diff --git a/i3pystatus/mail/notmuchmail.py b/i3pystatus/mail/notmuchmail.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b60b5b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/i3pystatus/mail/notmuchmail.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+# note that this needs the notmuch python bindings. For more info see:
+# http://notmuchmail.org/howto/#index4h2
+import notmuch
+import json
+
+from i3pystatus.mail import Backend
+
+class NotmuchMailChecker(Backend):
+    """
+    This class uses the notmuch python bindings to check for the
+    number of messages in the notmuch database with the tags "inbox"
+    and "unread"
+    """
+
+    settings = required = ("db_path",)
+
+    def init(self):
+        self.db = notmuch.Database(self.db_path)
+
+    @property
+    def unread(self):
+        return notmuch.Query(self.db, "tag:unread and tag:inbox").count_messages()
diff --git a/i3pystatus/notmuchmail.py b/i3pystatus/notmuchmail.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 18b13b8..0000000
--- a/i3pystatus/notmuchmail.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,36 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
-# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-
-# note that this needs the notmuch python bindings. For more info see:
-# http://notmuchmail.org/howto/#index4h2
-import notmuch
-import json
-
-from i3pystatus import IntervalModule
-
-class NotmuchMailChecker(IntervalModule):
-    """
-    This class uses the notmuch python bindings to check for the
-    number of messages in the notmuch database with the tags "inbox"
-    and "unread"
-    """
-
-    settings = required = ("db_path",)
-
-    def run(self):
-        db = notmuch.Database(self.db_path)
-        unread = notmuch.Query(db, "tag:unread and tag:inbox").count_messages()
-
-        if (unread == 0):
-            color = "#00FF00"
-            urgent = "false"
-        else:
-            color = "#ff0000"
-            urgent = "true"
-
-        self.output = {
-            "full_text" : "%d new email%s" % (unread, ("s" if unread > 1 else "")), 
-            "name" : "newmail",
-            "urgent" : urgent,
-            "color" : color
-        }