m365-graph-mail

Lightweight, zero-dependency Microsoft Graph mail toolkit for Node.js. App-only OAuth (client_credentials), automatic retry with exponential backoff, and real-world helpers for folders, drafts, signatures and attachments.

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Why this exists

The official @microsoft/microsoft-graph-client is great if you're building a full Graph integration, but it pulls in @azure/msal-node and a handful of transitive dependencies, the API is verbose builder pattern, and getting a working app-only mail script takes a non-trivial amount of setup.

This library is the opposite trade-off: just mail, just app-only auth, just Node built-ins. No node_modules to vet, no MSAL boilerplate, no multi-step builders. Drop it into a cron, a script, a serverless function.

When to use this

• You run server-side automations on a single mailbox (or a small set of mailboxes).
• You authenticate with client_credentials (app-only, no user flow).
• You want zero dependencies in node_modules.
• You hit retry-worthy errors (429, 503) often enough that retries-as-default matter to you.

When not to use this

• You need delegated user auth, MSAL token cache, popups, refresh tokens, or multi-tenant onboarding flows. Use @azure/msal-node + @microsoft/microsoft-graph-client.
• You need calendars, OneDrive, Teams, SharePoint. Use the official SDK.

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Install

npm install m365-graph-mail

Requires Node.js 18+ (uses URLSearchParams, modern https, etc.).

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Setup (5 minutes in Azure)

You need an app registration in Azure AD with these application permissions (admin-consented):

Permission	Purpose
Mail.ReadWrite	List, read, mark, move, draft, delete messages
Mail.Send	Send drafts

Then grab from the app's overview:

• Tenant ID (Directory ID, GUID)
• Client ID (Application ID, GUID)
• Client secret value (from Certificates & secrets → New client secret)

And pick which mailbox the app operates on (e.g. automation@yourdomain.com).

Security note: application permissions grant the app access to the entire tenant's mailboxes by default. To scope it to a single mailbox, use Application Access Policy via PowerShell. Highly recommended.

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Quick start

// 1. Provide credentials via .env (gitignored)
//    TENANT_ID=...
//    CLIENT_ID=...
//    CLIENT_SECRET=...
//    MAILBOX=automation@yourdomain.com

require('m365-graph-mail').loadEnvFile('.env');

const { createClient } = require('m365-graph-mail');
const mail = createClient();

// 2. List the 10 most recent unread messages
const unread = await mail.listMessages({ unreadOnly: true, top: 10 });
console.log(`${unread.length} unread`);

// 3. Mark the first as read
if (unread.length) await mail.markRead(unread[0].id, true);

Or pass credentials directly (skipping .env):

const mail = createClient({
  tenantId: 'xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx',
  clientId: 'yyyyyyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyyyyyyyyyy',
  clientSecret: process.env.MY_SECRET,
  mailbox: 'automation@yourdomain.com',
  signatureHtml: '<p>--<br>Automated mail bot</p>',
});

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API

All methods are async unless noted.

Messages

// List
const msgs = await mail.listMessages({
  folder: 'Inbox',           // 'Inbox' | 'SentItems' | 'Drafts' | folder ID
  top: 20,
  unreadOnly: false,
  fromAddress: 'a@b.com',    // post-filter
  subjectContains: 'invoice', // post-filter
  sinceDate: '2026-01-01T00:00:00Z',
});

// Get full message
const m = await mail.getMessage(msgId);

// Mark read / unread
await mail.markRead(msgId, true);
await mail.markRead(msgId, false);

// Move
await mail.moveMessage(msgId, destinationFolderId);

// Forward
await mail.forwardMessage(msgId, ['someone@example.com'], 'FYI');

// Copy
await mail.copyMessage(msgId, destinationFolderId);

// Delete (sends to Recoverable Items, NOT Deleted Items folder)
await mail.deleteMessage(msgId);

// Categories, importance, follow-up flag
await mail.setCategories(msgId, ['Invoice', 'Q1']);
await mail.addCategories(msgId, ['Reviewed']);    // preserves existing
await mail.setImportance(msgId, 'high');
await mail.setFlag(msgId, 'flagged');             // 'notFlagged' | 'flagged' | 'complete'

Folders

// Walk a path of names, case-insensitive
const id = await mail.findFolderByPath(['Projects', 'Acme'], 'Inbox');

