# Clawpost vs Lumbox > Lumbox scores 60.7 (C) to Clawpost's 36.8 (F) for agent inboxes. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawpost-vs-lumbox - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawpost-vs-lumbox.md (~4,050 tokens) - Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt) - API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json - MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key) - DNS: dig +short TXT .grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.. and .vs.. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev) - Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data) - Updated: 2026-11-07 Lumbox scores 60.7 (C) on agent readiness against Clawpost's 36.8 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Clawpost leads on payments & pricing. Both do agent inboxes. - Clawpost: grade F, 36.8/100, rank #1361 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/clawpost.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/clawpost.json - Lumbox: grade C, 60.7/100, rank #642 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lumbox.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lumbox.json - Best email inbox APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-inboxes/index.md - All 66 inboxes comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-inboxes/index.md ## Which one, for what ### Clawpost (F) Good for: A developer who wants an agent inbox on their own domain and Cloudflare account with a default approval gate. Ahead on: - Payments & pricing, 60 against 40 Also in its favour: - Open source Watch for: One shared API key grants every REST and MCP operation; no scopes or read-only key ### Lumbox (C) Good for: Agents that need their own address to receive sign-up codes and links and to send replies. Ahead on: - Reliability, 45 against 8 - Schema & documentation, 82 against 54 - Agent ergonomics, 78 against 53 - Security & auth, 71 against 42 - Maintenance & community, 23 against 2 - Transparency & trust, 72 against 32 Also in its favour: - A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install - Runs on your own machine - Free to start without a card Watch for: No status page, incident history or SLA; the terms say availability isn't guaranteed ## Why the edge ### Transparency & trust: Lumbox +40 - Clawpost (32): The README and SKILL.md say MIT, but no LICENSE file is committed (20 of 30). Self-hosted; the README says mail is stored in the deployer's D1 database with attachments in R2 and sent through Cloudflare Email Service or Resend. No retention or deletion guidance (15 of 30). No deprecation policy (0). No telemetry in the source read; the only outbound calls are to the configured mail provider, Cloudflare's API and the deployer's own webhooks (15 of 20). Total 50. - Lumbox (72): A closed hosted service; the security page says it can be self-hosted, but the repository the deployment guide clones isn't publicly readable. The footer names Cyphen Innovations Private Limited (15 of 30). The privacy policy and security page agree that mail is kept while its inbox exists and an account's data is deleted within 30 days, that email isn't used for training, and that the vault uses AES-256-GCM per-organisation keys (26 of 30). A deprecation policy with Deprecation and Sunset headers, 90 days' notice and 12 months for an old version (20). Hosts and locations named, Hetzner in Germany, Neon in the US, Vercel, Cloudflare, AWS SES, Dodo Payments and Steel for browsers (18 of 20). Total 79. ### Reliability: Lumbox +37 - Clawpost (8): Graded with the lines for self-hosted software, since each deployer runs their own Worker. No published package; it deploys from the repository with a Deploy to Cloudflare button, Bun and Wrangler, and states the Cloudflare products it needs (8 of 20). No CI workflow or test suite in the repository (0). Open issues couldn't be read, because GitHub's API refused our requests for its rate limit, so the line scores absent (0, unchecked). No tags, releases or changelog; package.json says 0.1.0 (0). Pre-1.0 (0). Total 8. - Lumbox (45): Graded with the hosted lines. No status page was found; none is linked from the site or llms.txt, and status.lumbox.co doesn't resolve (0). With no history to read, the incident line takes 5. 120 requests a minute per API key, per IP for unauthenticated routes, with X-RateLimit headers (15). 429 returns `retry_after_seconds`, the spec gives a backoff schedule and says which statuses not to retry, and `Idempotency-Key` works on every POST for 24 hours (15). The terms say Lumbox doesn't guarantee uninterrupted service, and no SLA was found (0). The core API carries no beta label; dedicated phone numbers are early access (10). Total 45. ### Security & auth: Lumbox +29 - Clawpost (42): One shared secret for REST and MCP, compared in constant time, with no scopes, expiry or per-client keys (10 of 30). Sender approval, drafts, and an optional allowlist of domains for routing changes limit what an agent can see and change; the key can still send to anyone (14 of 20). Mail from unapproved senders is hidden from all query tools by default, and `list_pending` returns metadata without bodies, documented as a prompt-injection guard (15). No log of API or tool calls beyond the stored messages (3 of 15). No security policy, advisories or disclosure route for this personal project (0). Total 42. - Lumbox (71): OAuth 2.1 with PKCE, dynamic client registration and