[verdict][generated prompt][source: shortwave.com]
Can I vibecode Shortwave?
// buildable in a weekend, but real gaps stay open
The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a real weekend or multi-day project. For Shortwave, group Gmail conversations, add bundles and todos, and index mail locally. The hard boundary is deep gmail semantics, cloud search, ai, team features, and mobile sync, plus mail infrastructure, integrations, and client polish.
confidence: medium
what it is: Group Gmail conversations, add bundles and todos, and index mail locally
Buildability index · an editorial game
- Price 8.5 $/month weight: plus 1
- Time multi-day weight: plus 1
- Category email no weight
- Moat infrastructure scale · integrations · execution quality weight: minus 4
- Confidence medium weight: zero
- What you lose 5 items weight: minus 2
- Site shortwave.com (si apre in una nuova scheda) no weight
The moat outweighs the price: rebuilding this is a project, not an evening.
Gioco editoriale: il verdetto dice se un agente può, l’indice se conviene.
What you build
Connect an existing Gmail mailbox, group conversations into bundles with todos, index messages locally, provide a fast focused inbox, and send through the account's normal SMTP service.
what you need
- existing IMAP and SMTP mailbox
- OAuth client credentials where required
- desktop keychain access
- local disk space
Editorial comparison targets the Personal plan and a personal desktop mail client DIY substitute. Recheck price before merge.
The prompt
A weekend with a coding agent. The gaps that stay are right below, under “what you lose”.
Build a personal replacement for Shortwave in an empty repository.
Use Tauri 2, React, TypeScript, SQLite, IMAP, SMTP, and OAuth where available; do not offer alternative stacks.
The core loop is: connect an existing Gmail mailbox, group conversations into bundles with todos, index messages locally, provide a fast focused inbox, and send through the account's normal SMTP service.
Make the first run work locally with one documented command.
Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward.
Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials.
Support one IMAP and SMTP account with credentials stored only in the OS keychain.
Index headers and message bodies locally with resumable sync and a visible status page.
Implement standards-based threading, folders, labels, archive, snooze, drafts, and search.
Render HTML email in a locked-down sandbox and block remote images by default.
Send multipart messages with attachments and preserve a local copy of every draft.
Add export, local cache reset, account reconnect, diagnostics, and safe logging.
Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states.
Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs.
Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path.
Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps.
Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane.
Deliberately leave out running a public mail server.
Deliberately leave out shared team inboxes and sales workflows.
Deliberately leave out mobile push services and provider-scale spam filtering.
Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used. Prompt generated from the data on this page, not reviewed by hand yet. In English on purpose — it is the language coding agents work best in.
What you lose
- deep Gmail semantics, cloud search, AI, team features, and mobile sync
- mail hosting and deliverability
- push on every platform
- advanced team collaboration
- provider-specific AI and search
Why people still pay
People still pay for Shortwave because an email client can be rebuilt; operating a trusted mail service with excellent deliverability cannot. The recurring cost buys IMAP quirks, OAuth, MIME, threading, search, attachments, offline sync, notifications, secure storage, and provider changes, not just the visible interface.
moat: Infrastructure scale Integrations Execution quality what a moat is
mail infrastructure, integrations, and client polish
Free alternatives
Not in the mood to build it? These already exist, they are free or open source, and we checked them one by one.
Who has already built it
Starting from here is still vibecoding: the prompt is for when you want it exactly your way.
- mailcow (opens in a new tab) — Popular open-source mail-server suite that demonstrates the operational complexity of hosted mail.
Do you agree?
The vote balance
Ancora nessun voto: il tuo è il primo.
Nessun voto ancora — il primo pesa.