📧 Wiedervorlage - Email Reminders Made Simple

Turn any email into a reminder by BCCing yourself! Just add [email protected] to get reminded in 2 days. No apps, no complexity - just email.

✨ Why You'll Love This

Imagine you're emailing a client and want to follow up in 3 days. Just BCC [email protected] and you're done! The service will:

1. Confirm immediately - "✅ Reminder set for 3 days"
2. Remind you on time - Original email delivered back to your inbox
3. Work with any email - Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud, and more

🚀 Key Features

• 📬 Works with your existing email - No custom domain needed (Gmail, Outlook, etc.)
• ⏰ Flexible timing - Minutes, hours, days, or weeks (+30m, +1h, +7d, +2w)
• 🌍 Multi-language - 13 languages supported (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese, Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, Ukrainian, Korean) + add your own
• 🔒 Privacy-first - Runs on your own server, your emails stay private
• 💪 Reliable - Saves reminders locally, optional monitoring with BetterStack
• 🎯 Smart - Processes all emails (even if marked as read), tracks processed messages
• 🧹 Clean inbox - Automatically moves processed reminder emails to trash

🎯 Quick Start (5 minutes)

Using Gmail? Here's the fastest setup:

1. Clone & Install

   git clone https://github.com/mariusangelmann/Wiedervorlage.git
   cd Wiedervorlage
   npm install
   

2. Get Gmail App Password

   • Enable 2FA: https://myaccount.google.com/signinoptions/two-step-verification
   • Generate password: https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords
   • Choose "Mail" → Copy the 16-character password

3. Configure (create .env file)

   # Gmail users: just copy the template!
   cp .env.gmail .env
   # Then edit .env with your email and app password
   

   Or manually create .env:

   [email protected]
   EMAIL_PASSWORD=xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx  # Your app password
   IMAP_SERVER=imap.gmail.com
   SMTP_SERVER=smtp.gmail.com
   BASE_DOMAIN=gmail.com
   

4. Run

   npm run build
   npm start
   

5. Test - Send yourself an email and BCC [email protected]

Other providers? Check the full setup guide below.

📖 How It Works

💡 The Smart Way (Works with Gmail, Outlook, etc.)

No custom domain needed! If you use Gmail, Outlook, or any provider with plus addressing:

1. Just BCC yourself with a plus address:

   To: [email protected]
   BCC: [email protected]
   

2. The service processes it and sends you:

   • ✅ Immediate confirmation that your reminder is set
   • ⏰ Your original email back in 3 days
   • 🗑️ Moves the activation email to trash (keeps inbox clean!)

That's it! No need to set up a custom domain - use your existing email's plus addressing!

🎯 Examples for Different Providers

Gmail users:

BCC: [email protected]     → Reminder in 1 hour
BCC: [email protected]     → Reminder in 2 days  
BCC: [email protected]     → Reminder in 1 week

Outlook users:

BCC: [email protected]  → Reminder in 30 minutes
BCC: [email protected]   → Reminder in 7 days

📧 How the Service Works

1. You send an email and include a reminder address (To, CC, or BCC)
2. Service catches it when checking your inbox (reads all emails, not just unread!)
3. Saves the reminder and sends you a confirmation
4. Delivers the reminder at the specified time

⏱️ Time Formats

• Seconds: +30s (30 seconds)
• Minutes: +15m (15 minutes)
• Hours: +1h (1 hour)
• Days: +7d (7 days)
• Weeks: +2w (2 weeks)

⚙️ Setting Things Up

Password Authentication (Default)

For traditional password authentication, configure these in your .env file:

Example with Gmail (using app password):

IMAP_SERVER=imap.gmail.com
SMTP_SERVER=smtp.gmail.com
[email protected]
EMAIL_PASSWORD=abcd efgh ijkl mnop  # Your 16-character app password
BASE_DOMAIN=yourdomain.com
AUTH_METHOD=password  # This is the default

Example with other providers:

IMAP_SERVER=imap.example.com
SMTP_SERVER=smtp.example.com
[email protected]
EMAIL_PASSWORD=your-password
BASE_DOMAIN=example.com

Note: Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo require app passwords when 2FA is enabled. See the provider configuration section below for details.

OAuth2 Authentication

For OAuth2 authentication (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo), you'll need:

1. Set up OAuth2 credentials with your email provider (see detailed provider configurations below)

2. Configure OAuth2 in your .env file:

# Basic configuration
IMAP_SERVER=imap.gmail.com
SMTP_SERVER=smtp.gmail.com
[email protected]
BASE_DOMAIN=yourdomain.com
AUTH_METHOD=oauth2

# OAuth2 credentials
OAUTH2_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id
OAUTH2_CLIENT_SECRET=your-client-secret
OAUTH2_REFRESH_TOKEN=your-refresh-token
OAUTH2_PROVIDER=google  # or microsoft, yahoo

# Optional: if you already have an access token
OAUTH2_ACCESS_TOKEN=your-access-token

Email Provider Configuration

Gmail / Google Workspace

Server Settings:

IMAP_SERVER=imap.gmail.com
IMAP_PORT=993
SMTP_SERVER=smtp.gmail.com
SMTP_PORT=587  # or 465 for SSL

🔐 Recommended: App Password Method (Simple & Quick)

Gmail requires either an app password or OAuth2. App passwords are much easier to set up:

1. Enable 2-Factor Authentication (required for app passwords)

   • Go to Google Account Security
   • Click on "2-Step Verification" and follow the setup

2. Generate App Password

   • Go to App Passwords
   • Select "Mail" as the app
   • Select your device type
   • Copy the generated 16-character password

3. Configure your .env file:

   [email protected]
   EMAIL_PASSWORD=your-16-char-app-password  # Use app password here!
   AUTH_METHOD=password  # Keep as password, not oauth2
   

Important: Use the app password instead of your regular Gmail password!

