How to Set Up Rainloop Webmail on Nginx

Rainloop is a lightweight webmail client that is faster and simpler than Roundcube. It requires no database and connects directly to IMAP servers.

Step 1 — Download Rainloop

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/rainloop
cd /var/www/rainloop
sudo curl -s https://repository.rainloop.net/installer.php | sudo php

Step 2 — Set Permissions

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/rainloop
sudo find /var/www/rainloop -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/rainloop -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

Step 3 — Configure Nginx

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/rainloop

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name webmail.yourdomain.com;
    root /var/www/rainloop;
    index index.php;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/webmail.yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/webmail.yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.0-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    # Block data directory
    location ^~ /data { deny all; }
}

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/rainloop /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 4 — Admin Configuration

https://webmail.yourdomain.com/?admin

Default: admin / 12345 — change immediately!

Step 5 — Add IMAP Domain

Admin Panel → Domains → Add Domain:

• Name: yourdomain.com
• IMAP server: mail.yourdomain.com:993 SSL
• SMTP server: mail.yourdomain.com:587 STARTTLS

Conclusion

Rainloop is ideal for lightweight webmail deployments. Our team configures complete mail server stacks with webmail access.