Teledactyl is a free add-on for the Thunderbird mail client, which makes it look and behave like the Vim text editor. It has similar key bindings and you could call it a modal mail client, as key bindings differ according to which mode you are in. For example, it the same keys can select the next message while the message list has focus or can scroll down an existing message when the message preview is selected. It also adds commands for accessing most Thunderbird functionality. E.g.,

will add Pentadactyl's mailing list to your address book.

Download

Warning: Teledactyl is still alpha-software, so expect rough edges, especially as Thunderbird's internals change often and dramatically. As such, for the moment you must build Teledactyl yourself if you wish to install it.

Credits

Teledactyl is an offshoot off the Muttator project, originally written by Martin Stubenschrott, and later maintained by Doug Kearns and Kris Maglione, with help from other invaluable contributors. We also owe Vim and Conkeror a great debt for their inspiration, and the latter especially for early cross pollination.

Features

• Vim-like key bindings (h, j, k, l, gg, G, 0, $, ZZ, <C-f>, etc.)
• Ex-commands (:quit, :goto Inbox, …)
• External editor support for editing mail messages
• Tab completion available for all commands with support for 'longest' matching when :set in 'wildmode'
• Extensions! Yes, you can extend Teledactyl's functionality with scripts just like you can extend Thunderbird with extensions.
• Explore JavaScript objects with :echo window and even context-sensitive tab completion.
• Macros to replay key strokes
• AutoCommands to execute action on certain events
• Hit-a-hint like navigation of links (start with f to follow a link)
• Minimal GUI (easily hide menu bar and toolbar with :set guioptions=f)
• Ability to :source JavaScript files, and to use a ~/.teledactylrc file
• Count supported for many commands (3<C-o> will go back 3 messages)
• Beep on errors
• :map and :command support (and feedkeys() for script writers)
• :time support for profiling
• Many other Vimperator features are available when in -- MESSAGE -- mode
• Much more…

Screenshots

• 
  Teledactyl showing the same type of Hints to follow links with the keyboard as Vimperator
• 
  Teledactyl's completion system
• 
  Most chrome can be hidden in Teledactyl to give the messages more room

Scripts

While Teledactyl offers already lots of cool features, we cannot and don't want to include every feature directly in the core. Therefore you can enhance the Teledactyl experience by adding plugins which add new commands or mappings. Install these plugins by copying them to the ~/.teledactyl/plugins/ directory (or %HOME%\teledactyl\plugins on Windows) unless noted differently. If you have written a cool plugin which is useful to a wider audience, please submit it.

If you don't care about features but just use Teledactyl for the sexy looks, you can also theme that by using color schemes . You can install them by copying them to the ~/.teledactyl/colors/ directory (%HOME%\teledactyl\colors on Windows) and use it with :colorscheme <name>. You can also submit your own color scheme .

Bugs