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Mail event not triggered, and debug logs "IDLE NO Need to SELECT first!" endlessly #925
Description
Similar to this one, not being triggered when receiving new mails: #889
import Imap, { } from 'imap'
const imapClient = new Imap({
user: process.env.EMAIL_USERNAME!,
password: process.env.EMAIL_PASSWORD!,
host: process.env.IMAP_SERVER!,
port: Number(process.env.IMAP_PORT),
tls: true,
debug: console.log,
})
imapClient.on('mail', (num: number) => {
console.log('received mail', num)
})My debug output is different than that one, it's like this and logging endlessly:
[connection] Connected to host
<= '* OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4 IMAP4rev1 ID AUTH=PLAIN AUTH=LOGIN AUTH=XOAUTH2 NAMESPACE] QQMail XMIMAP4Server ready'
=> 'A0 CAPABILITY'
<= '* CAPABILITY IMAP4 IMAP4rev1 XLIST MOVE IDLE XAPPLEPUSHSERVICE SASL-IR AUTH=PLAIN AUTH=LOGIN AUTH=XOAUTH2 NAMESPACE CHILDREN ID UIDPLUS'
<= 'A0 OK CAPABILITY Completed'
=> 'A1 LOGIN "xxxxxxx@qq.com" "xxxxxxx"'
<= 'A1 OK Success login ok'
=> 'A2 CAPABILITY'
<= '* CAPABILITY IMAP4 IMAP4rev1 XLIST MOVE IDLE XAPPLEPUSHSERVICE NAMESPACE CHILDREN ID UIDPLUS COMPRESS=DEFLATE'
<= 'A2 OK CAPABILITY Completed'
=> 'A3 NAMESPACE'
<= '* NAMESPACE (("" "/")) NIL NIL'
<= 'A3 OK NAMESPACE Success'
=> 'A4 LIST "" ""'
<= '* LIST (\\NoSelect) "/" "/"'
<= 'A4 OK LIST completed'
=> 'IDLE IDLE'
<= 'IDLE NO Need to SELECT first!'
=> 'IDLE IDLE'
<= 'IDLE NO Need to SELECT first!'
=> 'IDLE IDLE'
<= 'IDLE NO Need to SELECT first!'
=> 'IDLE IDLE'
<= 'IDLE NO Need to SELECT first!'
=> 'IDLE IDLE'
<= 'IDLE NO Need to SELECT first!'
=> 'IDLE IDLE'
<= 'IDLE NO Need to SELECT first!'
=> 'IDLE IDLE'
<= 'IDLE NO Need to SELECT first!'
Can it be a server side issue?
Activity
exocognosis commentedon Sep 9, 2026
I prepared a local patch for the repeated IDLE retry behavior described here. Rejected requests now wait for the configured keepalive interval. The regression test fails on the original code and passes with the patch. The full test suite also passes. This does not replace the application's mailbox-selection step.
Is this still affecting your application? If you need implementation support, I propose $500 to integrate the patch into one application, verify mailbox selection and new-mail delivery with a test account, and provide test results and rollback instructions. This is an independent service offer. No repository bounty is assumed. I would confirm scope and payment terms before starting client work.