Raven Mail Server

A lightweight IMAP, LMTP and SASL mail server implementation in Go with SQLite storage.

Architecture

Raven consists of three services:

IMAP Server (Ports 143, 993)

• Email client access to mailboxes
• Standard IMAP commands: SELECT, FETCH, SEARCH, STORE, COPY, APPEND, EXPUNGE
• Mailbox operations: CREATE, DELETE, RENAME, LIST, SUBSCRIBE
• TLS/SSL support (STARTTLS and IMAPS)

LMTP Delivery Service (Port 24)

• Receives incoming mail from MTAs (e.g., Postfix)
• Parses and stores messages in SQLite database
• Routes messages to user mailboxes

SASL Authentication Service (Unix socket)

• Handles authentication via external auth server
• Integrates with MTAs for SMTP authentication

All services use a multi-database SQLite architecture for efficient data isolation and scalability.

Quick Start

Option 1: Pull from GitHub Container Registry (Recommended)

docker pull ghcr.io/lsflk/raven:latest
docker run -d --rm \
  --name raven \
  -p 143:143 -p 993:993 -p 24:24 \
  -v $(pwd)/config:/etc/raven \
  -v $(pwd)/data:/app/data \
  -v $(pwd)/certs:/certs \
  -v $(pwd)/delivery.yaml:/app/delivery.yaml \
  ghcr.io/lsflk/raven:latest

Option 2: Build from Source

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/LSFLK/raven.git
cd raven

2. Build and run:

docker build -t raven .
docker run -d --rm \
  --name raven \
  -p 143:143 -p 993:993 -p 24:24 \
  -v $(pwd)/config:/etc/raven \
  -v $(pwd)/data:/app/data \
  -v $(pwd)/certs:/certs \
  -v $(pwd)/delivery.yaml:/app/delivery.yaml \
  raven

The server will start and listen on:

• Port 143 - IMAP
• Port 993 - IMAPS
• Port 24 - LMTP

Connect using any IMAP client to start managing your emails.

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📂 Required Volume Mounts

Volume	Path	Description
Configuration	-v $(pwd)/config:/etc/raven	Configuration directory containing raven.yaml
Data	-v $(pwd)/data:/app/data	Data directory for SQLite databases (shared.db, user_db_*.db, role_db_*.db) and mail storage
Certificates	-v $(pwd)/certs:/certs	TLS/SSL certificates directory containing fullchain.pem and privkey.pem for IMAPS and STARTTLS
Delivery	-v $(pwd)/delivery.yaml:/app/delivery.yaml	Delivery service configuration file

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🔐 Certificate Requirements

Your /certs directory must contain:

• fullchain.pem - Full certificate chain
• privkey.pem - Private key

These certificates are required for secure connections on port 993 and STARTTLS functionality.

⚙️ Configuration File

Raven requires a configuration file named raven.yaml located in /etc/raven inside the Docker container.

Example

domain: <domain name>
auth_server_url: <auth url>

Fields

Key	Description
domain	The mail domain used in the mail system.
auth_server_url	The authentication API endpoint used to validate user credentials.

Delivery Service (delivery.yaml)

The delivery service requires a separate configuration file named delivery.yaml. You can see the example delivery.yaml for reference.