AI
AI for your mail, on your own key
Mailvie summarises long conversations, drafts replies and reworks what you wrote. It does it with your own key for Claude, OpenAI, Gemini or Grok, sent straight from your Mac to that provider. We are never in the middle, and nothing is ever sent for you.
- Claude
- OpenAI
- Gemini
- Grok
What it does
Five things, each one a button
AI in Mailvie is a set of tools you reach for, not a layer over your inbox. Each one starts when you press it.
Summarise a conversation
The points of a long thread in a few lines, with the dates, deadlines and amounts it mentions. Written in the language you chose, whatever language the email is in.
The sparkle button on an open conversation.
AI reply
A draft answer in the reply box. Type a few words first, such as "yes, suggest Tuesday", and they are treated as what you want to say.
The AI reply button in the reply box.
Suggested replies
A few short answers to pick from when a person wrote to you. None are offered for receipts and other mail sent by a system.
Shown with the summary when Assist is on for the account.
Rework a draft
Make what is in the reply box shorter, friendlier or more formal. Only the wording changes: every point you made is kept and none is added.
Shorter, Friendlier and More formal, under the reply box.
Write a new message
Give a few notes in the compose window and get a first draft to edit, written as you and in the language you would use.
AI write in the compose window.
How it works
Your Mac talks to your AI provider. Nobody else is on the line.
Mailvie has no AI key of its own and no server that requests pass through. A key cannot be hidden inside an app, so the honest design is that you bring yours.
Your Mac
You press Summarise. Mailvie checks the "Never send to AI" list, then builds the request.
Your AI provider
The conversation and your key go straight to Claude, OpenAI, Gemini or Grok, whichever you chose.
Back on your Mac
The answer comes back to the app and is shown to you. A draft waits in the box for you to edit.
Not on the path: mailvie.com. Your key and the text of your email never touch a server of ours.
Setting it up takes about two minutes
- 1
Get a key
Create an API key in your account with Claude, OpenAI, Gemini or Grok. Settings, AI links to each provider's key page.
- 2
Check and save
Paste it and press "Check and save". Mailvie asks the provider whether the key works, and only then saves it in the macOS Keychain.
- 3
Pick a model
Choose from the models your key can use. "Test this model" sends one word and shows the reply time, or the provider's own error.
- 4
Use it
Open a conversation and press the sparkle button. The card says which provider answered.
You stay in charge
What the AI is not allowed to do
An AI model that can read your mail needs rules. These are built into the app, and we test them with every provider before a release.
It never sends anything
A draft lands in the reply box for you to read and change. Sending is always you pressing Send, and even then it waits out your undo time.
It never sees the senders you exclude
Add a sender or a whole domain to "Never send to AI" in Settings, Privacy. A conversation with an excluded sender in it is not sent at all, and the buttons say why they are off.
An email cannot give it orders
The text of an email is handed over as something to read, not as instructions. Our tests include an email with a hidden instruction, and the summary must not obey it.
It does not decide for you
Asked to reply with nothing typed, it acknowledges the message and says you will come back. It does not accept, approve or promise on your behalf.
It does not guess your language
Summaries use the language you set in Settings, Assist, or your Mac's own. Replies use the language of the message you are answering, never a guess from a name or an address.
It does not read your inbox in the background
Only a conversation you opened or asked about is ever sent. Mailvie never summarises mail you have not looked at.
Assist
Automatic, only where you switch it on
If you want a summary waiting when you open a conversation, turn it on for that mail account in Settings, Assist. It is off until you do.
The Assist page names the provider that will be used and says plainly that each conversation you open there is sent to it once, and that you pay that provider for it.
- Off by default, and switched on one mail account at a time
- Runs once when you open a conversation, and the answer is kept while the app is open
- Skips newsletters and notifications unless you say otherwise
- Never runs for mail opened from Spam, Trash or Drafts
- Never runs when a sender in the conversation is on your "Never send to AI" list
What it costs
Two separate things, and we only charge for one
Mailvie: a plan
The AI tools are part of a plan, with sending and the clean-up tools: $3.99 per month, $29.90 per year, $39 once. The monthly and yearly plans start with a 7-day free trial. We sell no AI credits and take no cut of what you use.
See pricingYour AI provider: what you use
Your provider bills you for each request, at its own published prices. Mailvie shows a model's price only when the provider reports it, and otherwise links to the provider's pricing page, so the app never shows a stale number.
Without a key, everything else in Mailvie still works.
Not AI, and not yet
What this page does not promise
No built-in AI in this version. There is no model that runs on your Mac in this version, and no AI of ours in the cloud. AI needs your own key.
Phishing warnings and sign-in codes are not AI. They are worked out on your Mac by fixed rules, with no model and nothing sent anywhere, and they are free.
AI can be wrong. A summary can miss a point and a draft can misread a tone. That is why nothing is sent until you have read it.
Your provider's terms apply. What your AI provider does with the text you send is set by its own terms for API use. Read them for the provider you choose.
Questions
About AI in Mailvie
Which AI providers can I use with Mailvie?
Claude from Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini from Google and Grok from xAI. You add your own API key for one or more of them in Settings, AI, and choose which model to use.
Does Mailvie have its own AI?
No. This version has no built-in model and we run no AI service. Every AI request uses your own key and goes from your Mac straight to the provider you chose.
Can the AI send an email by itself?
No. A draft is put in the reply box for you to read and change. Nothing is sent, deleted or moved unless you press the button yourself.
Is a ChatGPT or Claude subscription enough?
Usually not. A chat subscription and an API key are, as a rule, billed separately. You need an API key from the provider, which charges for what you use.
How do I keep some mail away from AI?
Add the sender or the whole domain to "Never send to AI" in Settings, Privacy. Any conversation with that sender in it is never sent to an AI provider.
Does Mailvie summarise my whole inbox?
No. Only a conversation you opened or asked about is sent. Automatic summaries are off until you switch them on for a mail account, and they skip newsletters by default.
Get Mailvie
Try AI on your own mail
Add a key from Claude, OpenAI, Gemini or Grok and start the 7-day trial. Your mail and your key stay between your Mac and your provider.