config

[bindings]
  G = call hooks.getmail(ui)

hooks.py

## https://github.com/pazz/alot/wiki/Contrib-Hooks#getting-new-msg-while-alot-is-running
## Addition to communicate and notify stdout by Kieran Bingham
## Displays stdout of the fetched mail process, but hangs the UI while waiting for it to complete.
def getmail(ui=None):
    ui.notify("fetching email..")
    msg=subprocess.Popen("notmuch new".split(),stdout=subprocess.PIPE,stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
    stdout, stderr = msg.communicate()
    ui.notify(stdout)

'notmuch new' calls into other hooks to get my mail through mbsync/lore and synchronise patchwork, as well as handle tagging with afew.

$ cat ~/Mail/.notmuch/hooks/pre-new

#!/bin/sh

# Fetch mail
mbsync -a

# Hooking lore updates
echo "Syncing from Lore"
~/Mail/.notmuch/.lore/hooks/pre-new

$ cat ~/Mail/.notmuch/hooks/post-new

#!/bin/sh

echo "Synchronise patchwork"
pwnm-sync.py

# Resync imap folders
mbsync -a

# Handle tagging
afew --tag --new