7orb — Native Gmail Client for macOS

Why 7orb

Everything Mimestream does.
Free. Open. AI-native.

Mimestream proved Gmail deserves a native client. Then they charged $50/year, closed the source, and shipped zero AI. 7orb is the answer.

Capability	7orb Open Source	Mimestream	Apple Mail	Shortwave
Gmail REST API (not IMAP)	✓	✓	✗	✓
Native Swift / SwiftUI	✓	✓	✓	✗ Electron
True Gmail labels	✓	✓	Partial	✓
historyId incremental sync	✓	✓	✗	✗
Token stored on-device only	✓ Keychain	✓	✓	✗ their servers
Open source / auditable	✓ MIT	✗	✗	✗
Free forever	✓	✗ $50/yr	✓	✗ $9/mo
AI thread summarizer AI	✓ on-device	✗	✗	cloud only
AI priority triage AI	✓	✗	✗	✓
AI reply drafter AI	✓ on-device	✗	✗	cloud only
Apple Intelligence Writing Tools AI	✓	✗	✓	✗
Local LLM support (MLX/Ollama) AI	✓	✗	✗	✗
Gmail search syntax passthrough	✓	✓	✗	✓
Offline reading (SQLite cache)	✓	✓	✓	✗

Core Features

Built on the Gmail API.
Not around it.

Every feature maps directly to a Gmail API capability. No IMAP hacks, no label-as-folder pretense.

⚡

historyId Incremental Sync

Stores a historyId checkpoint and pulls only changes since last sync — new emails, label changes, deletions in a single lightweight call.

🏷

True Gmail Labels

One email, ten labels — modeled correctly. Archive from Inbox without touching your Work label. Exactly as Gmail intends, not the IMAP folder approximation.

🔒

Zero-Server Privacy

OAuth2 tokens live exclusively in your macOS Keychain. Direct HTTPS to Google. No relay, no sync middleware, no third-party ever touches your mail.

🧵

Thread-Native Model

Fetches via threads.list not messages.list. Conversations are first-class with correct expand/collapse and per-thread unread state.

🔍

Full Gmail Search Syntax

Queries pass directly to Gmail's ?q= parameter. from:boss has:attachment larger:5mb — any operator Gmail understands, 7orb handles.

📴

Offline-First SQLite Cache

All synced mail stored locally in SQLite via GRDB. Read, search, navigate on a plane. Sync resumes exactly where it left off on reconnect.

AI Features

Privacy-first AI.
On your device, not their server.

7orb's AI stack has three tiers — free Apple Intelligence, local MLX models, and optional cloud with your own key. You choose what data leaves your Mac.

🔵 Layer 1 · Always on-device

Apple Native

Free APIs built into macOS. Zero setup, zero cost, fully offline. Available on every supported Mac without downloading anything.

✦Apple Intelligence Writing Tools

✦NSDataDetector date extraction

✦NaturalLanguage embeddings

✦EventKit calendar integration

✦List-Unsubscribe header parser

🟣 Layer 2 · Local model

Local MLX / Ollama

Run a small LLM on your Mac. Download once (~2-4 GB), run forever offline. OpenAI-compatible API — same code path as cloud.

✦Qwen2.5-7B-Instruct (4-bit)

✦Phi-4-mini (~2 GB, ultra fast)

✦Llama-3.2-3B (8 GB RAM OK)

✦Any Ollama / LMStudio model

✦Emails never leave your Mac

☁️ Layer 3 · Cloud opt-in

Your API Key

Bring your own key. You pay only what you use, directly to the provider. No markup, no subscription, no middleman. Explicitly opt-in per feature.

✦OpenAI GPT-4o / GPT-4o-mini

✦Anthropic Claude Haiku / Sonnet

✦Google Gemini Flash

✦Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint

✦Key stored in macOS Keychain only

✨

Apple Intelligence Writing Tools Tier 1

Two lines of Swift code unlock system-level AI in the compose window: proofread, rewrite, make shorter/longer, change tone (professional / friendly / concise). Completely on-device, no model download needed — Apple Intelligence does the work.

