Outlook MCP server: what works with Outlook.com and Microsoft 365

01Which Outlook MCP routes exist?

"Outlook MCP server" hides two questions: does the server work with your account type, and who manages the app it uses to reach Microsoft Graph? For personal accounts the list gets short quickly.

Sources: GitHub^[1][2][4], Microsoft^{[6][7][9][10]}, Anthropic^[8] and Command Mail.^[11][12]

02Softeria ms-365-mcp-server: the default for personal accounts

The project is MIT-licensed and very active: around 1,084 stars on 2026-10-26, with the last push the same day.^[3] Stars measure attention, not users or a security review.

The server exposes more than 300 Microsoft Graph endpoints as tools. In its default mode the README lists the services available to personal accounts: Outlook mail, calendar, OneDrive, Excel, OneNote, To Do, contacts and search. Teams, SharePoint and shared mailboxes only appear with --org-mode and only work with work or school accounts.^[1]

For mail, the tool list includes list-mail-messages, get-mail-message, create-draft-email, move-mail-message, delete-mail-message and send-mail, which needs the Mail.Send permission.^[2] The Graph permissions requested depend on which tools are enabled. --preset mail limits the set to mail, --read-only hides write tools, and --list-permissions shows in advance which permissions your configuration will ask for.^[1]

03Prerequisites

• A Microsoft account, personal (Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live) or work
• Node.js with npx on your machine, because the server runs locally^[1]
• An MCP client such as Claude Code or Claude Desktop
• For personal accounts, the environment variable MS365_MCP_TENANT_ID=consumers. According to the README, since June 2026 refresh tokens issued via the default common authority are rejected, so sessions end roughly an hour after sign-in^[1]
• For your own app instead of Softeria's default app: access to Microsoft Entra to register one^[1]

04Steps: set up Softeria in Claude

1. Check which permissions your configuration will request: npx @softeria/ms-365-mcp-server --preset mail --read-only --list-permissions.^[1]
2. Add the server to Claude Code in personal, read-only mode: claude mcp add ms365 -e MS365_MCP_TENANT_ID=consumers -- npx -y @softeria/ms-365-mcp-server --preset mail --read-only.^[1]
3. In Claude Desktop, add a JSON entry to the config file under Settings → Developer instead (example below).^[1]
4. Sign in: call the login tool of the server you just configured, open the Microsoft page shown and enter the device code. If you sign in from the command line instead, use the same options and environment variable: MS365_MCP_TENANT_ID=consumers npx @softeria/ms-365-mcp-server --preset mail --read-only --login.^[1]
5. Confirm the connection with the verify-login tool.^[1]
6. Only once reading works: remove --read-only if the agent should create drafts or send, then sign in again so the token gets the new permissions.^[1]

The Claude Desktop entry follows the README example for personal accounts, with the environment variable added:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ms365": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@softeria/ms-365-mcp-server", "--preset", "mail", "--read-only"],
      "env": { "MS365_MCP_TENANT_ID": "consumers" }
    }
  }
}

Make one decision on purpose. Without your own client ID you sign in to Softeria's default app. According to the README it declares a fixed, lean set of permissions; the permissions actually requested follow from the enabled tools, and for additional ones the project points you to an app of your own. If you want to control which app holds which permissions, register your own app in Microsoft Entra and set MS365_MCP_CLIENT_ID.^[1]

05ryaker outlook-mcp: works, with two caveats

ryaker's server covers mail, calendar and OneDrive, with tools to list, search, read and send (send-email) and to create and delete folders and events.^[4] It ships without an app of its own. You register one in the Azure portal, choose "Accounts in any organizational directory and personal Microsoft accounts" as the account type, add http://localhost:3333/auth/callback as the redirect URI, create a client secret and grant permissions including Mail.Read, Mail.ReadWrite and Mail.Send.^[4]

The two caveats: the GitHub API shows no licence for the repository, and the last push was on 2026-03-30.^[5] Check the licence terms and project status before adopting it. For a new setup we would pick Softeria, which is MIT-licensed and whose last push, according to the GitHub API, fell on the day we checked, unless you specifically need ryaker's tool layout and review the code yourself.^[3]

06Microsoft's own tools: organisations only

Microsoft documents a mail server with the ID mcp_MailTools at an address that contains your tenant ID. It can create drafts, send, reply, search, update and delete messages.^[6] The page carries two clear warnings: it is a preview whose tool names may change, and the application-specific Microsoft 365 tools are kept only for backward compatibility. For new projects Microsoft points to Work IQ.^[6]

Work IQ is generally available in Copilot Studio, is billed through Copilot Credits and connects agents to an organisation's mail, meetings, files and chats.^[7] It is a tool for companies building agents in Copilot Studio, not a server you add to Claude or Cursor with a personal account.

07Claude without a server of your own

For Microsoft 365 at work, Claude does not need a community server: its built-in Microsoft 365 connector searches Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams and, according to Anthropic, is available on every plan. It needs a work account in a Microsoft Entra tenant and one-time admin consent; accounts on outlook.com, hotmail.com or live.com explicitly cannot be used.^[8] It can only send if your organisation has enabled the write tools. The steps are in Connect Outlook to Claude.

