MailDev

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MailDev is a simple way to test your project's generated email during development, with an easy to use web interface that runs on your machine built on top of Node.js.

Docker Run

If you want to use MailDev with Docker, you can use the maildev/maildev image on Docker Hub. For a guide for usage with Docker, checkout the docs.

$ docker run -p 1080:1080 -p 1025:1025 maildev/maildev

Usage

Usage: maildev [options]

Options	Environment variable	Description
`-s, --smtp <port>`	`MAILDEV_SMTP_PORT`	SMTP port to catch mail
`-w, --web <port>`	`MAILDEV_WEB_PORT`	Port to run the Web GUI
`--mail-directory <path>`	`MAILDEV_MAIL_DIRECTORY`	Directory for persisting mail
`--https`	`MAILDEV_HTTPS`	Switch from http to https protocol
`--https-key <file>`	`MAILDEV_HTTPS_KEY`	The file path to the ssl private key
`--https-cert <file>`	`MAILDEV_HTTPS_CERT`	The file path to the ssl cert file
`--ip <ip address>`	`MAILDEV_IP`	IP Address to bind SMTP service to
`--outgoing-host <host>`	`MAILDEV_OUTGOING_HOST`	SMTP host for outgoing mail
`--outgoing-port <port>`	`MAILDEV_OUTGOING_PORT`	SMTP port for outgoing mail
`--outgoing-user <user>`	`MAILDEV_OUTGOING_USER`	SMTP user for outgoing mail
`--outgoing-pass <password>`	`MAILDEV_OUTGOING_PASS`	SMTP password for outgoing mail
`--outgoing-secure`	`MAILDEV_OUTGOING_SECURE`	Use SMTP SSL for outgoing mail
`--auto-relay [email]`	`MAILDEV_AUTO_RELAY`	Use auto-relay mode. Optional relay email address
`--auto-relay-rules <file>`	`MAILDEV_AUTO_RELAY_RULES`	Filter rules for auto relay mode
`--incoming-user <user>`	`MAILDEV_INCOMING_USER`	SMTP user for incoming mail
`--incoming-pass <pass>`	`MAILDEV_INCOMING_PASS`	SMTP password for incoming mail
`--incoming-secure`	`MAILDEV_INCOMING_SECURE`	Use SMTP SSL for incoming emails
`--incoming-cert <path>`	`MAILDEV_INCOMING_CERT`	Cert file location for incoming SSL
`--incoming-key <path>`	`MAILDEV_INCOMING_KEY`	Key file location for incoming SSL
`--web-ip <ip address>`	`MAILDEV_WEB_IP`	IP Address to bind HTTP service to, defaults to --ip
`--web-user <user>`	`MAILDEV_WEB_USER`	HTTP user for GUI
`--web-pass <password>`	`MAILDEV_WEB_PASS`	HTTP password for GUI
`--base-pathname <path>`	`MAILDEV_BASE_PATHNAME`	Base path for URLs
`--disable-web`	`MAILDEV_DISABLE_WEB`	Disable the use of the web interface. Useful for unit testing
`--hide-extensions <extensions>`	`MAILDEV_HIDE_EXTENSIONS`	Comma separated list of SMTP extensions to NOT advertise (SMTPUTF8, PIPELINING, 8BITMIME)
`-o, --open`		Open the Web GUI after startup
`-v, --verbose`
`--silent`
`--log-mail-contents`		Log a JSON representation of each incoming mail

API

MailDev can be used in your Node.js application. For more info view the API docs.

const MailDev = require("maildev");

const maildev = new MailDev();

maildev.listen();

maildev.on("new", function (email) {
  // We got a new email!
});

MailDev also has a REST API. For more info view the docs.

Outgoing email

Maildev optionally supports selectively relaying email to an outgoing SMTP server. If you configure outgoing email with the --outgoing-* options you can click "Relay" on an individual email to relay through MailDev out to a real SMTP service that will *actually* send the email to the recipient.

Example:

$ maildev --outgoing-host smtp.gmail.com \
          --outgoing-secure \
          --outgoing-user 'you@gmail.com' \
          --outgoing-pass '<pass>'

Auto relay mode

Enabling the auto relay mode will automatically send each email to it's recipient without the need to click the "Relay" button mentioned above. The outgoing email options are required to enable this feature.

Optionally you may pass an single email address which Maildev will forward all emails to instead of the original recipient. For example, using --auto-relay you@example.com will forward all emails to that address automatically.

Additionally, you can pass a valid json file with additional configuration for what email addresses you would like to allow or deny. The last matching rule in the array will be the rule MailDev will follow.

Example:

$ maildev --outgoing-host smtp.gmail.com \
          --outgoing-secure \
          --outgoing-user 'you@gmail.com' \
          --outgoing-pass '<pass>' \
          --auto-relay \
          --auto-relay-rules file.json

Rules example file:

[
  { "allow": "*" },
  { "deny": "*@test.com" },
  { "allow": "ok@test.com" },
  { "deny": "*@utah.com" },
  { "allow": "johnny@utah.com" }
]

This would allow angelo@fbi.gov, ok@test.com, johnny@utah.com, but deny bodhi@test.com.