// Recursive listing (tree-style)
const tree = await mail.listFoldersRecursive();

// Flat map with full paths — handy as a cached lookup
const map = await mail.buildFolderMap();
// [
//   { id: '...', displayName: 'Projects', fullPath: 'Projects', depth: 0, ... },
//   { id: '...', displayName: 'Acme',     fullPath: 'Projects/Acme', depth: 1, ... },
// ]

// Substring match against displayName + fullPath
const matches = mail.findFolderFuzzy(map, 'acme');

// CRUD
const newFolder = await mail.createFolder('Archive 2026');
await mail.renameFolder(folderId, 'Archive 2026 (renamed)');
await mail.moveFolder(folderId, parentId);
await mail.deleteFolder(folderId);

// Auto-create intermediates ('mkdir -p' semantics)
const leafId = await mail.ensureFolderByPath(['Projects', '2026', 'Q1']);

Search (full-text)

// KQL-style search across the mailbox
const hits = await mail.searchMessages({ query: 'subject:invoice' });

// Restrict to a folder
const inbox = await mail.searchMessages({ query: 'budget 2026', folder: 'Inbox' });

Conversations / threading

// All messages in a thread, oldest first
const thread = await mail.listConversation(msg.conversationId);

// Group an existing message list by thread
const grouped = mail.groupByConversation(messages);
for (const [conversationId, msgs] of grouped) {
  console.log(`${conversationId}: ${msgs.length} messages`);
}

Drafts and replies

// Brand-new draft
const draft = await mail.createDraft({
  subject: 'Hello',
  bodyHtml: '<p>Hi there.</p>',
  to: ['recipient@example.com'],
  cc: ['cc@example.com'],
});

// Reply-all preserving quoted history + auto-appended signature
const { draftId } = await mail.createReplyAllDraft({
  messageId: incomingMsgId,
  newBodyHtml: '<p>Acknowledged.</p>',
});

// Update body or recipients later
await mail.updateDraftBody(draftId, '<p>Updated text.</p>');
await mail.updateDraftRecipients(draftId, { to: ['new@example.com'] });

// Send
await mail.sendDraft(draftId);

Sending in one shot (no intermediate draft)

await mail.sendMail({
  subject: 'System alert',
  bodyHtml: '<p>Disk usage at 92%.</p>',
  to: ['ops@example.com'],
  importance: 'high',
});

Inline images (CID embedding)

const fs = require('fs');
const logo = fs.readFileSync('./logo.png');

const { contentId, attachment } = mail.buildInlineImage({
  name: 'logo.png',
  contentType: 'image/png',
  data: logo,
});

await mail.sendMail({
  subject: 'Newsletter',
  bodyHtml: `<p>Hi,</p><img src="cid:${contentId}" alt="logo"/><p>...</p>`,
  to: ['recipient@example.com'],
  attachments: [attachment],
});

Attachments

// List attachments on a message
const atts = await mail.listAttachments(msgId);

// Copy file attachments from one message to a draft
const copied = await mail.copyAttachments(sourceMsgId, draftId);
console.log(`${copied} attachments copied`);

Batch operations

Up to 20 sub-requests per HTTP round trip via Graph $batch. The library auto-chunks if you pass more.

// Bulk mark-as-read
const result = await mail.markManyRead([id1, id2, id3], true);
console.log(`${result.ok} ok, ${result.failed} failed`);

// Bulk move
await mail.moveMany([id1, id2, id3], destinationFolderId);

// Raw batch (full control)
const responses = await mail.batch([
  { method: 'PATCH', url: `/me/messages/${id1}`, body: { isRead: true } },
  { method: 'POST',  url: `/me/messages/${id2}/move`, body: { destinationId: folderId } },
]);

Pagination (large mailboxes)

Graph caps responses at a few hundred items per page. Use these helpers to follow @odata.nextLink automatically.

