Mail is a Ruby library for generating, parsing, and sending email messages with a simple, object-oriented interface.
The library addresses the need for straightforward email handling in Ruby applications by providing a unified interface to email operations. It wraps network actions through proxy methods to Net::SMTP, Net::POP3, and similar standard libraries, allowing developers to work with email without managing low-level protocol details. Built as a pure Ruby implementation with modern Ruby's text encoding capabilities in mind, the tool handles message generation, parsing, and transmission while exposing the underlying email structure for direct manipulation when needed.
Mail suits any Ruby project requiring email functionality, from simple transactional email to complex message parsing. The library's object-oriented design makes it accessible for basic use cases while remaining flexible for developers who need fine-grained control over email internals. It supports RFC5322 for basic email structure, RFC6532 for UTF-8 headers, and RFC2045-2049 for multipart messages, covering standard email requirements across modern applications.
The project maintains active testing across multiple Ruby versions including recent releases and maintenance branches, with every commit validated through continuous integration. The maintainers explicitly welcome contributions from users and actively encourage community involvement through issue triage, documentation improvements, and feature additions. The library is designed to evolve with new Ruby releases, with the team committing to support preview versions and multiple maintenance branches as they are released.
