
whitelisted_ip = "http://nginx:8081/forwardinghosts.php";
ipv4_mask = 24;
ipv6_mask = 64;
message = "Greylisted, please try again later";
EOF'
cd /opt/services/mailcow && docker compose restart rspamd-mailcow

Important Notes

• NEVER curl verification/auth links — just display them for the user to click
• Emails are encrypted at rest in Dovecot, raw maildir files are unreadable
• Use doveadm fetch with "body" or "hdr" fields, decoded via quopri
• Mailcow containers: mailcowdockerized-{service}-1 (postfix, dovecot, rspamd, etc.)
• Container management: cd /opt/services/mailcow && docker compose restart {service}-mailcow