Muttator is a free add-on for the Thunderbird mail client, which makes it look and behave like the Vim text editor. It has similar key bindings and you could call it a modal mail client, as key bindings differ according to which mode you are in. For example, it the same keys can select the next message while the message list has focus or can scroll down an existing message when the message preview is selected. It also adds commands for accessing most Thunderbird functionality. E.g.,

will add Vimperator's mailing list to your address book.

You can even extend Muttator by dropping a JavaScript file in its plugin directory. Browse through our wiki pages for nice tips to customize Muttator and for frequently asked questions.

Credits

Muttator was initially written by Martin Stubenschrott but has found many other contributors in the meanwhile.

If you appreciate the work on Muttator and want to encourage us working on it more, you can send us greetings, patches, or donations:

If you rather prefer getting some nice products for your money, you can also support us by buying some cool merchandise like t-shirts or mugs. Of course, as we believe in free, open source software, only support us financially if you really like Muttator and the money doesn't hurt — otherwise just use it, recommend it and like it :)

Download

Warning: Muttator is still not as mature as Vimperator. Therefore, not all features will work yet and there is hardly any documentation. However, I use it myself already to manage my mails. Furthermore, the Thunderbird 3 internals keep on changing a lot, so features might break regularly until Thunderbird stabilizes more.

Features

• Vim-like key bindings (h, j, k, l, gg, G, 0, $, ZZ, <C-f>, etc.)
• Ex commands (:quit, :goto Inbox, ...) with a proper command line
• Tab completion available for all commands, showing suggestions while you type
• Hint mode (start with f to follow a link)
• Extensions! Yes, you can extend Muttator's functionality with scripts just like you can extend Firefox or Thunderbird with extensions
• Explore JavaScript objects with :echo window and even context-sensitive tab completion
• Easily customizable GUI (easily hide all GUI elements with :set gui=)
• Ability to :source JavaScript files, and to use a ~/.muttatorrc file
• Count supported for many commands (3gi will open the third inbox)
• Beep on errors
• :map and :command support (and feedkeys() for script writers).
• :time support for profiling
• Move the text cursor and select text with Vim keys and a visual mode
• External editor support
• Macros to replay key strokes
• AutoCommands to execute action on certain events
• Many other Vimperator features are available when in -- MESSAGE -- mode
• A partial :help system, explaining some commands, mappings and options
• Much more...

Screenshots

• 
  Muttator showing the same type of Hints to follow links with the keyboard as Vimperator
• 
  Muttator's completion system
• 
  Most chrome can be hidden in Muttator to give the messages more room

Scripts

While Muttator offers already lots of cool features, we cannot and don't want to include every feature directly in the core. Therefore you can enhance the Muttator experience by adding plugins which add new commands or mappings. Install these plugins by copying them to the ~/.muttator/plugin/ directory (or %HOME%\muttator\plugin on Windows) unless noted differently. If you have written a cool plugin which is useful to a wider audience, please submit it.

If you don't care about features but just use Muttator for the sexy looks, you can also theme that by using color schemes . You can install them by copying them to the ~/.muttator/colors/ directory (%HOME%\muttator\colors on Windows) and use it with :colorscheme <name>. You can also submit your own color scheme .

Bugs