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Userli

Userli is a free and open-source web application to (self-) manage email accounts and encrypt their mailboxes. It is developed by systemli.org, a non-profit tech collective that runs it for its own email service, and released under the AGPL v3.

Userli is the user database and self-service portal of a mail server. It does not send or store emails itself. Instead, Dovecot and Postfix ask Userli who is allowed to log in, which addresses exist and where mail has to go.

Userli start page

Who is this documentation for?

  • Users

    You have (or want) an email account on a server that runs Userli. Learn how to register, sign in, protect your account and manage aliases.

    User Guide

  • Admins and domain admins

    You manage the accounts of a mail service or of a single domain. Learn how to manage users, aliases, invite codes, domains and settings.

    Admin Guide

  • Server operators

    You install and operate Userli and connect it to Postfix, Dovecot and other services.

    Operations

  • Developers

    You want to fix a bug, build a feature, translate or improve these docs.

    Development

Features

For users

  • Registration with invite codes – existing users invite new users
  • Self-service: change password, create aliases, delete the account
  • Custom and random alias addresses
  • Two-factor authentication (TOTP) with backup codes
  • Recovery token to regain access after losing the password
  • Publishing OpenPGP keys via Web Key Directory
  • Available in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Bokmål and Swiss German

For admins

  • Web interface for users, aliases, domains, invite codes, reserved names, settings, API tokens and webhooks
  • Multiple domains with domain admins who only see their own domain
  • Roles to mark accounts as spam or suspicious, or to protect them from the removal of inactive accounts
  • Automatic maintenance: removal of inactive accounts, cleanup of old data, weekly registration report

For operators

How it fits together

flowchart LR
    U[Users and admins<br/>web browser] -->|HTTPS| W[Userli]
    D[Dovecot<br/>IMAP / POP3] -->|auth and mailbox lookup<br/>incl. MailCrypt keys| W
    P[Postfix<br/>SMTP] -->|domains, mailboxes,<br/>aliases, SASL auth| W
    R[Roundcube] -->|alias lookup| W
    K[Keycloak] -->|user lookup and<br/>credential check| W
    W -->|webhooks| X[Other services<br/>Nextcloud, Matrix, ...]
    W --- DB[(MariaDB / MySQL)]

Userli is a Symfony application written in PHP. It stores its data in MariaDB or MySQL and uses a background worker for emails, webhooks and recurring maintenance tasks.

Get involved

Userli is free software and contributions are very welcome: code, translations, bug reports and documentation.

Everyone involved is expected to follow our Code of Conduct.