Configure your project

Configure your application to send emails via port 1025 and open localhost:1080 in your browser.

Nodemailer (v1.0+)

// We add this setting to tell nodemailer the host isn't secure during dev
process.env.NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED = "0";

const transport = nodemailer.createTransport({
  port: 1025,
  // other settings...
});

Django -- Add EMAIL_PORT = 1025 in your settings file [source]

Rails -- config settings:

config.action_mailer.delivery_method = :smtp
    config.action_mailer.smtp_settings = {
        address: "localhost",
        port: 1025,
        enable_starttls_auto: false
    }

Drupal -- Install and configure SMTP module or use a library like SwiftMailer.

Features

Toggle between HTML, plain text views as well as view email headers
Test responsive emails with resizable preview pane available for various screen sizes
Ability to receive and view email attachments
WebSocket integration keeps the interface in sync once emails are received
Command line interface for configuring SMTP and web interface ports
Ability to relay email to an upstream SMTP server

Ideas

If you're using MailDev and you have a great idea, I'd love to hear it. If you're not using MailDev because it lacks a feature, I'd love to hear that too. Add an issue to the repo here.

Contributing

Any help on MailDev would be awesome. There is plenty of room for improvement. Feel free to create a Pull Request from small to big changes.

To run MailDev during development:

npm install
npm run dev

The "dev" task will run MailDev using nodemon and restart automatically when changes are detected. On *.scss file save, the css will also be recompiled. Using test/send.js, a few test emails will be sent every time the application restarts.

If you want to debug you can use the nodemon debug profile in VSCode. To change arguments or environment variables edit the .vscode\launch.json.

The project uses the JavaScript Standard coding style. To lint your code before submitting your PR, run npm run lint.

To run the test suite:

$ npm test

Changelog

Thanks

MailDev is built on using great open source projects including Express, AngularJS, Font Awesome and two great projects from Andris Reinman: smtp-server and mailparser. Many thanks to Andris as his projects are the backbone of this app and to MailCatcher for the inspiration.

Additionally, thanks to all the awesome contributors to the project.

License

MIT

Options

Environment variable

Description

-s, --smtp <port>

MAILDEV_SMTP_PORT

SMTP port to catch mail

-w, --web <port>

MAILDEV_WEB_PORT

Port to run the Web GUI

--mail-directory <path>

MAILDEV_MAIL_DIRECTORY

Directory for persisting mail

--https

MAILDEV_HTTPS

Switch from http to https protocol

--https-key <file>

MAILDEV_HTTPS_KEY

The file path to the ssl private key

--https-cert <file>

MAILDEV_HTTPS_CERT

The file path to the ssl cert file

--ip <ip address>

MAILDEV_IP

IP Address to bind SMTP service to

--outgoing-host <host>

MAILDEV_OUTGOING_HOST

SMTP host for outgoing mail

--outgoing-port <port>

MAILDEV_OUTGOING_PORT

SMTP port for outgoing mail

--outgoing-user <user>

MAILDEV_OUTGOING_USER

SMTP user for outgoing mail

--outgoing-pass <password>

MAILDEV_OUTGOING_PASS

SMTP password for outgoing mail

--outgoing-secure

MAILDEV_OUTGOING_SECURE

Use SMTP SSL for outgoing mail

--auto-relay [email]

MAILDEV_AUTO_RELAY

Use auto-relay mode. Optional relay email address

--auto-relay-rules <file>

MAILDEV_AUTO_RELAY_RULES

Filter rules for auto relay mode

--incoming-user <user>

MAILDEV_INCOMING_USER

SMTP user for incoming mail

--incoming-pass <pass>

MAILDEV_INCOMING_PASS

SMTP password for incoming mail

--incoming-secure

MAILDEV_INCOMING_SECURE

Use SMTP SSL for incoming emails

--incoming-cert <path>

MAILDEV_INCOMING_CERT

Cert file location for incoming SSL

--incoming-key <path>

MAILDEV_INCOMING_KEY

Key file location for incoming SSL

--web-ip <ip address>

MAILDEV_WEB_IP

IP Address to bind HTTP service to, defaults to --ip

--web-user <user>

MAILDEV_WEB_USER

HTTP user for GUI

--web-pass <password>

MAILDEV_WEB_PASS

HTTP password for GUI

--base-pathname <path>

MAILDEV_BASE_PATHNAME

Base path for URLs

--disable-web

MAILDEV_DISABLE_WEB

Disable the use of the web interface. Useful for unit testing

--hide-extensions <extensions>

MAILDEV_HIDE_EXTENSIONS

Comma separated list of SMTP extensions to NOT advertise (SMTPUTF8, PIPELINING, 8BITMIME)

-o, --open

Open the Web GUI after startup

-v, --verbose

--silent

--log-mail-contents

Log a JSON representation of each incoming mail

$ maildev --outgoing-host smtp.gmail.com \ --outgoing-secure \ --outgoing-user 'you@gmail.com' \ --outgoing-pass '<pass>' \ --auto-relay \ --auto-relay-rules file.json

// We add this setting to tell nodemailer the host isn't secure during dev process.env.NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED = "0"; const transport = nodemailer.createTransport({ port: 1025, // other settings... });