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# Reply by email
GitLab can be set up to allow users to comment on issues and merge requests by
replying to notification emails.
## Requirement
Reply by email requires an IMAP-enabled email account. GitLab allows you to use
three strategies for this feature:
- using email sub-addressing
- using a dedicated email address
- using a catch-all mailbox
### Email sub-addressing
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**If your provider or server supports email sub-addressing, we recommend using it.
Some features (e.g. create new issue via email) only work with sub-addressing.**
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[Sub-addressing ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_address#Sub-addressing ) is
a feature where any email to `user+some_arbitrary_tag@example.com` will end up
in the mailbox for `user@example.com` , and is supported by providers such as
Gmail, Google Apps, Yahoo! Mail, Outlook.com and iCloud, as well as the Postfix
mail server which you can run on-premises.
### Dedicated email address
This solution is really simple to set up: you just have to create an email
address dedicated to receive your users' replies to GitLab notifications.
### Catch-all mailbox
A [catch-all mailbox ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-all ) for a domain will
"catch all" the emails addressed to the domain that do not exist in the mail
server.
## How it works?
### 1. GitLab sends a notification email
When GitLab sends a notification and Reply by email is enabled, the `Reply-To`
header is set to the address defined in your GitLab configuration, with the
`%{key}` placeholder (if present) replaced by a specific "reply key". In
addition, this "reply key" is also added to the `References` header.
### 2. You reply to the notification email
When you reply to the notification email, your email client will:
- send the email to the `Reply-To` address it got from the notification email
- set the `In-Reply-To` header to the value of the `Message-ID` header from the
notification email
- set the `References` header to the value of the `Message-ID` plus the value of
the notification email's `References` header.
### 3. GitLab receives your reply to the notification email
When GitLab receives your reply, it will look for the "reply key" in the
following headers, in this order:
1. the `To` header
1. the `References` header
If it finds a reply key, it will be able to leave your reply as a comment on
the entity the notification was about (issue, merge request, commit...).
For more details about the `Message-ID` , `In-Reply-To` , and `References headers` ,
please consult [RFC 5322 ](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5322#section-3.6.4 ).
## Set it up
If you want to use Gmail / Google Apps with Reply by email, make sure you have
[IMAP access enabled ](https://support.google.com/mail/troubleshooter/1668960?hl=en#ts=1665018 )
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and [allowed less secure apps to access the account ](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6010255 )
or [turn-on 2-step validation ](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185839 )
and use [an application password ](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/185833 ).
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To set up a basic Postfix mail server with IMAP access on Ubuntu, follow the
[Postfix setup documentation ](reply_by_email_postfix_setup.md ).
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### Omnibus package installations
1. Find the `incoming_email` section in `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` , enable the
feature and fill in the details for your specific IMAP server and email account:
```ruby
# Configuration for Postfix mail server, assumes mailbox incoming@gitlab.example.com
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_enabled'] = true
# The email address including the `%{key}` placeholder that will be replaced to reference the item being replied to.
# The placeholder can be omitted but if present, it must appear in the "user" part of the address (before the `@` ).
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_address'] = "incoming+%{key}@gitlab.example.com"
# Email account username
# With third party providers, this is usually the full email address.
# With self-hosted email servers, this is usually the user part of the email address.
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_email'] = "incoming"
# Email account password
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_password'] = "[REDACTED]"
# IMAP server host
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_host'] = "gitlab.example.com"
# IMAP server port
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_port'] = 143
# Whether the IMAP server uses SSL
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_ssl'] = false
# Whether the IMAP server uses StartTLS
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_start_tls'] = false
# The mailbox where incoming mail will end up. Usually "inbox".
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_mailbox_name'] = "inbox"
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# The IDLE command timeout.
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_idle_timeout'] = 60
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```
```ruby
# Configuration for Gmail / Google Apps, assumes mailbox gitlab-incoming@gmail.com
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_enabled'] = true
# The email address including the `%{key}` placeholder that will be replaced to reference the item being replied to.
# The placeholder can be omitted but if present, it must appear in the "user" part of the address (before the `@` ).
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_address'] = "gitlab-incoming+%{key}@gmail.com"
# Email account username
# With third party providers, this is usually the full email address.
# With self-hosted email servers, this is usually the user part of the email address.
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_email'] = "gitlab-incoming@gmail.com"
# Email account password
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_password'] = "[REDACTED]"
# IMAP server host
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_host'] = "imap.gmail.com"
# IMAP server port
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_port'] = 993
# Whether the IMAP server uses SSL
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_ssl'] = true
# Whether the IMAP server uses StartTLS
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_start_tls'] = false
# The mailbox where incoming mail will end up. Usually "inbox".
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_mailbox_name'] = "inbox"
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# The IDLE command timeout.
