# Email Header Metadata Extractor MCP for AI Agents AI Agent Connect

> Email Header Metadata Extractor pulls critical routing and security data from raw RFC 822 email source text. It identifies sender domains, calculates the exact number of hops an email took to reach its destination, and extracts essential headers like DKIM signatures and Message-IDs to help you audit email paths and verify authenticity.

## Overview
- **Category:** security
- **Price:** Free
- **Endpoint:** https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_KKeXCBAGrrhyJQConaUv4JnOHGxnrin1zF1avlDb/ai-agent-connect
- **Tags:** email, rfc822, metadata, headers, security

## Description

Analyzing raw email source code is a tedious, manual process that usually involves squinting at blocks of text to find a single routing hop or a specific signature. This MCP changes that by letting your AI client act as a forensic analyst. Instead of you hunting through lines of text, you can simply hand over the raw email source and ask your agent to map out the delivery path or verify the sender's domain. It handles the heavy lifting of parsing complex RFC 822 structures, pulling out the specific headers you actually care about, like the Message-ID or the DKIM-Signature. You can quickly see exactly how many servers an email passed through to reach its destination, which is vital for spotting routing anomalies. By connecting this to your workflow through the Vinkius catalog, you turn your AI into a specialized tool for email forensics and security auditing without needing to write a single line of parsing logic.

## Tools

### extract_email_metadata
Parses raw RFC 822 email source text to pull headers, hop counts, and domains. It turns messy source code into actionable metadata for your agent.

## Prompt Examples

**Prompt:** 
```
Can you tell me how many hops this email took and what the sender's domain is from this source?
```

**Response:** 
```
Based on the provided source, here is the breakdown:

* **Hop Count:** 3 hops
* **Sender Domain:** vinkius.com
* **Message-ID:** <12345@vinkius.com>

The email passed through three distinct mail servers before reaching its destination.
```

**Prompt:** 
```
Check this email source for any DKIM signature issues and tell me the subject line.
```

**Response:** 
```
I've analyzed the headers for you:

* **Subject:** Project Update: Q3 Results
* **DKIM-Signature:** Present and valid
* **From:** engineering@company.com

The signature appears intact, suggesting the email hasn't been tamately altered in transit.
```

**Prompt:** 
```
Extract the 'To' and 'From' addresses and the date from this raw email text.
```

**Response:** 
```
Here are the extracted details:

| Field | Value |
| :--- | :--- |
| **From** | alice@example.com |
| **To** | bob@example.com |
| **Date** | Wed, 15 Oct 2023 10:00:00 -0700 |

All fields were successfully parsed from the RFC 822 source.
```

## Capabilities

### Map email delivery paths
Calculate the exact number of hops an email took by analyzing the received headers.

### Identify sender domains
Extract domain names directly from the raw source text using precise parsing.

### Audit security signatures
Pull DKIM-Signature and other critical security headers for authenticity checks.

### Isolate core routing headers
Retrieve specific fields like From, To, Subject, and Date from raw text blocks.

### Extract unique identifiers
Find and isolate Message-IDs to track specific email threads across different systems.

## Use Cases

### Investigating a phishing attempt
A security analyst hands a suspicious raw email to their agent and asks it to check the DKIM signature and the origin domain to see if it's a spoof.

### Troubleshooting mail delivery delays
An admin asks their agent to count the hops in a delayed email to see if a specific relay server is causing the bottleneck.

### Verifying email authenticity
A user provides raw source text to their agent to confirm the Message-ID and sender headers match the expected legitimate source.

### Mapping communication chains
An investigator uses the agent to extract all 'Received' headers to build a timeline of how an email moved through various mail servers.

## Benefits

- Stop manual parsing by letting your agent handle the RFC 822 source text directly.
- Identify suspicious email paths instantly by calculating hop counts via extract_email_metadata.
- Verify sender authenticity by pulling DKIM-Signature headers for security audits.
- Quickly isolate sender domains to check for spoofing attempts.
- Get a clear view of message routing history without scrolling through hundreds of lines of code.

## How It Works

The bottom line is you stop reading raw code and start getting clear answers about email routing and security.

1. Paste the raw RFC 822 email source text into your AI client's chat window.
2. Ask your agent to analyze the headers, count the hops, or find specific domain info.
3. Receive a structured breakdown of the email's metadata and routing history.

## Frequently Asked Questions

**How can I use the Email Header Metadata Extractor to check for phishing?**
You can provide the raw email source to your agent, which will then use the tool to pull the DKIM signature and sender domain, allowing you to verify if the email is legitimately from the claimed sender.

**Can this Email Header Metadata Extractor find out how many servers an email passed through?**
Yes. By analyzing the 'Received' headers in the raw source, the tool calculates the exact hop count, showing you the full path the email took.

**Does the Email Header Metadata Extractor work with any email provider?**
Yes, as long as you can access and copy the raw RFC 822 source text from your email client, this tool can parse it regardless of the provider.

**What kind of data can I get from the Email Header Metadata Extractor?**
You can get critical metadata including sender/recipient addresses, subject lines, timestamps, Message-IDs, DKIM signatures, and the complete routing history.

**Is the Email Header Metadata Extractor useful for troubleshooting mail delivery?**
Absolutely. It's designed to help you see exactly where an email might be getting stuck or diverted by providing a clear count of the hops and the specific servers involved.

**What kind of email data can be extracted?**
The `extract_email_metadata` tool extracts standard headers like From, To, Subject, Date, Message-ID, Received, and DKIM-Signature, along with hop counts and domain names.

**How is the hop count calculated?**
The hop count is determined by counting the number of 'Received:' header entries present in the raw email source.

**Does this work with any email format?**
This tool is specifically designed for raw RFC 822 email source text.