Compose

The compose window is an HTML editor with vim-style modal editing, contact autocomplete, and signature support.

Opening

Each compose window is independent — you can have several open at once, and closing one doesn’t affect the others.

Address fields

To/Cc/Bcc fields use a token field with live contact autocomplete. As you type:

• Recently-used contacts surface first (frecency-ranked from the contacts DB).
• Address-book entries from your provider show next.
• Hit Tab or Enter to accept the highlighted suggestion.
• Backspace on an empty field removes the last token.

Cc and Bcc are hidden by default — click the Cc/Bcc label to reveal them.

Subject and body

The body is a rich-text WebView. You can paste images and formatted text from other apps. Outgoing messages always include a plain-text alternative part for clients that don’t render HTML.

Vim mode

The body editor is always modal. Escape exits insert mode; from normal mode you have the full set of motions, operators, and text objects — see Vim compose for the reference.

If Escape is awkward on your keyboard, bind a custom exit sequence in keymaps.pkl:

keymaps {
  new { action = "exit_insert"; key = "jk"; sequence = true; context = "compose_normal" }
}

Signatures

Defined in config.pkl:

signatures {
  ["default"] = "Best regards"
  ["work"] = """
    <b>Your Name</b><br>
    Position
    """
}

Per-account default via default_signature = "work" on the account. The compose window picks it up from the selected From account.

Sending

Cmd+Return (or the Send button) queues the message in the outbox. Sending is delayed by a few seconds to let you undo — see Drafts & Outbox.

Drafts

Compose state is saved locally on every keystroke. If the app crashes mid-compose, reopening Durian restores the draft as a recovered window. Drafts are also synced to the IMAP Drafts folder when you explicitly save (Cmd+S).