Replace 'post reply' with '--replying-to' option on 'post draft'

[odrobnik]

Summary

Replaces the separate post reply command with --replying-to <uid> and --reply-mailbox <name> options on post draft.

Changes

1. Remove post reply command

• Deleted entire Reply struct (~145 lines)
• Removed from subcommands array

2. Add reply functionality to post draft

• --replying-to <uid> - UID of message to reply to
• --reply-mailbox <name> - Mailbox containing original (default: INBOX)
• Fetches original message and sets threading headers:
  • In-Reply-To from original.messageId
  • References chain (appends original's Message-ID)

3. Fix blockquote CSS

• Added blockquote p { margin: 0; } to remove excessive vertical padding
• Makes Markdown quotes more compact

Why This Design?

Single Unified Command

• One command for all drafts (simple or replies)
• No duplicate logic between draft and reply

Full Format Support

• ✅ Markdown with selective quoting
• ✅ HTML for rich replies
• ✅ Plain text for simple replies

AI-Friendly Workflow

AI agents can now:

1. Fetch original: post fetch 12345 --json
2. Generate Markdown with selective quotes (> quoted text)
3. Create threaded draft: post draft --replying-to 12345 --body reply.md

Markdown handles the quoting style — no CLI auto-quote logic needed.

Usage Examples

# Reply to message in INBOX (default)
post draft --replying-to 12345 --body reply.md \
  --from me@example.com --to them@example.com \
  --subject "Re: Original Subject"

# Reply to message in Archive
post draft --replying-to 5678 --reply-mailbox Archive --body reply.md

# Markdown with selective quote
cat > reply.md << 'EOF'
Thanks for reaching out!

> Would you consider moving to California?

I'm settled in Austria for now, but happy to discuss remote!
EOF

post draft --replying-to 12345 --body reply.md

Testing

✅ Created reply draft to UID 13106 with:

• Markdown body with selective quote
• Threading headers (In-Reply-To, References)
• Compact blockquote rendering

Breaking Change

Removes post reply command.

Migration:

# Old
post reply 12345 --body "My reply"

# New
post draft --replying-to 12345 --body "My reply"

Closes

#11

[chatgpt-codex-connector]

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[chatgpt-codex-connector]

Restore a complete reply workflow after removing post reply

Removing Reply.self from the command list drops the only path that auto-derived sender, recipients, and Re: subject from the original message, but the new --replying-to support in post draft only adds threading headers and still depends on explicit --from, --to, and --subject. In practice, existing post reply <uid> --body ... scripts now have no equivalent one-command replacement and the documented migration to post draft --replying-to <uid> --body ... fails with missing required options before execution.

Useful? React with 👍 / 👎.

[odrobnik]

Update: Auto-Derive from/to/subject

Good catch by the bot! The initial implementation required explicit --from, --to, --subject even when using --replying-to, which broke the convenience of the old post reply command.

Fixed in commit 3c8dba3

Now --from, --to, and --subject are optional when --replying-to is used. They auto-derive from the original message:

Field	Auto-derived from
--from	original.to.first (your address from original's recipients)
--to	original.from (reply to original sender)
--subject	"Re: " + original.subject (add Re: prefix if missing)

New Usage

# Minimal reply (auto-derives from/to/subject)
post draft --replying-to 13106 --body reply.md

# Explicit override (if needed)
post draft --replying-to 13106 --body reply.md --to custom@example.com

# Old workflow still works
post draft --from me@example.com --to them@example.com --subject "Test" --body draft.md

Migration Now Complete

# Old
post reply 13106 --body "My reply"

# New (exact equivalent)
post draft --replying-to 13106 --body "My reply"

✅ Tested with UID 1592 — auto-derived from/to/subject correctly.

[odrobnik]

Update: Added --reply-all Flag

Now supports reply-all workflow!

Changes in commit a73a252

1. Added --reply-all flag to post draft

   • When used with --replying-to, includes all original recipients in CC
   • Automatically excludes sender and primary recipient from CC list

2. Added cc field to MessageDetail struct

   • Populated from SwiftMail's MessageInfo.cc
   • Exposed in JSON output and CLI fetch

Usage

# Simple reply (only original sender)
post draft --replying-to 13106 --body reply.md

# Reply-all (includes all original recipients in CC)
post draft --replying-to 13106 --reply-all --body reply.md

# Explicit CC override
post draft --replying-to 13106 --cc custom@example.com --body reply.md

Logic

When --reply-all is set:

• to: Original sender (original.from)
• cc: All addresses from original.to + original.cc, excluding:
  • Your address (auto-derived from)
  • Original sender (already in to)

✅ Tested with UID 1593 — no CC added (Flo's email had no other recipients)

[odrobnik]

Update: Made --body Optional for Empty Reply Drafts

You can now create empty reply drafts for inline editing in your email client (like the Mail.app screenshot).