Alternative: OAuth2 Method (Advanced)

• Set up OAuth2 Guide
• Google OAuth2 Playground
• Requires Google Cloud Console setup and is more complex

Microsoft 365 / Outlook.com

Server Settings:

IMAP_SERVER=outlook.office365.com
IMAP_PORT=993
SMTP_SERVER=smtp-mail.outlook.com
SMTP_PORT=587

Setup Guides:

• Enable IMAP in Outlook.com
• Create App Password (for password auth)
• Register OAuth2 App

OAuth2 Setup:

1. Go to Azure Portal
2. Register a new application
3. Add permissions: IMAP.AccessAsUser.All, SMTP.Send
4. Create client secret
5. Use authorization code flow to get tokens

Yahoo Mail

Server Settings:

IMAP_SERVER=imap.mail.yahoo.com
IMAP_PORT=993
SMTP_SERVER=smtp.mail.yahoo.com
SMTP_PORT=587  # or 465 for SSL

Setup Guides:

• Yahoo IMAP Settings
• Generate App Password
• Yahoo Developer Apps

OAuth2 Setup:

1. Go to Yahoo Developer Dashboard
2. Create a new app
3. Get OAuth2 credentials
4. Use authorization flow to get refresh token

iCloud Mail

Server Settings:

IMAP_SERVER=imap.mail.me.com
IMAP_PORT=993
SMTP_SERVER=smtp.mail.me.com
SMTP_PORT=587

Setup Guides:

• iCloud Mail server settings
• Generate app-specific password
• Using iCloud+ Custom Email Domain

Note: iCloud requires app-specific passwords when 2FA is enabled. OAuth2 is not supported.

ProtonMail

Server Settings (via ProtonMail Bridge):

IMAP_SERVER=127.0.0.1
IMAP_PORT=1143
SMTP_SERVER=127.0.0.1
SMTP_PORT=1025

Setup Guides:

• ProtonMail Bridge Setup
• Bridge Configuration Guide
• IMAP/SMTP Settings

Note: ProtonMail requires the Bridge application running locally. Use the credentials provided by Bridge.

FastMail

Server Settings:

IMAP_SERVER=imap.fastmail.com
IMAP_PORT=993
SMTP_SERVER=smtp.fastmail.com
SMTP_PORT=587  # or 465 for SSL

Setup Guides:

• FastMail Server Settings
• App Passwords
• Plus Addressing Guide

Note: FastMail recommends using app-specific passwords for third-party apps.

Optional language settings

# Supported languages: en, de, fr, es, it, pt, nl, ja, zh, hi, ar, uk, ko
LANGUAGE=en # Default is English
CUSTOM_TRANSLATIONS_PATH=path/to/custom-translations.json # optional

Usage

1. Compile service:

npm run build

2. Start service:

npm start

For development with auto-reload:

npm run dev

How It Works

💡 The Smart Way (Works with Gmail, Outlook, etc.)

No custom domain needed! If you use Gmail, Outlook, or any provider with plus addressing:

1. Just BCC yourself with a plus address:

   To: [email protected]
   BCC: [email protected]
   

2. The service processes it and sends you:

   • ✅ Immediate confirmation that your reminder is set
   • ⏰ Your original email back in 3 days
   • 🗑️ Moves the activation email to trash (keeps inbox clean!)

That's it! No need to set up a custom domain - use your existing email's plus addressing!

🎯 Examples for Different Providers

Gmail users:

BCC: [email protected]     → Reminder in 1 hour
BCC: [email protected]     → Reminder in 2 days  
BCC: [email protected]     → Reminder in 1 week

Outlook users:

BCC: [email protected]  → Reminder in 30 minutes
BCC: [email protected]   → Reminder in 7 days

📧 How the Service Works

1. You send an email and include a reminder address (To, CC, or BCC)
2. Service catches it when checking your inbox (reads all emails, not just unread!)
3. Saves the reminder and sends you a confirmation
4. Delivers the reminder at the specified time

⏱️ Time Formats

• Seconds: +30s (30 seconds)
• Minutes: +15m (15 minutes)
• Hours: +1h (1 hour)
• Days: +7d (7 days)
• Weeks: +2w (2 weeks)

🔧 Configuration Options

Essential Settings

Optional Settings

Advanced Settings

Want It in Another Language?

You can provide your own translations by creating a JSON file with the following structure (this example is for French):

{
  "language": "fr",
  "translations": {
    "timeUnits": {
      "seconds": "secondes",
      "minutes": "minutes",
      "hours": "heures",
      "days": "jours",
      "weeks": "semaines"
    },
    "emails": {
      "confirmationSubject": "Rappel créé",
      "confirmationBody": "Votre rappel a été créé et sera livré dans {timeStr}.\nLivraison prévue: {deliveryTime}",
      "reminderSubject": "RAPPEL: {subject}",
      "reminderBody": "Voici votre rappel demandé (Intervalle: {interval}).\n\nRappel créé le: {createdTime}\n\nMessage d'origine:\n{separator}\n{body}",
      "unknownInterval": "Intervalle inconnu"
    },
    "console": {
      "serviceStart": "Démarrage du service de rappel avec intervalle de vérification de {interval}s",
      "debugMode": "Mode debug: {enabled}",
      "mainLoopError": "Erreur dans la boucle principale:",
      "heartbeatEnabled": "Surveillance BetterStack activée (URL: {url}, Intervalle: {interval}s)"
    }
  }
}

📬 Email Provider Compatibility

🛠️ Troubleshooting

🎉 Contributing

Found a bug? Have an idea? PRs welcome!

This is my personal project that I use daily, so I'm always interested in improvements that make it more useful.

📄 License

Apache 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.