Email · checked 2026-10-19Can I vibecode HEY?
KINDA· weekend project
HEY is two things: a mailbox that sends and receives reliably, and a client with its own ideas, such as a Screener for first-time senders, separate Feed and Paper Trail views and reply-later. An agent can rebuild the second half over any IMAP account in a weekend, using imapflow and a few local tables. The first half is infrastructure: delivery to other people's spam filters, an address people trust and a vendor who promises to keep it yours. A self-built client still needs a paid mailbox somewhere, so it won't cut the bill by much.
$8.25/moprice per seat
$99you'd save a year
weekendbuild time
—people replaced it
What you need on hand.
DifficultyIntermediate · Some system setup or keys.
TimeA weekend; getting IMAP and threading right takes the time
- Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
- Node.js 22better-sqlite3 compiles a native module, so build tools must be installed.
- An IMAP mailbox with an app passwordHEY has no IMAP, so you need a new mailbox before leaving it.
- Your HEY exportAn MBOX file of mail and a vCard of contacts, from Export Your Data in the account page.
Before you buildHEY has no free plan, only a 30-day trial. A free Gmail or iCloud mailbox with this client costs nothing, but you lose the @hey.com address.
- 1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
- 2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
- 3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.
The prompt
Build me a personal mail client with a screener to replace HEY, on top of my existing IMAP mailbox. Requirements: - Node.js 22 + TypeScript: a Fastify server and a React UI built with Vite. `npm start` serves http://localhost:4890. IMAP_HOST, IMAP_USER, IMAP_PASSWORD (an app password), SMTP_HOST and the SMTP login are in .env. - Mail access: `imapflow` for the mailbox (INBOX, Sent, Archive), `mailparser` to read messages, `nodemailer` to send. Keep IMAP IDLE open on the INBOX so new mail appears within seconds. - Storage: better-sqlite3 in ./data/mail.db for sender decisions, message-to-view assignments and a header cache. Mail itself stays on the server; never copy bodies to disk. - Screener: a message from a sender you have never approved goes to a Screener list showing the sender and the first lines. Choose Imbox, Feed, Paper Trail or Screen out; later mail from that address follows the choice. Screening out marks mail as read and moves it to a Spam-like folder. - Views: Imbox, The Feed (newsletters, one scrolling page), Paper Trail (receipts), Screener, Sent and Everything. Group messages into threads using References and In-Reply-To. - Reply Later and Set Aside: store them as IMAP keywords ($ReplyLater, $SetAside) so they survive a reinstall; each has its own view with a count. - Privacy: sanitize HTML with `sanitize-html`, block remote images by default and show a "load images" button per message; proxy loaded images through the server so the sender sees the server's IP, not yours. - Single user, one password in .env. No accounts, no telemetry. Tests with vitest for the screener rules and the thread grouping. - Out of scope: running a mail server, a calendar, mobile apps, a HEY World blog, thread sharing, Clips. - README: getting an app password from Gmail, iCloud and Fastmail, and a warning that screening changes only your view: mail still arrives in the server's INBOX for other apps.
Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.
Then keep going
Next prompts, same folder.
The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own HEY.
Add an MBOX importer to the mail client in this folder. Requirements: - A command `mail import-mbox <file>` that streams the MBOX file from HEY's Export Your Data, splits messages on From lines and uploads each one into an IMAP folder you name with `imapflow` append, keeping the original Date. - Skip messages whose Message-ID is already in that folder; print counts of added and skipped. - Run in dry-run mode by default and only write with --apply; handle files larger than 2 GB without loading them into memory. - Update the README.
Add a digest to the mail client in this folder. Requirements: - A setting that holds Feed messages out of the unread count and shows them only in a weekly digest page, newest sender first, with a "mark all read" button. - Detect the List-Unsubscribe header and show an unsubscribe link per sender; never click it for me. - Store the digest day and hour in the database and show the next one at the top of the Feed. - Update the README.
Add send-as aliases to the mail client in this folder. Requirements: - Let me list extra From addresses in .env; the compose form defaults to the address a message was sent to (To or Delivered-To) when it matches. - Show a warning when the SMTP server refuses an alias, with its error text. - Add the chosen From address to the Sent copy that is saved through IMAP. - Update the README with the SPF and DKIM caveat for aliases.
