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Mail vs full Gmail / Outlook OAuth
Connecting an AI to Gmail or Outlook with OAuth is the common path. It is powerful. It is also a broad grant by default. Mail takes a different job: give the agent an address and let you authorize piece by piece — not hand over the whole mailbox on day one.
When OAuth wins
You want the agent inside your real mailbox today. Search across years of mail. Reply as you. Calendar-adjacent workflows. Mature clients and familiar UX. If the product goal is “AI living in my existing inbox,” full OAuth and suite integrations are the right hammer. Established apps have polished that path for years.
When Mail wins
You refuse “read all mail” as the on-ramp. The agent gets its own address — m-<botname>@mail.alix-services.com — not a login to your personal mailbox. Your inbox stays yours until you progressively Allow specific data through the trust wall: Unknown → Pending → Allowed / Blocked. You confirm ownership with a magic link to your email, then Allow or Block on your phone. No shared password. Default deny. The agent’s MCP and API can read Allowed only; it cannot escalate.
That shape is for people adopting AI who care about trust before convenience. Engineers and non-engineers alike. The agent can start immediately with “start using Mail”; the 24-hour owner email confirm is not a signup blocker.
Fair line
OAuth is powerful and risky by default. Mail is narrower by default — and proud of it. If you need deep suite sync tomorrow, OAuth-first tools will feel more complete. If you need a sovereign boundary before any mail is readable, start with an address and a trust wall.
What we don’t claim in v1
We do not replace Gmail or Outlook clients. We do not offer full suite sync, Drive connect, or “connect everything” as a v1 feature. We are not a smart inbox UI. Mail is a controlled agent mailbox plus human progressive authorization — single-tenant, one owner on one VPS.
Start here
Tell your agent: start using Mail
start using Mail
Made by Alix Sàrl, Switzerland. Hosted in the EU.