Inbox connectors

Inbox connectors allow you to connect external mailboxes with MailSlurp inboxes. This means you can send and receive emails using MailSlurp APIs and dashboards by syncing with existing mail accounts over IMAP and SMTP. This feature supports popular providers like Google/Gmail, Outlook/Exchange, as well as custom IMAP and SMTP servers.

Terminology

Connectors are a way to link external email accounts with MailSlurp inboxes. They are comprised of several components:

Feature	Description
Connector	Main component with ID and email address
Connector inbox	The MailSlurp inbox for storing synced emails
External mailbox	External email account hosted by your provider
IMAP settings	Settings for reading emails from external mailbox
SMTP settings	Settings for sending emails via external mailbox
Sync settings	Settings for background automatic syncing
Connector events	Event and logs saved for each sync and send

Creating a connector

You can create inbox connectors in the dashboard or using the API. In the dashboard you can choose between common providers like Google and Microsoft or use custom settings:

Using the Javascript SDK, here is an example:

const connector = await connectorController.createConnectorWithOptions({
  createConnectorWithOptions: {
    // configure email and name
    createConnectorOptions: {
      emailAddress: externalInbox.emailAddress,
      name: 'example-connector',
      enabled: true
    },
    // configure imap settings
    createConnectorImapConnectionOptions: {
      enabled: true,
      imapHost: externalMailServer.imapServerHost,
      imapPort: externalMailServer.imapServerPort,
      imapPassword: externalMailServer.imapPassword,
      imapUsername: externalMailServer.imapUsername,
      imapSsl: false,
      startTls: false
    },
    // configure smtp settings
    createConnectorSmtpConnectionOptions: {
      enabled: true,
      smtpHost: externalMailServer.smtpServerHost,
      smtpPort: externalMailServer.smtpServerPort,
      smtpPassword: externalMailServer.smtpPassword,
      smtpUsername: externalMailServer.smtpUsername,
      smtpSsl: false,
      startTls: false
    },
    // no automatic sync set
    createConnectorSyncSettingsOptions: undefined
  }
});

See the connector controller for more options.

Connecting Google Accounts

To connect Gmail/Google workspace accounts you need to first create an app password for your google account.

1. Go to your Google account settings
2. Search for "app password" in the search bar
3. Create a new app password for MailSlurp
4. Copy the password into the MailSlurp connector SMTP and IMAP password settings
5. Use your email account as the username for each setting.

Next, ensure you have enabled IMAP in Gmail settings.

1. In Gmail, click Settings gear icon, then click All settings
2. Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab
3. In the IMAP section, select Enable IMAP, then save changes.

Then configure the connector connection settings to use the Gmail mail servers:

Setting	Value
Provider	GOOGLE
IMAP username	Your email
IMAP password	Your app password
IMAP server	imap.gmail.com
IMAP port	993
IMAP SSL	true
IMAP StartTLS	false
SMTP username	Your email
SMTP password	Your app password
SMTP server	smtp.gmail.com
SMTP port	465
SMTP SSL	true
SMTP StartTLS	true

Connecting Microsoft Accounts

Setting	Value
Provider	MICROSOFT
IMAP username	Your email
IMAP password	Your external password or app password
IMAP server	outlook.office365.com
IMAP port	993
IMAP SSL	true
IMAP StartTLS	false
SMTP username	Your email
SMTP password	Your external password or app password
SMTP server	smtp-mail.outlook.com
SMTP port	587
SMTP SSL	false
SMTP StartTLS	true

Testing connections

Once you add IMAP and SMTP connections you can see the status in the dashboard:

You can test connections against the servers using the test connection endpoints:

const testResult = await connectorController.testConnectorImapConnection({
  id: connector.id
})
expect(testResult.success).toBeTruthy();

You can also see the status and logs of the connection in the dashboard:

Syncing emails

Syncing is the process of fetching emails from an external mailbox and storing them in a MailSlurp inbox. Synchronizing emails between an external inbox and a MailSlurp connector is done via several mechanisms:

• Direct sync requests
• Scheduled background sync using sync settings
• Sync during waitFor commands
• Sync during email fetch commands

Direct sync example

const result: ConnectorSyncRequestResult = await connectorController.syncConnector({
  id: connector.id,
  // enable logging to debug
  logging: true
});
expect(result.syncResult?.emailIds?.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
expect(result.syncResult?.emailSyncCount).toEqual(1);
// can view IMAP logs
expect(result.syncResult?.logs?.some(line => line.includes('CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1'))).toBeTruthy();

Sending emails

To send emails from a 3rd party account using MailSlurp inboxes and APIs either:

• use the existing send email methods with the connectors inboxId.
• use the connector sendEmailFromConnector method.