Does the mail client need to be running to use SpamSieve?

Prospective user here. My use case is to clean up spam on a single IMAP mailbox. I understand that SpamSieve would need to be running on my Mac, but do I have to leave the mail client open as well? My main use case would be drone mode.

Yes, the mail client needs to be open, but you could close its windows or hide it from the application menu if you don’t want to see it.