Fondoo
GitHubStart your 7-day trial for $0Start trial
Docs

Connect Email to Fondoo

mailLive4 min readUpdated

Every Fondoo site can send email without a third-party account, using Fondoo's built-in delivery. This guide covers sending from your own domain, such as hello@your-domain. It also covers the related mailbox and forwarding tools. With your domain set up, your AI agent can send receipts, support replies, confirmations and newsletters that pass SPF, DKIM and DMARC checks.

If you would rather send through your own provider, see the guides for Amazon SES (ses), Resend (resend), Postmark (postmark) or SMTP (smtp).

What Fondoo can do with it

  • Send email (send_email, newsletters, support replies) through one shared pipeline. Every send checks consent, suppressions and limits, and is logged.
  • Authenticate your sending domain (setup_sending_domain, check_sending_domain). Fondoo generates the DNS records and checks they are live.
  • Set up a business mailbox's DNS for Google, Zoho, Proton or Fastmail (get_email_dns_records, apply_mailbox_preset). Fondoo merges SPF and keeps your existing DMARC.
  • Forward addresses such as hello@ and support@ to an inbox you already have (setup_email_forwarding). This only works when your domain's DNS is managed by Fondoo.
  • Handle bounces and complaints: hard bounces and complaints are suppressed automatically (list_suppressions).

Rules and approvals:

  • apply_mailbox_preset and setup_email_forwarding change MX records. They are destructive, so an agent needs your approval.
  • Marketing email needs evidenced consent, and a postal address set by the owner with update_email_settings.
  • An agent that sends more than 1,000 marketing emails for a site in a month needs your approval.
  • Transactional email can only go to people with a contact relationship to your site. Each send_email call takes up to 100 recipients.
  • Fondoo can pause a workspace's sending for deliverability review. Resuming needs the owner to explain the fix (update_email_settings with reviewAttestation).

Before you start

  • A Fondoo site with your domain added and verified (set_custom_domain, then get_domain_status until it is active). Fondoo refuses to set up email on a domain it has not verified: "Verify domain ownership before configuring email."
  • Access to your domain's DNS. If your domain's DNS is managed by Fondoo, Fondoo can add the records for you.
  • Cost: built-in sending is part of your Fondoo plan. Each site has an included monthly volume, with overage pricing above it. Run get_email_provider({siteId}) to see the figures for your plan.
  • Without your own domain, mail goes out from Fondoo's shared sending domain. That domain has daily and monthly caps, so authenticate your own domain before any real volume.

Step by step: get your credentials

Built-in delivery has no API key. Your "credential" is a set of DNS records.

  1. Choose the From address domain. Use the domain verified on your site, for example example.com.
  2. Generate the records. Run setup_sending_domain({siteId, domain:"example.com"}). Fondoo creates a sending identity and returns the records to add. With Fondoo's default setup these are:
    • three DKIM CNAME records named <token>._domainkey.example.com;
    • an MX record and an SPF TXT record on the MAIL FROM subdomain, by default fondoo-mail.example.com (choose another with mailFromLabel);
    • a DMARC TXT record at _dmarc.example.com with p=none, only if you do not already have one.
    The exact records depend on how your Fondoo server is set up, so always copy them from the response.
  3. Add the records at your DNS host. If the response says applied: true, Fondoo already added them. Check any warnings. If you already have an SPF record, Fondoo returns a merged value. Replace your existing SPF record with it rather than adding a second one.
  4. Set your postal address (owner): update_email_settings({physicalAddress:"..."}). Marketing email is blocked without it.

Connect it in Fondoo

In the dashboard. Open Connections. In the Available list, find Email and click Connect Email. Fondoo gives you a link with these setup steps. The steps themselves run through your agent or the API.

By asking your agent. Example prompt:

Set up example.com so my site can send email from hello@your-domain. Give me any DNS records I need to add, then check them.

The agent will call:

  • connect_service({provider:"email", siteId}): a signed 15-minute link with instructions. It takes no credentials.
  • setup_sending_domain({siteId, domain:"example.com"})
  • check_sending_domain({siteId, domain:"example.com"})

If you previously switched the site to another provider, switch back with set_provider({siteId, capability:"email", provider:"builtin"}) (owner) or configure_email_provider({siteId, provider:"builtin"}).

REST equivalent:

curl -X POST https://api.getfondoo.com/v1/ops/setup_sending_domain \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FONDOO_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"siteId":"YOUR-SITE-ID","domain":"example.com"}'

The key needs the email:write scope for setup, and email:read for checks.

Test that it works

  1. Run check_sending_domain({siteId, domain}). Each record shows verified: true or false. The domain is ready when the top-level verified is true. DNS changes can take from minutes to a few hours.
  2. Add yourself as a contact (create_contact), then send a transactional test: send_email({siteId, to:"you@...", from:"hello@your-domain", subject:"Test", text:"Hello", category:"transactional"}).
  3. Check list_emails({siteId}) or get_email for the status. In the received message, check that SPF, DKIM and DMARC show "pass".
  4. list_connectors({siteId}) reports email health with a last-success time and a next action if something is wrong.

Troubleshooting

  • "Verify domain ownership before configuring email.": the domain is not active on your site yet. Finish set_custom_domain first.
  • "From must use the site's authenticated domain or the shared sending domain": check_sending_domain has not passed yet, or the From address uses a different domain.
  • "MAIL FROM subdomain already has MX records; choose an unused subdomain.": run setup_sending_domain again with another mailFromLabel.
  • SPF shows multipleSpf: true: your domain has two SPF records. Keep only the merged one Fondoo returned.
  • "Shared sending domain daily cap reached..." or "Email plan cap reached...": authenticate your own domain, upgrade your plan, or enable priced pay-as-you-go under the owner's spending cap.
  • "Marketing requires a physical mailing address": run update_email_settings as the owner.

Limits, data and security

  • Fondoo paces all built-in sending, and stops early when a provider quota is reached.
  • There are no credentials to store. Fondoo keeps your domain's email DNS records and status, each delivery record, and a suppression list. Hard-bounce protection that applies across Fondoo cannot be removed by a workspace.
  • Fondoo never reads incoming mail. Forwarding sends it straight to the inbox you name.
  • To stop: switch the site to another provider with set_provider, or delete the DNS records at your host. Removing the DKIM records stops authenticated sending from your domain.