Send your first email

A complete walkthrough from account creation to sending and verifying delivery.

1. Create your account

If you haven't already, sign up for a Robotomail account. See the Quickstart for the full signup flow.

shell

export ROBOTOMAIL_API_KEY="rm_your_key_here"

2. Verify your email

Sending requires a verified account. Check the inbox of the email you signed up with and click the verification link before proceeding.

3. Use your default mailbox

Your default mailbox was created automatically at signup. List your mailboxes to get the ID:

curl

curl https://api.robotomail.com/v1/mailboxes \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ROBOTOMAIL_API_KEY"

4. Send an email

curl

curl -X POST https://api.robotomail.com/v1/mailboxes/MAILBOX_ID/messages \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ROBOTOMAIL_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "to": ["recipient@example.com"],
    "subject": "Hello from Robotomail",
    "bodyText": "This is my first email sent via the Robotomail API.",
    "bodyHtml": "<h1>Hello!</h1><p>This is my first email sent via the Robotomail API.</p>"
  }'

The response will have status: "SENT" — the email has been accepted for delivery.

5. Verify delivery

Set up a webhook to receive message.delivered events, or poll the message to check its status:

curl

curl https://api.robotomail.com/v1/mailboxes/MAILBOX_ID/messages/MESSAGE_ID \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ROBOTOMAIL_API_KEY"

The status field will progress from SENT to DELIVEREDonce the recipient's mail server accepts the message.

Send a controlled test

On Free, send to your verified signup email address: the monthly allowance is 10 sends and 10 receives with that address only. Upgrade to test with other correspondents. Use a subject you can recognize. Record the returned message ID, inspect delivery status, check spam folders and reply back to confirm the receiving path. A successful send response is the start of the test, not proof of inbox placement.

Test plain text first, then add HTML and attachments one at a time. Complete account verification before sending. Use email delivery troubleshooting to distinguish API acceptance, recipient-server delivery and actual user outcomes.

Plain text, HTML and accessible messages

Supply bodyText when sending through the messages API. Add bodyHtml when the message needs HTML formatting. Keep the two versions consistent so a recipient using plain text still gets the complete message.

Use clear subjects, descriptive links and useful alternative text for images. Do not make an image the only way to read a verification code or instruction. Avoid scripts and assume clients may remove styling or block remote images. Escape untrusted values before inserting them into HTML, and test the actual message in representative clients.