five scopes that split reading inboxes, reading mail, sending and domain changes, plus API keys stored as SHA-256 hashes that can be limited to named inboxes (30). Inbox-scoped keys and the read and send split keep one run away from another's codes; Lumbox's built-in agent drafts replies for approval, but the API itself sends at once (16 of 20). The terms tell users to treat bodies as untrusted, and the security page says attachment text is sanitised for prompt injection before it reaches an agent (12 of 15). The privacy policy says API calls are logged with endpoint, time and key prefix for rate limiting and billing; no customer-facing audit log was found (5 of 15). A valid security.txt to security@lumbox.co and a responsible disclosure section; not SOC 2 certified, no bug bounty (8 of 20). Total 71. ### Schema & documentation: Lumbox +28 - Clawpost (54): All 21 MCP tools take typed zod inputs, which the MCP SDK publishes as JSON Schema (25). SKILL.md and AGENTS.md give agent-readable setup in Markdown; no llms.txt (5 of 10). Descriptions are one line each, such as `Send an email`, with parameter descriptions but no when-not-to-use (8 of 20). Inputs are typed with defaults for limit and offset, but recipients are a comma-separated string and direction isn't an enum in the schema read (9 of 15). The README has request examples and a REST route table; error responses aren't documented (7 of 15). No versioning or changelog (0). Total 54. - Lumbox (82): OpenAPI 3.1 at lumbox.co/openapi.json with 29 operations on 23 paths, all described (25). llms.txt with plan limits, endpoints and the MCP setup (10). Descriptions state what each call does, with notes such as long-poll endpoints being safe to retry; the MCP server card gives one line per tool (15 of 20). Typed parameters with `limit` and `cursor`, required fields marked (12 of 15). Shared responses for 400 to 429 and a default error on 28 operations, but errors are a bare `error` string with no code (12 of 15). Path versioning and a written deprecation policy, but the changelog it refers to wasn't found (8 of 15). Total 82. ### Agent ergonomics: Lumbox +25 - Clawpost (53): 21 tools, the 11 to 30 band (15 of 25). List and search tools take limit, offset and filters by direction, sender, label and archive state (20). Error shapes aren't documented; the code returns JSON errors (8 of 20). No idempotency key for sends and no readOnlyHint or destructiveHint annotations; drafts give a review step (3 of 20). Archived mail is excluded by default and the CLI has a `--json` mode, but there's no SDK beyond the CLI (7 of 15). Total 53. - Lumbox (78): 18 MCP tools, the 11 to 30 band; OAuth scopes narrow what a grant can do, but no read-only tool subset was found (15 of 25). Cursor pagination with `limit` and `has_more`, search, and an SSE stream for new mail (20). Errors are a human-readable message with the HTTP status, plus `retry_after_seconds` on 429 and written guidance on what to retry (12 of 20). `Idempotency-Key` on every POST; MCP annotations weren't readable without a session (16 of 20). One POST creates an inbox with a default address; official Node and Python SDKs (15). Total 78. ### Maintenance & community: Lumbox +21 - Clawpost (2): The last commit was on 1 April 2026, 219 days before this check (0). No releases or commits in the 90 days from 8 August (0). Issue and pull request activity couldn't be read through GitHub's API that day (0, unchecked). Not in the official MCP registry and no published package (0). Dependencies such as `agents` ^0.0.74 and the MCP SDK ^1.12.1 date from early 2026, and there's no CI (2 of 10). Total 2. - Lumbox (23): The latest package releases found are lumbox 0.3.1 on npm (19 June 2026) and @lumbox/mcp-server 0.2.2 (12 June 2026), 140 days before this check, the 91 to 180 day band (10). No releases or dated changelog entries in the 90 days from 8 August (0). A closed service with a support address and an X account; no changelog (5 of 15). Not in the official MCP registry (search for lumbox returned nothing on 6 November); Node and Python SDKs exist but haven't changed since June (5 of 15). The MCP server card says 0.2.1 while npm has 0.2.2, and the SDK repository named in npm isn't publicly readable (3 of 10). Total 23. ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Clawpost | Lumbox | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 8 | 45 | Lumbox +37 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 54 | 82 | Lumbox +28 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 53 | 78 | Lumbox +25 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 42 | 71 | Lumbox +29 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 40 | Clawpost +20 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 2 | 23 | Lumbox +21 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 32 | 72 | Lumbox +40 | | Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | | | **Total** | | **36.8 · F** | **60.7 · C** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Clawpost | Lumbox | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | MCP server | HTTP API | | Vendor | Frank Harris | Cyphen Innovations Private Limited | | Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://mcp.lumbox.co/mcp` | | Transports | Streamable HTTP, HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | | Auth | API key | OAuth or key | | Pricing | Free | Freemium | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | MIT | none | | Tools exposed | 21 | 18 | | Read-only variant documented | no | no | | llms.txt | no | yes | | Last release | 2026-04-01 | 2026-06-19 | | Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-09-07 | | Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-03-16 | | Customer content may train models | not read yet | not found in the text | | Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | yes | | Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | not found in the text | | Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | not found in the text | | Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | not found in the text | | Popularity | none | 13 npm/wk | ## Verdicts **Clawpost.