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_idle_timeout'] = 60
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```
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```ruby
# Configuration for Microsoft Exchange mail server w/ IMAP enabled, assumes mailbox incoming@exchange.example.com
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_enabled'] = true
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# The email address replies are sent to - Exchange does not support sub-addressing so %{key} is not used here
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_address'] = "incoming@exchange.example.com"
# Email account username
# Typically this is the userPrincipalName (UPN)
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_email'] = "incoming@ad-domain.example.com"
# Email account password
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_password'] = "[REDACTED]"
# IMAP server host
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_host'] = "exchange.example.com"
# IMAP server port
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_port'] = 993
# Whether the IMAP server uses SSL
gitlab_rails['incoming_email_ssl'] = true
```
1. Reconfigure GitLab for the changes to take effect:
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```sh
sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure
```
1. Verify that everything is configured correctly:
```sh
sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:incoming_email:check
```
1. Reply by email should now be working.
### Installations from source
1. Go to the GitLab installation directory:
```sh
cd /home/git/gitlab
```
1. Find the `incoming_email` section in `config/gitlab.yml` , enable the feature
and fill in the details for your specific IMAP server and email account:
```sh
sudo editor config/gitlab.yml
```
```yaml
# Configuration for Postfix mail server, assumes mailbox incoming@gitlab.example.com
incoming_email:
enabled: true
# The email address including the `%{key}` placeholder that will be replaced to reference the item being replied to.
# The placeholder can be omitted but if present, it must appear in the "user" part of the address (before the `@` ).
address: "incoming+%{key}@gitlab.example.com"
# Email account username
# With third party providers, this is usually the full email address.
# With self-hosted email servers, this is usually the user part of the email address.
user: "incoming"
# Email account password
password: "[REDACTED]"
# IMAP server host
host: "gitlab.example.com"
# IMAP server port
port: 143
# Whether the IMAP server uses SSL
ssl: false
# Whether the IMAP server uses StartTLS
start_tls: false
# The mailbox where incoming mail will end up. Usually "inbox".
mailbox: "inbox"
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# The IDLE command timeout.
idle_timeout: 60
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```
```yaml
# Configuration for Gmail / Google Apps, assumes mailbox gitlab-incoming@gmail.com
incoming_email:
enabled: true
# The email address including the `%{key}` placeholder that will be replaced to reference the item being replied to.
# The placeholder can be omitted but if present, it must appear in the "user" part of the address (before the `@` ).
address: "gitlab-incoming+%{key}@gmail.com"
# Email account username
# With third party providers, this is usually the full email address.
# With self-hosted email servers, this is usually the user part of the email address.
user: "gitlab-incoming@gmail.com"
# Email account password
password: "[REDACTED]"
# IMAP server host
host: "imap.gmail.com"
# IMAP server port
port: 993
# Whether the IMAP server uses SSL
ssl: true
# Whether the IMAP server uses StartTLS
start_tls: false
# The mailbox where incoming mail will end up. Usually "inbox".
mailbox: "inbox"
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# The IDLE command timeout.
idle_timeout: 60
```
```yaml
# Configuration for Microsoft Exchange mail server w/ IMAP enabled, assumes mailbox incoming@exchange.example.com
incoming_email:
enabled: true
# The email address replies are sent to - Exchange does not support sub-addressing so %{key} is not used here
address: "incoming@exchange.example.com"
# Email account username
# Typically this is the userPrincipalName (UPN)
user: "incoming@ad-domain.example.com"
# Email account password
password: "[REDACTED]"
# IMAP server host
host: "exchange.example.com"
# IMAP server port
port: 993
# Whether the IMAP server uses SSL
ssl: true
# Whether the IMAP server uses StartTLS
start_tls: false
# The mailbox where incoming mail will end up. Usually "inbox".
mailbox: "inbox"
# The IDLE command timeout.
idle_timeout: 60
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```
1. Enable `mail_room` in the init script at `/etc/default/gitlab` :
```sh
sudo mkdir -p /etc/default
echo 'mail_room_enabled=true' | sudo tee -a /etc/default/gitlab
```
1. Restart GitLab:
```sh
sudo service gitlab restart
```
1. Verify that everything is configured correctly:
```sh
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:incoming_email:check RAILS_ENV=production
```
1. Reply by email should now be working.
### Development
1. Go to the GitLab installation directory.
1. Find the `incoming_email` section in `config/gitlab.yml` , enable the feature and fill in the details for your specific IMAP server and email account:
```yaml
# Configuration for Gmail / Google Apps, assumes mailbox gitlab-incoming@gmail.com
incoming_email:
enabled: true
# The email address including the `%{key}` placeholder that will be replaced to reference the item being replied to.
# The placeholder can be omitted but if present, it must appear in the "user" part of the address (before the `@` ).
address: "gitlab-incoming+%{key}@gmail.com"
# Email account username
# With third party providers, this is usually the full email address.
# With self-hosted email servers, this is usually the user part of the email address.
user: "gitlab-incoming@gmail.com"
# Email account password
password: "[REDACTED]"
# IMAP server host
host: "imap.gmail.com"
# IMAP server port
port: 993
# Whether the IMAP server uses SSL
ssl: true
# Whether the IMAP server uses StartTLS
start_tls: false
# The mailbox where incoming mail will end up. Usually "inbox".
mailbox: "inbox"
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# The IDLE command timeout.
idle_timeout: 60
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```
As mentioned, the part after `+` is ignored, and this will end up in the mailbox for `gitlab-incoming@gmail.com` .
1. Uncomment the `mail_room` line in your `Procfile` :
```yaml
mail_room: bundle exec mail_room -q -c config/mail_room.yml
```
1. Restart GitLab:
```sh
bundle exec foreman start
```
1. Verify that everything is configured correctly:
```sh
bundle exec rake gitlab:incoming_email:check RAILS_ENV=development
```
1. Reply by email should now be working.
