# lavabit/magma

The magma server daemon, is an encrypted email system with support for SMTP, POP, IMAP, HTTP and MOLTEN,. Additional support for DMTP and DMAP is currently in active development.

Repository: https://github.com/lavabit/magma
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/lavabit-magma
Language: C
License: AGPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: magma, webmail, imap, smtp, pop, http, encryption, encrypted-message-protocol, communications, dark-mail, dime, email, mail-server, mail-transport-agent, mail-delivery-agent, messaging, server
Last push: 2025-03-06T05:12:37+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 37/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 10, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4272, "days_push": 545, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1830, forks 166 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:41.754617+00:00)

## What it is
Magma is an encrypted email server daemon written in C, providing SMTP, POP, IMAP, and HTTP protocol support along with a bundled webmail system, originally built for lavabit.com. It also develops the DMTP and DMAP encrypted mail protocols as part of the Dark Mail initiative.

## Use cases
- run a self-hosted encrypted email server
- host webmail with end-to-end encryption
- operate an SMTP/IMAP/POP mail server with privacy focus
- experiment with the DMTP dark mail protocol
- replace traditional mail servers with encrypted message storage

## When to choose
- you need a mail server with built-in encryption and privacy guarantees
- you want to experiment with or contribute to the Dark Mail/DIME protocols
- you're comfortable building C software on Linux and managing dependencies

## When to avoid
- you need a turnkey, production-hardened mail server with minimal setup
- you require full HTTP/webmail stability today, since those parts are still in development
- you prefer mail servers in higher-level languages or with large ecosystems

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: active
- function: email, cryptography, http-server, security, self-hosted
- domain: email, security, privacy, self-hosted
- platform: self-hosted
- tags: mail-server, smtp, imap, pop3, webmail, dark-mail, dime, encrypted-email, mta, mda, c, messaging, linux, docker

## Member repositories
- lavabit/magma (main) score 37

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:41.754617+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 2026-08-30T03:19:15.267903+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/lavabit/magma (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:41.754617+00:00, sha cb08c8837545)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.