What you lose
- The @hey.com address and a vendor that guarantees it stays yours
- Native HEY apps for iOS, Android and desktop, with push notifications
- The HEY calendar and the HEY World blog
- Mail hosting, spam filtering and delivery handled by someone else
- Thread sharing and private comments, which HEY for Domains adds for teams
Why people still pay
People pay for an opinionated inbox they didn't have to build, and for the promise that nobody mines it for ads. The screener keeps unknown senders out of the main view, and the apps work on every device without setup.
HEY or your own copy?
Seats
Over
Your usage
12h ×$/h
HEY, 1 yr$99
Your own copy, 1 yr$42running + build session
You keep$57pays for itself in 2 months
Estimate · The client runs on your computer for free and the mailbox is the only recurring cost: free with Gmail or iCloud, or whatever a hosted mailbox such as Fastmail charges. A small VPS adds about $5 if you want it on your phone. The build is token usage on your agent plan.
Take your data, then cancel.
1 · Take your data out of HEY
- 1Open app.hey.com/accounts in a desktop browser and click Export Your Data.
- 2HEY emails you when the export is ready to download.
- 3Email comes as an MBOX file with all messages and attachments, which Apple Mail, Gmail and Outlook can import.
- 4Contacts come as a single vCard and calendar data as .ics files.
2 · Cancel HEY
- 1Open Accounts and settings and go to Billing & Invoices (the article shows the first steps only as screenshots).
- 2Click Close your account, then OK, cancel my subscription to keep using HEY until the year runs out.
- 3Or click OK, close my account to close it immediately and lose access right away.
- 4As a paying customer, set up forwarding afterwards: Accounts > your account > Forwarding & Sending > Forward email out of HEY.
- Once you've paid your first year, your @hey.com address is yours forever and forwarding keeps working after you close the account.
- If you cancel and ask for a refund inside the first year, or only used the trial, the address is recycled after about 90 days.
- If the account recently renewed, write to support@hey.com from your backup email address to request a refund of that renewal.
- Forwarding isn't meant to run forever: move bank, shopping and other services to your new address.
The escape hatch
Don't feel like building it? These are already free.
Stalwart Mail ServerOpen sourceMail and collaboration server in one binary, speaking IMAP, JMAP, SMTP, CalDAV and CardDAV.★ 15k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗MoxOpen sourceMIT-licensed self-hosted mail server designed to need little maintenance, with automatic TLS and a quickstart that prints the DNS records.★ 5.9k · active Oct 2026 · self-host, real ops
WebVisit ↗mailcowOpen sourceGPL-3.0 dockerized mail suite with webmail, spam filtering, domains and mailboxes in one stack.★ 14k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗
WebVisit ↗MoxOpen sourceMIT-licensed self-hosted mail server designed to need little maintenance, with automatic TLS and a quickstart that prints the DNS records.★ 5.9k · active Oct 2026 · self-host, real ops
WebVisit ↗mailcowOpen sourceGPL-3.0 dockerized mail suite with webmail, spam filtering, domains and mailboxes in one stack.★ 14k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗
The numbers
HEY pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annual, per month | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| HEY for You | — | $8.25 | One @hey.com address, 100 GB of storage, the HEY calendar, a HEY World blog, apps for web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android, spy pixel blocking. |
| HEY for Families | — | $14.92 | Up to four extra people, each with their own @hey.com address, calendar and account. |
| HEY for Domains | $12/user | — | Your own domain, several users, thread sharing, private team comments and aliases; the first user is $10 a month. |
- Billing
- HEY for You is annual only: $99 charged once a year, which is $8.25 a month, by credit or debit card. HEY for Domains is monthly only at $12 per user ($10 for the first). Prices exclude tax and are in US dollars.
- Hidden costs
- A short or rare @hey.com address costs far more than $99 a year. Taxes are added where 37signals collects them. HEY doesn't support IMAP or POP, so you can only read mail in its own apps.
- Source
- www.hey.com
Also on the list
Related apps
A 30-day trial with no card needed; there's no free plan.
Kinda. The core is a weekend build with the prompt on this page, but real gaps remain: The @hey.com address and a vendor that guarantees it stays yours, Native HEY apps for iOS, Android and desktop, with push notifications.
About $8.25 a month on the HEY for You plan per seat, $99 a year (checked 2026-10-19).
The @hey.com address and a vendor that guarantees it stays yours; Native HEY apps for iOS, Android and desktop, with push notifications; The HEY calendar and the HEY World blog; Mail hosting, spam filtering and delivery handled by someone else; Thread sharing and private comments, which HEY for Domains adds for teams. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.
Yes: Stalwart Mail Server (open source), Mox (open source), mailcow (open source).