Changes in commit 8363993

• --body is now optional when --replying-to is used
• Creates empty body for inline composition
• Still required for non-reply drafts

Usage

# Empty reply draft (for inline editing)
post draft --replying-to 13106

# Creates draft with:
# ✅ Auto-derived from/to/subject
# ✅ In-Reply-To and References headers
# ✅ Empty body (compose in Mail.app)

Why This Is Useful

Matches the workflow in the screenshot:

1. Create empty reply with threading
2. Open in Mail.app
3. Compose inline with full UI (formatting, attachments, etc.)

Perfect for when you want the threading headers but prefer to write in the native email client.

✅ Tested with UID 1598

[odrobnik]

Update: Auto-Quote Original When Body Omitted

Now when you omit --body, it auto-quotes the entire original message (exactly like Mail.app Reply button).

Changes in commit e323c49

When --body is omitted, the draft includes:

1. Two blank lines at top (cursor position)
2. Attribution header: On DD.MM.YYYY, at HH:MM, sender wrote:
3. Full quoted original (Markdown, each line prefixed with >)

Usage

# Auto-quote entire original (like Mail.app Reply)
post draft --replying-to 12731

# Custom body with selective quotes
post draft --replying-to 12731 --body reply.md

Example Output

On 04.03.2026, at 14:50, "Dr. Andrea Weihsengruber" <tophaut@ymail.com> wrote:
>
> Sehr geehrter Herr Drobnik,
>
> Herr Dr. Weihsengruber könnte ihnen das entfernen.
> ...

The blank lines at top give you space to type your reply inline in Mail.app, exactly like the native Reply workflow.

✅ Tested with UID 1601 — matches Mail.app Reply behavior!

[odrobnik]

Fix: Markdown Format Detection for Auto-Quoted Replies

Fixed the format detection so auto-quoted replies render as proper HTML blockquotes instead of literal > characters.

Changes in commit 14d8027

Problem: Format was detected before creating the auto-quoted body, so it always detected as plain text.

Solution: Moved format detection to after resolving the final body:

// Resolve final body first
let finalBody = body ?? derivedBody ?? ""

// Then detect format from resolved content
let format: PostServer.BodyFormat
switch detectDraftBodyInputFormat(finalBody) {
case .markdown: format = .markdown  // Now correctly detected!
...
}

Result

Before: Literal > characters in email
After: Proper blockquote with gray left border

Auto-quoted replies now render correctly in Mail.app! 🎉

✅ Tested with UID 1602

[odrobnik]

Fix: Attribution Header Inside Blockquote + Empty Top Lines

Fixed the quote formatting to match Mail.app's native Reply exactly.

Changes in commit a1a8e56

1. Attribution header now inside blockquote:

   > On 04.03.2026, at 14:50, "Dr. Andrea..." wrote:

2. Two blank lines at top (with spaces to prevent trimming):

    
    
   > On ... wrote:

Result

Now renders exactly like Mail.app Reply:

• ✅ Empty paragraphs at top (cursor position)
• ✅ Attribution inside gray blockquote bar
• ✅ Full quoted original below

Perfect for inline editing! 🎉

✅ Tested with UID 1606

[odrobnik]

Fix: Preserve Paragraph Breaks in Quoted Text

Fixed paragraph spacing in quoted replies using <br> tags.

Changes in commit 88f57a4

Problem: Standard Markdown blockquotes collapse consecutive lines, so empty lines (>) don't create visual paragraph breaks.

Solution: Use > <br> for empty lines in quoted text:

> Para 1
> <br>
> Para 2
> <br>
> Para 3

This ensures proper paragraph spacing in the HTML rendering.

Result

Quoted text now has proper paragraph breaks matching the original email formatting, instead of being compressed into a single block.

✅ Tested with UID 1610

[odrobnik]

Known Issue: Blockquote Paragraph Breaks

The Markdown we generate is correct with proper > lines for blank lines:

> Para 1
>
> Para 2

However, SwiftText's MarkdownToHTML converter collapses consecutive blockquote lines, losing paragraph breaks in the HTML output.

Filed SwiftText Issue

SwiftText #8: MarkdownToHTML collapses blockquote paragraphs
Cocoanetics/SwiftText#8

Current Workaround

None yet. The quoted text will have compressed paragraphs until SwiftText is fixed.

Long-term Fix

Once SwiftText #8 is resolved, the paragraph breaks will render correctly without any changes to Post code.