BearerMail docs

BearerMail

A complete self-hosted mail system: your own mail server for your own domain, a full webmail client, and a native Android app — all running on hardware you control.

BearerMail starts from plMail by karatektus — an excellent self-hosted mail client — and adds the missing half: a real mail server (Postfix + Dovecot + OpenDKIM) that sends and receives internet mail for your domain, plus a Drive with share links, on-the-spot aliases, and a companion Android app. One compose stack, one domain, zero third-party mail providers required.

What's in the box

PartWhat it doesRepo
WebmailplMail with BearerMail additions: Drive, share links, aliases, mail-server adminpl_mail_bearermail
Mail serverPostfix (SMTP) + Dovecot (IMAP) + OpenDKIM, as compose services in the same stackpl_mail_bearermail docker/mail
Android appNative client with Drive, aliases, verification-code copy, app lock, auto-updatespl_mail_android_bearermail

How the pieces fit

internet --port 25--> mta (Postfix) --LMTP--> mailstore (Dovecot)
webmail  --IMAP------> mailstore        (reading, like any account)
webmail  --SMTP 587--> mta             (sending, DKIM-signed)
android  --JMAP------> webmail         (mail, calendar, Drive, aliases)
android  --IMAP 993--> mailstore       (optional direct access)

Mail lands in Dovecot; the webmail syncs it over IMAP like any other account — so threads, full-text search, filters and push all work on your domain mail with no special casing. Outbound mail is DKIM-signed by your own server, delivered directly or through a relay like Mailjet.

What BearerMail adds over upstream plMail

  • Built-in mail server new — Postfix + Dovecot + OpenDKIM as docker compose --profile mail services. Your domain sends and receives directly.
  • Drive new — personal file storage with folders, share links (password + expiry), and deep links into mail and calendar.
  • On-the-spot aliases new — create a working alias in one tap, from the web or the app.
  • SMTP relay UI new — point outbound mail at Mailjet (or any relay) from Admin → Mail server, no shell needed.
  • Dynamic DNS new — Cloudflare updater keeps your mail hostname on your home IP.
  • Android app new — native client with Drive, alias creation, plan detection, verification-code copy, PIN lock and self-updates.

Everything upstream plMail does — Gmail/Outlook/IMAP accounts, calendar, filters, themes — still works. For those features, the upstream handbook remains the reference.

Fair credit

BearerMail is a fork. The webmail is karatektus's plMail and the Android app is karatektus's pl_mail_android, both AGPL-3.0. All credit for the base goes upstream; what's documented here is what the fork adds and how the pieces are run together.