Available to any Mac running macOS 15+ Sequoia. The only Gmail client to expose this API.

⚡

Smart Snooze Date Detection Tier 1

NSDataDetector scans the email body for dates and deadlines. "Meeting Thursday at 3pm" → suggests snooze to Thursday 9am. "Invoice due June 15" → suggests June 14 morning.

Zero LLM calls. Purely Apple's NLP stack. Works offline, instant, no battery hit.

🔴

Priority Triage Classifier Tier 1

Every thread auto-scored into 4 tiers: 🔴 Urgent (reply today), 🟡 Action needed, 💬 FYI, 📰 Low (newsletter/promo). Uses Gmail's own IMPORTANT label, sender recognition, direct vs CC detection, and urgency keyword signals — no LLM required.

🗂

Unsubscribe Intelligence Tier 1

Parses List-Unsubscribe headers (RFC 2369 / RFC 8058) and tracks open rates. Surfaces a batch-unsubscribe UI: "You've received 47 emails from 3 senders in the last month you never opened." One click to unsubscribe all via HTTP POST to the sender's endpoint.

📝

Thread Summarizer Tier 2

Long thread? A collapsible 2-3 sentence summary appears at the top of any thread with 3+ messages. Answers: what was asked, what was decided, what's pending. Cached locally so it only runs once per thread.

Uses your configured AI (local or cloud). Badge shows 🔵 On-device or ☁️ Cloud at all times.

✅

Action Item Extractor Tier 2

AI extracts tasks explicitly assigned to you from the email body and shows them as a checklist. One-click to add any item directly to macOS Reminders via EventKit — no copy-paste.

"Review the attached proposal by Friday", "Confirm Tuesday 2pm availability" — surfaced automatically.

💬

Smart Reply Drafter Tier 2

One click generates a context-aware reply draft pre-loaded into ComposeView. The prompt instructs the model to match the thread's language, formality level, and tone — it reads like you, not a template.

Uses the last 3 messages as context. Works with local MLX or any cloud provider you configure.

🌐

Semantic Search v2

Search by meaning, not keywords. "Emails about the budget proposal" finds threads containing quote, pricing, estimate, budget, cost — without knowing the exact words.

Local vector embeddings stored in SQLite via sqlite-vec. Runs entirely on-device. Background indexing after sync, never blocks the UI.

🕸

Email Relationship Graph & Trackers Tier 2

Gmail's threadId only links explicit replies. 7orb's Relationship Graph discovers implicit connections across separate threads — automatically.

Three connection types:
🧵 Entity links — two emails mention the same person, project, amount, or deadline. Built with Apple NLTagger (free, on-device).

📡 Semantic links — same topic even with different words. NLEmbedding vectors + sqlite-vec ANN search. Stored locally.

↩️ Follow-up links — AI detects one email is a continuation of an earlier unrelated thread. Tier 2 (requires AI provider).

Trackers — like Gmail Labels but AI-powered and dynamic.

Create a Tracker from any email ("Track this topic") or describe it in plain language: "emails about the Q3 budget and Acme Corp contracts."

The tracker auto-collects new matching emails as they arrive and notifies you. All matching happens on-device via entity overlap — no cloud call needed for basic tracking.

TRACKERS
● Q3 Budget & Vendors    12
● Project Nighthawk      5
● Stripe Integration     8
+ New Tracker

🔵

On-device by default

Tier 1 features use Apple's built-in frameworks — no model, no network, no cost. Your emails stay on your Mac for all heuristic and NLP features.

🔑

You own your API key

When you opt into cloud AI, the key is yours — stored in Keychain, sent directly to the provider. 7orb never sees your key or proxies your requests.

👁

Every call is auditable

Open source means you can read every prompt, see every API call, and verify exactly what data is sent when AI features are used. No black boxes.

Architecture

Direct to Gmail.
Nothing in between.

Other clients route through their own servers. 7orb's data path is a straight line: your Mac to Google. AI runs the same way — on your Mac.

OAuth2 PKCE Loopback

Browser sign-in, authorization code captured at 127.0.0.1. Refresh token encrypted in macOS Keychain.

