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apache/comdev/f2f1247b438d0600379f184208367fa56ab5b586
commit
f2f1247b438d0600379f184208367fa56ab5b586
[log]
author
Rich Bowen <rbowen@rcbowen.com>
Wed Apr 15 15:27:19 2026 -0400
committer
Rich Bowen <rbowen@rcbowen.com>
Wed Apr 15 15:27:19 2026 -0400
tree
9575be15eda84ce6eb792eda8d36a0c98f660d7a
parent
8db23b6a9f0389bd5897d829674f88506837c421 [diff]
Adds a bookmarklet to help with auth, and updates README to reflect new
functionality. But the auth is very cumbersome right now.
3 files changed
tree: 9575be15eda84ce6eb792eda8d36a0c98f660d7a
  1. auth.js
  2. bookmarklet.html
  3. index.js
  4. package.json
  5. README.md
README.md

PonyMail MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that provides access to the Apache PonyMail mailing list archive API.

Tools

ToolDescription
list_listsGet an overview of all available mailing lists and message counts
search_listSearch/browse a mailing list with filters (date, sender, subject, body, query)
get_emailFetch a specific email by ID with full body and attachments
get_threadFetch the root message of a thread by thread ID
get_mboxDownload mbox-formatted archive data for bulk export
loginAuthenticate via ASF OAuth to access private mailing lists
logoutClear cached session cookie
auth_statusCheck current authentication status

Setup

cd /Users/rcbowen/devel/ponymail-mcp
npm install

Configure in Amazon Quick

  1. Open Settings → Capabilities → MCP Servers
  2. Click Add MCP / Skill → Local (stdio)
  3. Fill in:
    • Name: ponymail
    • Command: node
    • Args: /Users/rcbowen/devel/ponymail-mcp/index.js
  4. Click Save

Environment Variables

VariableDefaultDescription
PONYMAIL_BASE_URLhttps://lists.apache.orgBase URL of the PonyMail instance
PONYMAIL_SESSION_COOKIE(none)Manual session cookie override (skips OAuth flow)

Authentication (Private Lists)

Public lists work without authentication. For private/restricted lists, you have two options:

Option 1: Automated OAuth (Recommended)

Use the login tool from within Amazon Quick. It will:

  1. Open a local helper page at http://localhost:39817
  2. The page links to PonyMail's login page — log in with your ASF LDAP credentials
  3. After logging in, grab the session cookie (see below) and paste it into the form
  4. The server validates the cookie and caches it to ~/.ponymail-mcp/session.json

Finding the HttpOnly cookie: The ponymail cookie is HttpOnly, so document.cookie and the Application tab won't show it. To find it:

  1. On lists.apache.org (while logged in), open DevTools (Cmd+Option+I / F12)
  2. Go to the Network tab and reload the page
  3. Click on any request (e.g., the page itself, or any api/ call)
  4. In Headers → Request Headers → find the Cookie: line
  5. Copy the ponymail=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx part

Option 2: Manual Cookie

  1. Log into https://lists.apache.org in your browser
  2. Open DevTools → Application → Cookies → copy the session cookie
  3. Set the environment variable:
    PONYMAIL_SESSION_COOKIE="ponymail=abc123..."
  4. Add it to your MCP server config's environment variables

Sessions expire after ~20 hours. Use auth_status to check, logout to clear.

Usage Examples

Once connected, you can ask things like:

  • “Search the dev@iceberg.apache.org list for messages about partition spec in the last 30 days”
  • “Show me the available mailing lists”
  • “Fetch email with ID xyz...”
  • “Get the mbox archive for dev@httpd.apache.org for 2024-03”