Godwit
Godwit is an open-source, AI-native desktop email client for macOS, Windows, and Linux. It connects to IMAP/SMTP accounts and combines mail management with a user-chosen AI assistant, Wit, while keeping sending under the user's approval.
At a Glance
- Individuals and professionals who use multiple email accounts
- Privacy-conscious users who want local storage, local models, and no vendor account or telemetry
- Developers and power users who want an extensible, hackable email client
- Users of Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Yahoo, QQ/163/126 Mail, Lark/Feishu, DingTalk, or other IMAP/SMTP providers
AI Tools by Godwit
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Godwit
Open Source AI Email Client
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Latest News
Godwit v1.25.0 released with system-proxy support for IMAP/SMTP and Windows tray-click behavior fixes
Godwit v1.24.1 released with SMTP AUTH LOGIN fallback when PLAIN is unavailable
Godwit v1.24.0 released with GitHub issue reporting for unknown errors
Godwit v1.22.0 released with Gmail OAuth, Contacts, whole-thread quick replies, and Microsoft Store update checks
Products & Services
Open-source desktop email client for macOS, Windows, and Linux. It supports IMAP/SMTP accounts, multi-account synchronization, offline changes, conversations, full-text search, HTML compose, drafts, and AI-assisted mail workflows.
Built-in AI assistant that answers questions about mail, searches messages, reads PDF/Office/CSV attachments, summarizes, translates, suggests quick replies, adjusts tone and length, and drafts replies without sending them automatically.
MCP server for Claude, Cursor, and other agents to read mail and create drafts through Godwit's Local API; it does not send mail, and write operations require approval.
TypeScript types package for building Godwit plugins, published from the repository's sdk directory.
Market Position
Godwit positions itself as a free, open-source, hackable alternative to conventional desktop email clients and newer AI email assistants: it supports any IMAP/SMTP account, lets users select cloud or local models, exposes skills/plugins/MCP extension points, stores mail locally, and makes approval-before-send a core safety boundary. Product Hunt places it in the Email Clients category; adjacent alternatives include Kanmail and other AI-enabled email clients.
Leadership
Founders
Baran Wang (王柄涵)
Godwit maker and principal developer. His resume describes him as a full-stack engineer with 12 years of internet experience, originally trained in UI/UX, and lists prior work as a contracted frontend engineer on ByteDance's AIDP AI-evaluation infrastructure team (2022/03–2026/09), full-stack designer at Kan Jian Music (2019/05–2022/01), co-founder/full-stack designer of a consumer mini-program venture (2018/06–2019/05), and UI designer at Squirrel AI (2016/12–2018/06).
Executive Team
Baran Wang (王柄涵)
Maker / principal developer
Product Hunt identifies Baran as Godwit's maker; the project's resume identifies him as a full-stack engineer and principal developer with prior ByteDance AIDP, Kan Jian Music, Squirrel AI, and startup experience.
Founding Story
Baran Wang says he built Godwit for people who want an email client they can make their own, including the AI models and tools they use. The initial vision was a free, open-source client that works across desktop platforms, supports cloud or local models, and lets users extend the built-in AI through skills, plugins, and MCP while requiring approval before mail is sent.
Business Model
Revenue Model
Godwit is distributed as a free, open-source Apache-2.0 application. It has no separate Godwit account, built-in advertising, or usage telemetry; users may incur charges from the third-party email, cloud-model, or other services they configure.
Pricing Tiers
The Product Hunt listing describes Godwit as free, and the repository and Microsoft Store listing describe it as open source under Apache-2.0.
Target Markets
- Individuals and professionals who use multiple email accounts
- Privacy-conscious users who want local storage, local models, and no vendor account or telemetry
- Developers and power users who want an extensible, hackable email client
- Users of Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Yahoo, QQ/163/126 Mail, Lark/Feishu, DingTalk, or other IMAP/SMTP providers
- Managing multiple personal or work email accounts in one desktop client
- Searching and triaging everyday email with AI assistance
- Summarizing and translating messages and attachments
- Drafting, rewriting, and preparing replies while retaining human control over sending
- Using local or self-selected cloud AI models for privacy or model choice
- Extending email workflows with skills, plugins, MCP tools, and external agents