** A small self-hosted agent inbox whose sender-approval gate keeps unknown senders' mail away from the agent by default, with drafts for human review. It is one developer's project, unchanged since 1 April 2026, with one all-powerful key, no releases, tests or CI. **Lumbox.** Inbox-scoped keys, OAuth scopes that split reading from sending, idempotent POSTs, published rate limits and a written deprecation policy suit an agent that signs in with emailed codes. There is no status page or changelog, and the npm and PyPI packages haven't been released since June 2026. ## Before you call either ### Clawpost 1. Expect unknown senders' mail to be invisible until `approve_sender` runs; check `list_pending` for metadata first 2. Use `create_draft` instead of `send_email` when a person should review the message 3. Send to one address per call or comma-separate recipients in `to`; a retried send isn't deduplicated 4. Treat the deployer's Worker URL and `CLAWPOST_API_KEY` as full access to the mailbox ### Lumbox 1. Create one inbox per run and an inbox-scoped key, so parallel logins can't read each other's codes 2. Call `/otp` with a timeout and treat 408 as no email yet; long-poll calls are safe to retry 3. Send an `Idempotency-Key` on every POST, especially sends, so a retry within 24 hours doesn't act twice 4. Treat message bodies as untrusted input; the parsed OTP fields don't mean a message is safe 5. On 429 wait `retry_after_seconds`, and don't retry 400, 401, 403 or 404 ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, Clawpost or Lumbox? Lumbox scores 60.7 (C) on agent readiness against Clawpost's 36.8 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Clawpost leads on payments & pricing. ### Do Clawpost and Lumbox need an API key? Clawpost needs an API key. Lumbox takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. ### Can an agent call Clawpost and Lumbox without installing anything? No hosted endpoint is listed for Clawpost. Lumbox has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.lumbox.co/mcp. ### Are Clawpost and Lumbox open source? Clawpost is open source (MIT). No open-source release is listed for Lumbox. ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawpost-vs-lumbox.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawpost-vs-lumbox.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "clawpost", "b": "lumbox"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare clawpost lumbox` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/clawpost.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lumbox.json ## Other comparisons with Clawpost or Lumbox - [AgentMail API + MCP vs Clawpost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentmail-vs-clawpost.md) - [AgentMail API + MCP vs Lumbox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentmail-vs-lumbox.md) - [Cherami vs Clawpost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cherami-vs-clawpost.md) - [Cherami vs Lumbox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cherami-vs-lumbox.md) - [Clawpost vs Hostinger Agentic Mail](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawpost-vs-hostinger-agentic-mail.md) - [Clawpost vs Inbound](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawpost-vs-inbound.md) - [Clawpost vs InboxAPI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawpost-vs-inboxapi.md) - [Clawpost vs Mailows](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawpost-vs-mailows.md) - [Clawpost vs mails.ai Agent Email](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawpost-vs-mails-ai.md) - [Clawpost vs MailSlurp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawpost-vs-mailslurp.md) - [Clawpost vs Postfleet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawpost-vs-postfleet.md) - [Clawpost vs Robotomail](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawpost-vs-robotomail.md) - [Hostinger Agentic Mail vs Lumbox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hostinger-agentic-mail-vs-lumbox.md) - [Inbound vs Lumbox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inbound-vs-lumbox.md) - [InboxAPI vs Lumbox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inboxapi-vs-lumbox.md) - [Lumbox vs Mailows](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lumbox-vs-mailows.md) - [Lumbox vs mails.ai Agent Email](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lumbox-vs-mails-ai.md) - [Lumbox vs MailSlurp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lumbox-vs-mailslurp.md) - [Lumbox vs Postfleet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lumbox-vs-postfleet.md) - [Lumbox vs Robotomail](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lumbox-vs-robotomail.md) --- Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp