# apache/james-project

Emails at the heart of your business logic!

Repository: https://github.com/apache/james-project
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/james-project
Homepage: https://james.apache.org/
Language: Java
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: mail, server, imap, smtp, jmap
Last push: 2026-08-31T07:59:30+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 77/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 100, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4071, "days_push": 2, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_readme
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1037, forks 492 (observed 2026-09-01T02:13:58.824330+00:00)

## What it is
Apache James is an enterprise mail server and modular mail platform running on the JVM, supporting SMTP, IMAP, POP3, JMAP, LMTP, and ManageSieve protocols. It offers a mailet container for custom email processing, pluggable storage backends (Cassandra, PostgreSQL, MySQL, OpenSearch), and administration via REST, JMX, or CLI.

## Use cases
- self-host an email server with IMAP and SMTP
- build custom email filtering and routing rules
- run a JMAP-compliant mail server
- set up an SMTP relay or mail transfer agent
- embed mail processing logic into business applications
- store mailboxes in Cassandra or PostgreSQL

## When to choose
- you need a fully open-source, self-hosted mail server on the JVM
- you want programmatic control over email processing via mailets
- you need modern protocol support including JMAP
- you want pluggable storage backends for mailboxes

## When to avoid
- you need a simple turnkey mail server with minimal configuration
- your stack is not JVM-based and you prefer lightweight alternatives like Postfix or Dovecot
- you lack operational capacity for Java-based server maintenance

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: stable
- function: http-server, email, middleware, plugin-system
- domain: email, self-hosted, backend, developer-tools
- platform: jvm, windows, self-hosted
- tags: mail-server, smtp, imap, jmap, pop3, mailet, mta, mail-transfer-agent, docker, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- apache/james-project (main) score 77

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-09-01T02:13:58.824330+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T07:04:14.450066+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - homepage: https://james.apache.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T13:04:54.627029+00:00, sha 36df8e63a045)
  - site_page: https://james.apache.org/documentation.html (fetched 2026-08-29T13:04:54.636595+00:00, sha 3a79a8fb251d)
  - site_page: https://james.apache.org/server/install.html (fetched 2026-08-29T13:04:54.640798+00:00, sha a746b1f6b48a)
  - site_page: https://james.apache.org/server/install/guice-cassandra-rabbitmq-swift.html (fetched 2026-08-29T13:04:54.642912+00:00, sha bfe94dc7b461)
  - site_page: https://james.apache.org/howTo/index.html (fetched 2026-08-29T13:04:54.638953+00:00, sha 7b989b3a27d3)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.