Backends send mail through a mail account that you store for the organization under Connections; the two connection types appear together in projects in the Mail account picker.
Mailtrap or generic SMTP
Mailtrap is the recommended option. You store only an API token and, optionally, a sender name and sender address; the platform sends through the Sending API and shows status, plan, sending volume, and your sending domains with DNS checks in the detail view, where you also create new sending domains.
Email (SMTP) is a generic SMTP account with host, port, username, password or API key, sender address, and sender name for any other provider and for Mailtrap as an SMTP relay.
SMTP, IMAP and co. explains how SMTP differs from IMAP and POP3.
Flow with Mailtrap
- Create a Sending API token at mailtrap.io, as described under SMTP with Mailtrap.
- Under Connections, use the Mailtrap tile to create a connection with that token.
- Verify your sending domain with the DNS records from the connection’s detail view.
- Select the connection in the project as the Mail account; the generated backend reads the credentials from its configuration and sends through Mailtrap.
Flow with generic SMTP
- Create an account with your email provider and note the host, port, username, and password.
- Under Connections, use the Email (SMTP) tile to create an entry with those values plus the sender address and sender name.
- Select the connection in the project as the Mail account.
Locally, ap run-local also starts Mailhog for backends, which shows outgoing mail in the browser.
Keep credentials narrow
Use API keys, tokens, or app passwords from the provider instead of your personal login, and restrict the account’s permissions to sending.