EMLV
Read all about it!
Start using EMLV today to read .eml email files as rendered email inside VS Code / Cursor. Double-click a .eml in the explorer and you get the message, not MIME source.
Read-only. It does not send, reply, or modify anything.
Contents
Features
Remote images and tracking pixels are blocked by Content-Security-Policy, not by URL rewriting — a pixel cannot fire even if the HTML sanitizer is bypassed. Load them with one click when you want them. Images and declared trackers are counted separately, so the banner tells you what was actually withheld.
Plain-text mail renders natively in your theme, in the editor's own monospace font, with colour-coded quote levels and a collapsible reply history.
Non-UTF-8 mail decodes correctly. Files are read as bytes, so ISO-8859-1, GB2312 and Shift_JIS messages render as Café, 你好 and こんにちは rather than mojibake.
Each rendered .eml includes:
- Header block includes subject, sender name and address, recipient summary, date. Expand for the full From / Reply-To / To / Cc / Bcc detail with copy buttons.
- HTML body rendered in a sandboxed frame that sizes itself, on a white page over a tinted canvas so it reads as a document rather than a broken theme.
- Plain-text body rendered natively in the editor's own theme and monospace font, with colour-coded quote levels, a collapsible trailing reply history, and
format=flowed unfolding.
- Inline images resolved from
multipart/related parts.
- Attachments listed with type, size and Save As.
- Remote images blocked by default, with a one-click opt-in.
- Reload on change when the file is rewritten on disk.
Install
VS Code: search EMLV in Extensions, or
code --install-extension eshojaei.eml-view
Cursor / VSCodium / Windsurf: these install from Open VSX, where the same extension is published
cursor --install-extension eshojaei.eml-view
From source:
npm install && npm run package
cursor --install-extension eml-view-$(node -p "require('./package.json').version").vsix
Sideloaded VSIXs do not auto-update, and reinstalling the same version string is a silent no-op in some builds, so bump the patch version when you repackage.
Development
npm run watch # esbuild, both bundles
npm run check # tsc --noEmit (esbuild strips types without checking them)
npm test # node --test, no test framework required
Press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host. .vscode/launch.json passes --disable-extensions, which matters: another extension registering a competing *.eml custom editor will silently win or produce a "Reopen with…" prompt.
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
|
emlView.images.remotePolicy |
block |
allow loads remote images automatically, telling senders you opened the message |
emlView.images.maxInlineTotalMB |
16 |
budget for embedded cid: images; beyond it they stay available as attachments |
emlView.body.defaultView |
html |
which part to prefer when a message has both |
emlView.body.collapseQuotedText |
true |
collapse the trailing reply history in plain text |
emlView.body.formatFlowed |
auto |
RFC 3676 unfolding |
emlView.reloadOnChange |
true |
re-render when the file changes on disk |
emlView.maxFileSizeMB |
25 |
above this, ask before parsing |
In an untrusted workspace emlView.images.remotePolicy is forced to its safe default, so a hostile repository cannot ship a .vscode/settings.json that turns every .eml in it into a tracking beacon.
License
MIT