// Eager: collect EVERY page (be careful with huge mailboxes)
const all = await mail.collectAll(
  () => mail.listMessages({ folder: 'Inbox', top: 100, includeNextLink: true }),
  { maxPages: 50 },
);

// Lazy: async iterator — short-circuit when you find what you need
for await (const msg of mail.iterate(
  () => mail.listMessages({ folder: 'Inbox', top: 100, includeNextLink: true }),
)) {
  if (msg.subject.includes('urgent')) {
    console.log('found:', msg.id);
    break;
  }
}

Low-level escape hatches

For Graph endpoints not wrapped explicitly:

const calendars = await mail.graphGet('/calendars');
const newEvent  = await mail.graphPost('/events', { subject, body, start, end });

These prefix the URL with the user mailbox path automatically.

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Configuration reference

Environment variable overrides are read by default. You can override any of them by passing them to createClient().

Variable	Required	Description
TENANT_ID	yes	Azure AD tenant (directory) ID
CLIENT_ID	yes	App registration client ID
CLIENT_SECRET	yes	App registration client secret value
MAILBOX	yes	UPN of the mailbox to operate on

Optional client constructor flags:

Option	Default	Description
signatureHtml	''	HTML signature appended to drafts

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Errors

All HTTP failures throw a real Error subclass — never a plain object — so stack traces and instanceof work as expected.

const { createClient, GraphHttpError, GraphAuthError, GraphConfigError } = require('m365-graph-mail');

try {
  await mail.sendDraft(id);
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof GraphHttpError) {
    // err.statusCode  → 401, 404, 429, 5xx, ...
    // err.category    → 'auth' | 'rate_limit' | 'server' | 'client'
    // err.transient   → true if a retry might succeed
    // err.body        → parsed Graph error body
    // err.requestId   → Graph's request-id (use this when opening a support case)
  } else if (err instanceof GraphAuthError) {
    // Token acquisition failed. err.aadError / err.aadErrorDescription have the AAD detail.
  } else if (err instanceof GraphConfigError) {
    // You passed something invalid (bad email, bad sinceDate, etc.) — fix and re-call.
  }
}

Retries

By default the HTTP layer retries on 408, 429, 502, 503, 504 up to 3 times with exponential backoff plus ±25% jitter to spread retries across a fleet. Retry-After is honored for every retried status (clamped to a sane maximum to prevent malicious-server stalls).

Override per-client:

const mail = createClient({
  http: {
    maxRetries: 5,
    baseDelayMs: 2000,
    socketTimeoutMs: 60000,
    onRetry({ attempt, statusCode, delayMs, method, url }) {
      console.warn(`[retry ${attempt}] ${method} ${url} → ${statusCode}, waiting ${delayMs}ms`);
    },
  },
});

Idempotency

Operation	Safe to retry?	Notes
markRead, setCategories, setImportance, setFlag	✅	PATCH semantics
getMessage, listMessages, searchMessages	✅	GET only
moveMessage, copyMessage, forwardMessage	⚠️	Retry may produce duplicates; check before reissuing
sendMail, sendDraft	❌	Not idempotent. A network blip after Graph accepts the request will cause a duplicate send if you retry blindly.
createDraft, createReply*Draft	⚠️	Creates a new draft each call
deleteMessage, deleteFolder	✅	Idempotent (subsequent deletes 404)

For non-idempotent calls, use httpOptions.maxRetries: 0 per-call if you want to disable auto-retry, or implement application-level deduplication.

Healthcheck

await mail.healthCheck();
// → { ok: true, mailbox: 'automation@yourdomain.com', inboxId: '...' }

Use it from a startup probe to validate that the token endpoint, mailbox permissions, and network are all wired correctly.

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Examples

See examples/ for runnable scripts:

• 01-list-unread.js — find unread mail in the last 24h
• 02-send-mail-with-signature.js — compose & send a new mail with HTML signature
• 03-move-to-folder-by-path.js — move a message into a nested folder (exact + fuzzy)
• 04-reply-all-preserve-history.js — reply-all with auto-signature, preserving quoted history
• 05-bulk-mark-and-move.js — search + auto-create folder + batch mark-read + batch move
• 06-send-with-inline-image.js — send HTML email with embedded inline (CID) image

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Security

• Never commit .env. The library's .gitignore excludes it; double-check yours does too.
• Rotate client secrets regularly. Azure AD app secrets default to 6-24 months.
• Scope the application access policy to the specific mailbox(es) you operate on, not the entire tenant.
• Read tokens are not persisted to disk by this library. They live in process memory and are renewed automatically.

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License

MIT © Esteban Esquivel — see LICENSE.