How to connect your IONOS mailbox to Claude and ChatGPT

To use an IONOS mailbox in Claude or ChatGPT, you connect it over IMAP through an MCP server, then add that server to your assistant. With Fezola, you choose IONOS in the list (the servers are filled in), type your mailbox password and paste one URL into Claude or ChatGPT. It takes about two minutes and nothing has to be installed.

Why IONOS mail needs a connector

IONOS hosts the email of many small businesses and freelancers on their own domain (contact@your-company.com). As of November 2026, the built-in mail connectors of Claude and ChatGPT target large providers such as Gmail. An IONOS mailbox is a standard IMAP mailbox, so the assistant needs an IMAP MCP server to reach it. We found no official IONOS email MCP server: the community options are servers you install and run yourself, or hosted ones like Fezola.

Fezola is hosted: you add the mailbox once on the Fezola website, and your assistant signs in to Fezola with OAuth. The mailbox password never goes through the assistant's settings or the chat.

The IONOS settings

IONOS's help page gives these settings, valid for IONOS Mail Basic and Mail Business:

	Server	Port	Encryption
Incoming (IMAP)	imap.ionos.com	993	SSL/TLS
Outgoing (SMTP)	smtp.ionos.com	465, or 587 if 465 is blocked	SSL/TLS, or STARTTLS on 587

The login is your full email address, and each address has its own password.

Two details matter in practice:

• Regional servers. IONOS also runs servers under other country domains. In Fezola, choosing IONOS fills in imap.ionos.fr and smtp.ionos.fr (ports 993 and 465, TLS), which suit mailboxes managed on IONOS France. If your account is in another country, for example the United States, choose Other and enter the servers from IONOS's help for your region. Every field can also be edited under "Server settings".
• Exchange. IONOS's page gives no servers for hosted Microsoft Exchange. If your mailbox is an Exchange one, follow IONOS's separate article before trying.

Setup in four steps

1. Create a free Fezola account and open Sources.
2. Add the mailbox: choose IONOS (or Other), enter the address and the mailbox password, and give it a short name such as "Company". Your assistant uses that name to say where each message comes from. Click "Test the connection": Fezola checks incoming (IMAP) and outgoing (SMTP) mail.
3. Add Fezola to your assistant. In Claude: Customize, Connectors, + Add, Add custom connector, name it Fezola and paste https://api.fezola.com/mcp. In ChatGPT (paid plans): Settings, Apps & Connectors, Advanced settings, turn on Developer mode, then create a connector with the same URL and OAuth.
4. Approve the access on the Fezola consent screen, then ask your first question.

What you can ask

• "What did clients write to contact@ this week? Group by urgency."
• "Find the last quote from the supplier and summarize the PDF."
• "Draft a reply to the last email from Martin, from the company address."
• "Search my IONOS mailbox and my Gmail for the invoice from the printer."

Attachments are readable (PDF, Word, text and images), and when several mailboxes are connected, every result names its account.

What the assistant cannot do

• It does not send. Replies are saved as drafts in the IONOS mailbox that received the original message, with that address as the sender. You review and send them yourself.
• It does not keep a copy of your mail. Messages are read live from IONOS when the assistant asks.
• It only acts when asked. Archiving, moving or flagging happens on request.

Common errors

• "Username or password rejected": use the full address as login and the mailbox password, and check it still works in IONOS webmail.
• Server unreachable: the servers of your region may differ from the preset. Choose Other and enter the ones from IONOS's help for your country.
• Status "Error" in your assistant: ask it to run test_connection. Fezola returns a plain explanation of what failed.

For the security side, read is it safe to connect your email to an AI?. Other hosts work the same way: OVH, Fastmail, or see the IMAP MCP server guide. For a comparison of options, see best email MCP servers.