Receiving emails

Receive inbound emails at your domain and trigger email.received workflows

MailGlyph can receive emails sent to your verified domain and emit an email.received event when inbound email is enabled for that domain. You can use this event in workflows for support automation, routing, and custom integrations.

How it works

When someone sends an email to your domain (for example [e-mail]) and inbound email is enabled, MailGlyph:

1. Receives the email through inbound processing
2. Creates or updates a contact for the sender
3. Triggers an email.received event for workflows
4. Includes inbound metadata in the event payload

Set up inbound email

1. Verify your domain first

   Domain verification is required before inbound processing can be configured. Follow Verifying domains.

2. Enable Inbound Email in Domains

   Open Domains in the dashboard, expand your domain, and turn on the Inbound Email switch.

   The switch is disabled by default.

3. Add the inbound MX record

   Open Domains in the dashboard, expand your domain, and find the Inbound Email DNS section.

   Add the record shown there. It uses this pattern:

   • Type: MX
   • Name: <your-domain>
   • Value: inbound-smtp.<region>.amazonaws.com
   • Priority: 10

   Multiple MX records

   If you already use MX records for another mailbox provider (for example Google Workspace or Microsoft 365), plan DNS carefully. A domain can only have one effective inbound routing setup. Consider using a subdomain (e.g., mail.yourdomain.com) if you need to maintain both services.

4. Wait for DNS propagation

   DNS changes can take a few minutes up to 48 hours.

   dig MX yourdomain.com
   

   Confirm the response includes inbound-smtp.<region>.amazonaws.com.

Use email.received in workflows

Create a workflow with email.received as the trigger to react to inbound mail. The event is emitted only for domains where Inbound Email is enabled.

Event payload fields

Field	Type	Description
messageId	string	Unique identifier for the received message
from	string	Email address of the sender
fromHeader	string	Full “From” header including display name
to	string	Primary recipient email address
subject	string	Email subject line
timestamp	string	ISO 8601 timestamp when the email was received
recipients	string[]	All recipient email addresses
hasContent	boolean	Whether the email body was captured
body	string	HTML body of the email (or plain text if no HTML is available)
spamVerdict	string	Spam check result (e.g., “PASS”, “FAIL”)
virusVerdict	string	Virus scan result (e.g., “PASS”, “FAIL”)
spfVerdict	string	SPF authentication result
dkimVerdict	string	DKIM authentication result
dmarcVerdict	string	DMARC authentication result
processingTimeMillis	number	Time taken to process the email

You can access these fields in your workflow using variable syntax, for example: {{event.subject}}, {{event.from}}, or {{event.body}}.

Example: Auto-reply workflow

Here’s a simple workflow that sends an automatic reply when an email is received at [e-mail]:

1. Trigger: email.received
2. Condition: Check if {{event.to}} equals [e-mail]
3. Send Email:
   • To: {{event.from}}
   • Subject: Re: {{event.subject}}
   • Body: Thank you for your message. We have received your email: "{{event.body}}". We'll get back to you soon!

This workflow reads the incoming email body and includes it in the auto-reply response.

Example: Forward to webhook

For more advanced processing (like ticket creation or AI analysis), you can forward the email content to your own API:

1. Trigger: email.received
2. Webhook:
   • URL: https://api.yourdomain.com/support/tickets
   • Method: POST
   • Body:
     {
       "from": "{{event.from}}",
       "subject": "{{event.subject}}",
       "body": "{{event.body}}",
       "timestamp": "{{event.timestamp}}"
     }
     

Your backend receives the full email content and can process it (create a ticket, run AI analysis, etc.).

Multi-workspace domains

If the same verified domain exists in multiple workspaces, MailGlyph processes inbound mail for each matching workspace and emits separate email.received events per workspace. Each workspace will:

• Create/update the sender as a contact in that workspace
• Trigger the email.received event in that workspace
• Run any workflows configured for that event

This allows you to segment inbound email handling across different workspaces if needed.

Current limitations

• Catch-all addresses: MailGlyph receives emails sent to any address at your verified domain (e.g., [e-mail]). You can use workflow conditions to route emails based on the to field.
• Attachments: Attachments are not stored or exposed.
• Email size: The maximum message size limit for inbound emails is 40 MB.

Security considerations

MailGlyph captures several security verdicts for each incoming email:

• SPF (Sender Policy Framework): Verifies the sender’s mail server is authorized
• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): Validates the email hasn’t been tampered with
• DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication): Combines SPF and DKIM for additional validation
• Spam verdict: MailGlyph’s spam detection result
• Virus verdict: MailGlyph’s virus scanning result

You can use these verdicts in workflow conditions to automatically filter or quarantine suspicious emails before processing them.

Troubleshooting

Emails not being received

1. Check DNS propagation: Verify the MX record is correctly set using dig MX yourdomain.com
2. Check inbound switch: Ensure Inbound Email is enabled for the domain in the Domains UI
3. Verify domain: Ensure your domain is fully verified in MailGlyph (all DKIM, SPF, and MX records for sending)
4. Check workflow: Create a simple test workflow with just an email.received trigger and a webhook to verify events are being generated
5. Check sender: Try sending from a different email provider as some may cache DNS records

Duplicate events

If you have the same domain verified in multiple workspaces, you will receive duplicate email.received events (one per workspace). This is expected behavior. Use workspace-specific workflows to handle this.

Security verdicts failing

If incoming emails consistently show failing security verdicts:

• SPF failures: The sender’s domain may not have SPF configured correctly
• DKIM failures: The sender’s domain may not have DKIM configured, or the email was forwarded/modified in transit
• DMARC failures: The sender fails both SPF and DKIM checks

These are issues with the sender’s configuration, not your MailGlyph setup. You can choose to process these emails anyway or filter them using workflow conditions.