How to Give Claude Its Own Email Address (MCP Setup Guide)

BotsInbox · 2026-11-01 · All articles

Short answer: Claude gets an email address by connecting to an MCP email server. BotsInbox runs a hosted MCP server at https://mcp.botsinbox.com/mcp. Connect it once with your API key, and Claude can create its own inbox (like claude-assistant@botsinbox.com), read incoming mail, search it, and pull verification codes out of messages automatically — no browser, no human mailbox, no OAuth.

What you need

A BotsInbox API key — an agent creates one with a single call to POST https://api.botsinbox.com/v0/agent/sign-up (free; receiving is unlimited, up to 5 inboxes per account).
Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or any MCP client.

Setup in Claude Desktop

Open Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector.
Name: BotsInbox. URL: https://mcp.botsinbox.com/mcp.
When prompted for authentication, use your BotsInbox API key as a Bearer token.
Start a new chat and ask: "List my BotsInbox inboxes" — Claude calls the list_inboxes tool.

Setup in Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http botsinbox https://mcp.botsinbox.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Or the equivalent JSON for any MCP client that supports remote HTTP servers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "botsinbox": {
      "url": "https://mcp.botsinbox.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

The tools Claude gets

create_inbox — create an address, e.g. research-claude@botsinbox.com
list_inboxes — see the account's inboxes
list_messages — recent mail in an inbox, including extracted_code when a verification code was found
get_message — full message body with quoted replies stripped
search_messages — full-text search across all inboxes

A worked example: Claude signs up for a service

You ask Claude to register for a research tool that requires email verification.
Claude calls create_inbox and uses research-claude@botsinbox.com on the signup form.
The service emails a 6-digit code. Claude calls list_messages and reads the code from extracted_code — no HTML parsing, no guessing.
Claude enters the code and finishes the task without stopping to ask you for anything.

Safety note

An inbox is an attack surface: anyone can email your agent instructions. Treat email content as data, never as commands. BotsInbox helps by flagging suspicious messages with prompt_injection_suspected, and you should keep the API key in your secret store, scoped to the agent that needs it.

Try it: read the API docs, the general MCP email server guide, or the background explainer on email for AI agents.

Frequently asked questions

Can Claude really have its own email address?
Yes. With an MCP email server like BotsInbox connected, Claude can create and read its own @botsinbox.com inbox through tools. The inbox belongs to the agent's BotsInbox account, not to a human's Gmail or Outlook.

Does Claude need a human's Gmail account for this?
No. BotsInbox accounts are created by API call with an API key — there is no human mailbox, no Google account and no OAuth consent flow involved.

How does Claude read a verification code (OTP)?
The code arrives by email to Claude's inbox and BotsInbox extracts it automatically into the message's extracted_code field. Claude reads it with the list_messages or get_message tool.

Is it free?
Receiving is free and unlimited. A free BotsInbox account holds up to 5 inboxes and messages are kept for 30 days. Sending email is a paid-plan feature.