The OP had posted a detailed reply here as well, that they since deleted - I think because they didn't want to deal with all the pushback here.
Building on top of it let me solve a few major protocol headaches directly in the client:
The app filters out signature junk (like tiny social media and logo icons), pulls down just the raw attachments instead of downloading entire 20-year-old message threads, and handles thousands of images while gracefully managing Google's rate limits (to avoid connection drops).
I intentionally chose a local IMAP pipeline over the official Gmail API because of platform gatekeeping. To use the API for this, Google forces independent developers into a "Restricted Scope" tier, which requires an annual $15,000+ third-party security assessment.
Going the local IMAP route lets me bypass that completely while keeping user data 100% local and secure.
My main complaints:
- Why is this $30?
- Why is it Windows/Mac only?
- Why is it Gmail only when it's using IMAP?
But what really irks me is that you know you can do this exact thing with like two Linux CLI commands?
```
$ offlineimap -c <configfile with credentials>
$ mae export --maildir=test/fixtures/simple --output-dir=test/tmp_output
```