IMAP mailbox vs Apple Calendar

In-depth architectural comparison of the IMAP mailbox and Apple Calendar MCP servers. Compare execution transports, security boundaries, tool capabilities, quality scores, and ready-to-paste client installation snippets for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

Choose IMAP mailbox when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Developer Tools domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).

Explore IMAP mailbox Details

Choose Apple Calendar when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Developer Tools domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).

Explore Apple Calendar Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	IMAP mailbox Developer Tools	Apple Calendar Developer Tools
Summary	Read, search and organise any IMAP mailbox, with writes off by default	Search, read and act on Apple Calendar — ranges, free-time lookup, writes off by default
Category & Scope	Developer Tools	Developer Tools
Quality signal

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

Ready-to-Paste Client Configurations

Paste either (or both) of these JSON server blocks into your client config file (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "imap-mailbox": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@ni-c/imap-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apple-calendar-2": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@mgcrea/mcp-apple-mail"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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