Account Management

Viewing Account Info

See details about your connected accounts:

$ pontius account info
Account: Work ([email protected])
  Label: Work
  Display Name: Stuart Lansdale
  Provider: Gmail
  Aliases: 3 configured
  Status: Connected

Multiple Accounts

Pontius supports multiple email accounts. For most commands, Pontius automatically detects the correct account based on the email UID. For alias, domain, and watch commands, use --account to target a specific account:

# Add alias to specific account
$ pontius alias add [email protected] --account Work
# Add domain to specific account
$ pontius domain add yourdomain.com --account Personal
# Add watch address to specific account
$ pontius watch add [email protected] --account Work

Default Account

If you don't specify an account, Pontius uses the first account in your config. For read/reply/archive operations, Pontius detects the correct account from the email UID automatically.

Setting Display Name

The display name appears in the "From" field of sent emails:

$ pontius account set-name "Stuart Lansdale"
Display name updated.

This sets the name for your main account email. Alias display names are set separately with pontius alias name.

Setting Account Label

Labels are shown in Pontius to help you identify accounts:

$ pontius account set-label "Work"
Label updated.

Labels appear in the TUI tabs and in CLI output. Use short, descriptive labels like "Work", "Personal", "Client A", etc.

Adding Accounts

To add a new email account, use the TUI:

$ pontius

Navigate to Settings → Add Account and enter:

Email address
App password (not your regular password)
Display name
Account label

Security

Account passwords are stored in your system's secure keychain (macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager, or Linux Secret Service). They are never exposed to AI tools — only CLI commands are visible.

Removing Accounts

To remove an account, use the TUI:

Launch pontius
Go to Settings
Select the account to remove
Choose Remove Account

Watch Addresses

Watch addresses are email addresses that forward to your account. Pontius uses these to properly identify and display emails from forwarding addresses.

# List watch addresses
$ pontius watch
Account: Work
  - [email protected]
  - [email protected]
# Add a watch address
$ pontius watch add [email protected] --account Work
Added.
# Remove a watch address
$ pontius watch remove [email protected] --account Work
Removed.

When to Use Watch Addresses

Use watch addresses for notification addresses that forward to your inbox, like GitHub notifications or monitoring alerts. This helps Pontius correctly display who the email is "from" in the list view.

Config File Location

Account configuration is stored at:

~/.config/pontius/config.json

This file contains account metadata (email, label, aliases) but notpasswords — those are in your system keychain.

Manual Editing

You can manually edit config.json, but it's safer to use the CLI or TUI commands. If you edit manually, restart Pontius to pick up changes.