Automate Email with Manus AI: Beginner Guide

What you will accomplish in five minutes

This quickstart is deliberately narrow. By the end, you will have one working Manus chat that can send a test email, list your latest messages, and search your inbox through Nylas CLI. It is not the guide for support agents, inbox triage, meeting scheduling, or complex Skills. It is the shortest path from zero setup to a verified working mailbox connection.

That constraint matters because many AI-email tutorials stay abstract. This one is task-based: one install, one authentication step, one send, one list, one search. Once those five actions work, the rest of the Manus series becomes much easier to reason about.

What is Manus AI?

Manus is an autonomous AI agent that can browse the web, write and run code, manage files, and execute multi-step tasks on your behalf. Unlike a chatbot that only generates text, Manus takes action — it plans, executes, and delivers results.

Manus runs everything inside a sandboxed cloud environment. You give it a task in plain English, and it figures out the tools, commands, and steps needed to complete it. That makes it a natural fit for automating repetitive work like email.

What is Nylas CLI?

Nylas CLI is a command-line tool that lets you send, read, search, and manage email, calendar events, and contacts from your terminal. It works with Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, Exchange, iCloud, and any standard IMAP provider through one interface. See the full command reference for details.

When you pair Nylas CLI with Manus, Manus stops being a pure chat layer and starts acting on a real mailbox. You type a natural language prompt like "send a follow-up to Alice", Manus maps that to the right CLI command, runs it, and reports back with the result.

Step 1: Create accounts

You need two free accounts before you start:

1. Manus account — sign up at manus.im. The free plan includes enough credits to follow this tutorial.
2. Nylas account — sign up at dashboard-v3.nylas.com. The free tier supports development and testing.

Once you have both accounts, grab your Nylas API key from the Nylas dashboard. You'll need it in Step 3.

Step 2: Add the Nylas CLI Skill

Manus uses Skills to learn new capabilities. The Nylas CLI Skill teaches Manus how to install, configure, and use every command.

1. Open your Manus dashboard and go to the Skills tab.
2. Upload the nylas-cli Skill folder (which contains a SKILL.md file and helper scripts).

For the full Skill file, setup scripts, and configuration details, see the Manus AI Skills guide.

Step 3: Activate and set up

Open a new Manus chat and type /nylas-cli to activate the Skill. Then ask Manus to run the setup script:

Run bash scripts/setup.sh

Manus will install the Nylas CLI binary inside its sandbox. When it asks for your API key, paste the key you copied from the Nylas dashboard. Manus stores it securely in the sandbox environment.

Verify the setup by asking Manus to confirm authentication:

nylas auth whoami

You should see your connected email address and grant ID. If you see an error, ask Manus to re-run the setup script.

Step 4: Send your first email

Type this prompt into the Manus chat:

Send an email to test@example.com with subject "Hello from Manus" and body "This is my first automated email."

Manus translates your prompt into a CLI command and runs it:

nylas email send --to "test@example.com" --subject "Hello from Manus" --body "This is my first automated email." --yes

The --yes flag skips the confirmation prompt, which is required inside the Manus sandbox where interactive input is not available.

Step 5: Read your inbox

Ask Manus to show your recent messages:

Show me my last 10 emails.

Manus runs:

nylas email list --limit 10 --json

The --json flag gives Manus structured output it can parse and summarize for you. Manus will typically present the results as a clean table with sender, subject, and date.

Step 6: Search for emails

Try a search prompt:

Find emails about the quarterly report.

Manus runs:

nylas email search "quarterly report" --limit 10 --json

Search works across subject lines, message bodies, and sender names. You can be as specific or broad as you like — Manus will pick the right query terms.

What to try next

Now that you have the basics working, explore the rest of the Manus + Nylas CLI series:

• Manus AI Inbox Zero — triage, categorize, and draft replies for your entire inbox.
• Manus AI Meeting Scheduler — schedule meetings with natural language.
• Draft Personalized Emails — batch-draft outbound emails with AI.
• Mail Manus Email Automation — supercharge Mail Manus with multi-provider access.
• Manus AI vs Claude Code — compare Skills and MCP for email automation.
• Create a Manus Skill for Email and Calendar — build and customize the Skill file from scratch.
• Send Email from the Manus Sandbox — install Nylas CLI in the sandbox and send email to any address.
• manus-mcp-cli Setup — configure MCP servers for Manus AI.
• Nylas CLI Command Reference — every command, flag, and option.

Frequently asked questions

Is Manus AI free?

Manus has a free plan with limited monthly credits. Paid plans start at $20/month. The Nylas API also has a free tier for development and testing, so you can try everything in this guide at no cost.

What can Manus AI do with email besides sending?

Manus can read your inbox, search messages by keyword or sender, summarize threads, draft replies, triage unread email by urgency, extract contacts for CRM import, and generate analytics reports. Each capability maps to a Nylas CLI command that Manus runs automatically from your natural language prompt.

Do I need coding skills?

No. Manus translates your natural language prompts into CLI commands automatically. You type plain English like "send an email to Alice" and Manus handles the rest.