Everything you can do from the dashboard

From sign-up to first send

1 Create your account

Go to the dashboard and create an account. You get an organization and a default project automatically — everything (domains, keys, logs, suppressions) lives inside your project.

2 Add a sending domain

Under Sending domains, click Add domain and enter the domain you want to send from (e.g. mail.yourcompany.com). UserMails generates the three DNS records that authenticate your mail — DKIM, SPF, and DMARC — so inbox providers trust it.

These records are how Gmail/Outlook know the mail is really from you. Without them, your mail goes to spam — so this step matters most.

3 Publish the DNS — one click with a connected DNS provider

Open the domain to see the live propagation monitor. If your domain is on a connected managed-DNS account, hit Publish DNS automatically and all three records are added for you. Otherwise, copy each record into your DNS provider.

The monitor then checks every few seconds and flips each record from pending → verified as it propagates. When DKIM is verified, the domain is ready to send.

4 Send a test email

Use the Send a test email card to fire one off and watch it appear in Recent emails with its status (queued → sent → delivered). That confirms your setup end-to-end.

Check mail without Google Workspace

After a domain is verified, open it and use the Inboxes tab — or the left-nav Inbox — to create addresses like hello@yourdomain.com. Read, reply, compose, search, archive, and trash live in the dashboard. This is for people who need a real mailbox on their domain, not a full Workspace seat.

Agents and scripts can also claim an instant address on agents.usermails.com or inbox.usermails.com with no DNS of their own — that is the public /inboxes API, documented in the developer docs. Same mailbox store as this dashboard.

4b Point MX at UserMails — without stealing live mail

Mail arrives only when the domain's MX record points at mail.usermails.com. The dashboard shows whether receiving is ready, and can publish the MX in one click if your DNS provider is connected.

If Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 already handles that domain, do not change the apex MX — you would break existing mail. Create inboxes on a subdomain instead (for example inbox.yourdomain.com) and point only that subdomain's MX here.

4c Forward a copy to Gmail

Inbox → select the address → Settings. Add a destination (your Gmail, for example). We email that address a confirm link first — nothing is forwarded until they click it, so this cannot be used as an open relay.

• The copy is sent from this mailbox (so it is DKIM-aligned and actually lands). The original From is in Reply-To.
• Keep a copy in this inbox is on by default. Turn it off only if you want the copy in Gmail and nothing stored here.
• Catch-all sends unknown local-parts on that domain (anything@yourdomain.com) into this mailbox. One catch-all per domain.

Apple Mail / Outlook IMAP is not shipped yet. Webmail + forwarding is the Workspace replacement for most teams. Subscribe a webhook to email.inbound if an app should see received mail — see the developer docs.

Send clean, stay in the inbox

5 Verify a list before you send

Before importing or mailing a list, paste it (or upload a CSV) into Verify a list. UserMails checks every address and labels it:

• Deliverable — looks good to send.
• Risky — disposable domain, role address (admin@, info@), on a blacklist, or already suppressed.
• Undeliverable — invalid format or a domain that can't receive mail.

Then Download the clean list or Suppress the bad ones in one click — so dead addresses never bounce and drag down your reputation.

6 Suppressions

The Suppressions list is the set of addresses UserMails will never send to. Hard bounces and complaints are added automatically; you can also add or remove addresses yourself. This keeps you from repeatedly mailing people who bounced or unsubscribed.

7 Watch your reputation

Authenticated domains + clean lists + steady volume = inbox placement. UserMails tracks your delivery, bounce, and complaint rates and your sending health over time, with targets based on what Gmail expects (bounces under 2%, complaints under 0.1%). Keep an eye on these as you ramp up volume. Platform status (API, database, queue) is on /status.

New domain or IP? Warm it up — start with low volume to engaged recipients and increase gradually. Sudden large sends from a cold sender are the fastest way into spam.

When you're ready to automate

8 Create an API key

Under API keys, click New key — it's shown once, so copy it somewhere safe. Hand it to your developer (or your app's settings) and they can send programmatically. Set up Webhooks too, to get notified when mail is delivered, bounces, or is marked spam.

Everything technical — sending from code, the UserMails npm package, verification API, webhooks, and the MCP server for AI agents — is in the developer docs.