Standalone CLI tool to export Forward Email encrypted SQLite mailbox backups as EML files, VCF contacts, and ICS calendar resources in a password-protected ZIP archive.

• Interactive CLI: prompts for file path, password, and output location
• Non-interactive mode: pass arguments as command-line flags for scripting
• Cross-platform: works on Windows, Linux, and macOS
• Encrypted database support: handles both chacha20 and aes256cbc ciphers
• Brotli decompression: decompresses Brotli-compressed metadata and attachments
• Password-protected ZIP: the output archive is encrypted with AES-256
• Organized output: EML files are sorted by mailbox folder, VCF contacts by address book under Contacts, and ICS events or tasks by calendar under Calendars
• Pre-built binaries: download from GitHub Releases (no Node.js required)

Download the latest release for your platform from GitHub Releases:

macOS users: After downloading, you may need to remove the quarantine attribute before running the binary:

sudo xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine ./convert-sqlite-to-eml-darwin-arm64

(Replace ./convert-sqlite-to-eml-darwin-arm64 with the actual path to the downloaded file.)

Linux users: After downloading, you may need to make the binary executable:

chmod +x ./convert-sqlite-to-eml-linux-x64

(Replace ./convert-sqlite-to-eml-linux-x64 with the actual path to the downloaded file.)

npm install -g @forwardemail/convert-sqlite-to-eml

cd tools/convert-sqlite-to-eml
npm install
node index.js

Run without arguments to be prompted for all inputs:

convert-sqlite-to-eml

  Forward Email - Convert SQLite Backup to EML
  =============================================

  Path to SQLite backup file: /path/to/backup.sqlite
  IMAP/alias password: ********
  Output ZIP path [/path/to/backup-2025-03-01T12-00-00-000Z.zip]:

convert-sqlite-to-eml \
  --path /path/to/backup.sqlite \
  --password "your-imap-password" \
  --output /path/to/output.zip

The tool produces a password-protected ZIP archive (AES-256 encrypted) containing:

README.txt
INBOX/
  <message-id-1>.eml
  <message-id-2>.eml
Sent/
  <message-id-3>.eml
Drafts/
  <message-id-4>.eml
Contacts/
  Personal/
    alice.vcf
Calendars/
  Work/
    planning.ics
...

• Each .eml file is a standard RFC 5322 email message
• EML files are organized by mailbox folder
• VCF contact files are organized by address book under Contacts
• ICS event and task resources are organized by calendar under Calendars
• The ZIP password is the same as your IMAP/alias password
• EML files can be opened with any email client (Thunderbird, Outlook, Apple Mail, etc.)
• EML files can be imported into other mail servers

1. Opens the encrypted SQLite database using your IMAP/alias password
2. Reads the Mailboxes table to discover folder structure
3. For each message, decodes the mimeTree (brotli-compressed JSON) from the Messages table
4. Reconstructs the full EML by walking the MIME tree and fetching attachment bodies from the Attachments table
5. Exports active CardDAV contacts as their stored VCF resources, organized by address book
6. Exports active CalDAV event and task resources as their stored ICS files, organized by calendar
7. Packages everything into a password-protected ZIP archive

• Node.js >= 18 (if running from source)
• No Node.js required for pre-built binaries

(BUSL-1.1 AND MPL-2.0) © Forward Email LLC

• Forward Email
• FAQ: Custom S3 Storage
• GitHub Issues