Initial Full Sync

Fetches labels, threads, messages. Stores historyId checkpoint in local SQLite (GRDB).

Incremental Updates via history.list

Every 30s (active) / 60s (background). Only changed messages are fetched — extremely lightweight.

UI reads from SQLite

All views observe GRDB queries. UI is instant — no network wait. Offline just works.

AI runs alongside, not in the path

Summarizer, triage, drafter run as background actors on local data. They never block sync or UI.

Data flow

7orb.app (SwiftUI)

↕

GRDB SQLite (local)

↕

GmailAPIClient

↕ HTTPS

Gmail REST API v1

AI layer (parallel, non-blocking)

AIProviderManager

↕

🔵 Apple NLP

🟣 Local MLX

☁️ Cloud (opt-in)

Not in the path

✗ Relay / sync servers
✗ Electron / Chromium
✗ Third-party token storage
✗ AI vendor proxies
✓ Zero intermediaries

Philosophy

Four principles.
No compromises.

Native or nothing

Email is something you do hundreds of times a day. It deserves an app that feels like macOS, not a web page in a window. 7orb is Swift 6 + SwiftUI — system fonts, native scroll, proper keyboard shortcuts, Spotlight, real notifications.

Gmail's data model, not IMAP's

IMAP was designed in 1996. Gmail's labels, threads, and categories don't map to folders. 7orb speaks Gmail's native REST API — the same protocol Gmail.com uses — so snooze, filters, and multi-label mail work exactly as Google designed them.

Privacy through architecture

Privacy isn't a feature you add at the end. No sync server exists to leak from. AI defaults to on-device. Tokens live in Keychain. Every connection — email or AI — goes directly from your Mac to its destination over HTTPS.

Open source as a feature

Closed-source email and AI clients ask you to trust them with your most private data. With 7orb, you don't have to trust — you can read the source, audit every API call, read every AI prompt, verify every Keychain access. MIT license. Fork and ship.

Roadmap

Building in public.

Every phase tracked, every commit visible.

Phase 0–1

OAuth2 + Scaffold — Xcode setup, PKCE loopback sign-in, Keychain token storage, multi-account.

In Progress

Phase 2–3

Local DB + API Client — GRDB SQLite schema, full Codable Gmail REST response models.

Up Next

Phase 4

Sync Engine — Initial full sync + history.list incremental delta + background polling scheduler.

Planned

Phase 5–6

Core UI — NavigationSplitView, SidebarView, ThreadListView, MessageDetailView (HTML via WKWebView), ComposeView.

Planned

Phase 7–8

Search + Settings — Gmail query passthrough, Settings window with account management.

Planned

Phase 9–10

Polish + Release — Dock badge, offline graceful degradation, Sparkle auto-update, Google OAuth verification.

Planned

Phase 11

AI Tier 1 — Apple Intelligence Writing Tools, Smart Snooze (NSDataDetector), Priority Triage, Unsubscribe Intelligence. All on-device, zero cost.

AI · Planned

Phase 12

AI Tier 2 — Thread Summarizer, Action Item Extractor + Reminders, Smart Reply Drafter, AI Settings panel (local MLX + cloud opt-in).

AI · Planned

Gmail, the way
macOS deserves it

Everything Mimestream does.
Free. Open. AI-native.

Built on the Gmail API.
Not around it.

Privacy-first AI.
On your device, not their server.

Direct to Gmail.
Nothing in between.

Four principles.
No compromises.

Building in public.

Free as in freedom.
Free as in beer.

Gmail, the waymacOS deserves it

Everything Mimestream does.Free. Open. AI-native.

Built on the Gmail API.Not around it.

Privacy-first AI.On your device, not their server.

Direct to Gmail.Nothing in between.

Four principles.No compromises.

Building in public.

Free as in freedom.Free as in beer.

Gmail, the way
macOS deserves it

Everything Mimestream does.
Free. Open. AI-native.

Built on the Gmail API.
Not around it.

Privacy-first AI.
On your device, not their server.

Direct to Gmail.
Nothing in between.

Four principles.
No compromises.

Free as in freedom.
Free as in beer.