An end-to-end signup test stalls at the point where a human has to open an email and click a link. Asking for a message in `links` format returns the URLs on their own, so the agent can carry on without anyone opening a mail client. Two limits worth knowing up front: wildcard inbox searches (`test*`) are private-domain only and need a token, and inbox names are capped at 50 characters of alphanumerics and dots.
A Mailinator client that runs either as a command-line tool or as an MCP server. It lists what has arrived in a disposable inbox and fetches individual messages in whichever shape you need — plain text, HTML, headers, the link list, or the SMTP delivery log.
- `list_inbox` returns the messages in an inbox, taking an `inbox_name` and an optional `domain`
- `get_email` fetches one message by ID, with a `format` argument covering `summary`, `text`, `textplain`, `texthtml`, `full`, `raw`, `headers`, `smtplog`, `links` and `linksfull`
- Read-only resources at `mailinator://inbox/{domain}/{inbox_name}` and `mailinator://email/{domain}/{message_id}` for passive context
- `links` returns the URLs found in a message as a numbered list — the fast path to a verification link
- An inbox cache at `~/.config/mailinator/inbox-cache.json` lets you refer to messages by their listing number and auto-detects the domain
- A health endpoint at `GET http://127.0.0.1:8080/health` when running in server mode
Node.js >= 18.0.0 and an internet connection. Published on npm as mailinator-cli version 1.0.1, installed globally or run with `npx mailinator-cli`. The `public` domain needs no credentials at all; private domains, wildcard searches and SMTP logs need a Mailinator API token supplied as `MAILINATOR_API_KEY` or in `~/.config/mailinator/config.json`. Server mode starts with `--start-mcp-server` and listens on 127.0.0.1 port 8080 by default, with `--host` and `--port` to change that; the MCP endpoint is `POST http://127.0.0.1:8080/mcp`.
One command — npm install -g mailinator-cli