Hi everyone,
I’m working on Unkai (雲海, Japanese for “sea of clouds”) – an open-source desktop mail client built from the ground up for people who want to keep control of their own data and have it play nicely with Nextcloud. Developed in Germany.
What it’s about
Most mail clients are either heavyweight, packed with cloud hooks you didn’t ask for, or now push AI features to the front that nobody requested and is unable to opt-out. Unkai goes the other way:
- Privacy by default – no telemetry, no tracking, no hidden “phone-home” calls.
- No AI as default – if at all, then optional and transparent, never forced on you.
- Nextcloud integration – clean interplay with your existing Nextcloud instance: contacts (CardDAV) / calendar (CalDAV) / NC-Files / NC-Office / NC-Talk / NC-Tasks / NC-Notes.
- Open source (GPL-3.0) – the source is open, self-compilable, no lock-in.
- Built in the EU – grounded in European open-source values: openness, privacy, no ads.
Status
Unkai is in an early alpha but stable enough to be tested. A lot is in place, some of it is still rough – which is exactly why I’m now looking for a few people to try it out and give honest feedback.
Supported platforms: Windows / Linux / macOS.
What I’m looking for
- People who’ll test it in real, everyday use with their own accounts and their own Nextcloud.
- Bug reports, setup snags, missing features.
- Honest opinions – even “this is annoying” helps more than a polite “nice”.
Try it
GitHub - firn-labs/unkai-mail: Modern mail client written in Rust · GitHub
Anyone who wants to take a look, join the discussion, or contribute is very welcome. Questions and feedback go straight into the comments here or the issue tracker.
Thanks for reading – I appreciate every bit of feedback. 