08Connecting Outlook through Command Mail

Command Mail is a hosted mailbox with an MCP server at https://commandmail.app/mcp, signed in through OAuth 2.1 with PKCE and dynamic client registration.^[11] You run no server and register no Azure app.

Outlook mail arrives through automatic forwarding, which Outlook.com offers in its settings.^[9] If your Outlook mailbox should stay complete, tick "Keep a copy of forwarded messages" when you set it up.^[9] Organisations may block forwarding to outside addresses, for example through the outbound spam policy, remote domains or mail flow rules.^[10] Command Mail receives copies of new mail and gets no access to your Outlook account. Archiving or sorting in Command Mail does not change anything in Outlook.^[12]

Sending is available from Pro, but for personal Outlook addresses not as your Outlook address. You set up sending per sender address in the app, separately from receiving.^[12] For personal Outlook.com and Hotmail addresses, Command Mail offers sending from a Command Mail sender address of its own, with replies going to your Outlook address via Reply-To. You switch this route on per address yourself in the app and confirm the address with a code sent to it. An agent either sends exactly the draft revision a person approved (mail:send-approved), which is blocked on autonomy read, or, with mail:send, sends without approval, but only from mailboxes on autonomy auto, with a daily limit and at most 20 recipients per message. Sending without approval is switched off when you connect.^[11] Free reads, sorts and drafts without sending; Pro costs €19 a month for the first 100 paying Pro accounts for as long as their subscription runs, and €29 for later accounts.^[11]

Who this does not suit: if you want the agent to change folders, read status and calendar in the original mailbox, Softeria or Claude's connector fits better. Command Mail pays off when addresses from several providers should land in one inbox and you want to set per mailbox what the agent may do there; with mail:read it can read every mailbox in the account; details in Permissions and autonomy.

09Did it work?

Start with a harmless read task: "List the five newest emails in my inbox with sender and subject." With Softeria the call should go through list-mail-messages; if Teams or SharePoint tools appear, --org-mode is switched on by mistake. With Command Mail the first call, capabilities, shows which permissions and mailboxes the agent actually has.^[11] Test sending only with a draft to yourself.

10Common problems

Sign-in fails with a personal account: check whether organisation mode is on, for example through --org-mode or the MS365_MCP_ORG_MODE environment variable. Organisation mode is meant for work and school accounts.^[1]

Your own app rejects personal accounts: the app was probably registered for your organisation only. ryaker's guide requires the account type that includes personal Microsoft accounts and suggests setting MS_TENANT_ID for single-tenant apps.^[4]

New tools report missing permissions: Softeria notes that adding tools does not upgrade a token that was already issued. Sign in again.^[1]

The session drops after about an hour: for personal accounts, check whether MS365_MCP_TENANT_ID=consumers is set; without it the README describes a failure at the first token refresh. Set it and sign in again.^[1]

Forwarded mail never arrives: in Microsoft 365 a block on external forwarding may apply; if the outbound spam policy blocks it, the sender gets a non-delivery report with 5.7.520. Remote domains and mail flow rules can also stop forwarding; your IT checks the outbound spam policy, remote domains and mail flow rules.^[10]

11Next steps

Decide first whether your agent should work in the original mailbox or on a copy. Personal and in the original: start Softeria in read-only mode and enable write tools later. At work: check Claude's connector or your IT's tools first. More servers, by account type, sending and hosting, are in the email MCP server comparison.^[1][8]

Start Command Mail for free if you would rather forward Outlook.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. GitHub: Softeria/ms-365-mcp-server (README) github.com, accessed October 26, 2026
2. GitHub: Softeria/ms-365-mcp-server, Werkzeugliste src/endpoints.json github.com, accessed October 26, 2026
3. GitHub API: Softeria/ms-365-mcp-server (Sterne, letzter Push, Lizenz) api.github.com, accessed October 26, 2026
4. GitHub: ryaker/outlook-mcp (README) github.com, accessed October 26, 2026
5. GitHub API: ryaker/outlook-mcp (Sterne, letzter Push, Lizenz) api.github.com, accessed October 26, 2026
6. Microsoft Learn: Mail reference (preview) learn.microsoft.com, accessed October 26, 2026
7. Microsoft Learn: Work IQ in Copilot Studio learn.microsoft.com, accessed October 26, 2026
8. Anthropic: Connect to Microsoft 365 support.claude.com, accessed October 26, 2026
9. Microsoft: Turn on or off automatic forwarding in Outlook.com support.microsoft.com, accessed October 26, 2026
10. Microsoft Learn: Control automatic external email forwarding learn.microsoft.com, accessed October 26, 2026
11. Command Mail: llms.txt mit Tarifen, Rechten und Verbindungswegen commandmail.app, accessed October 26, 2026
12. Command Mail: documentation commandmail.app, accessed October 26, 2026