---
title: Sending out Emails
sidebarTitle: Emails
description: Learn how to send transactional emails from your Spree application.
---

Spree handles two categories of emails:

| Category | Sent by | Examples |
|----------|---------|----------|
| **Customer-facing** | Spree by default; optionally your storefront (via webhooks) | Order confirmation, shipping notification, password reset |
| **System/admin** | Spree | Staff invitation, report ready, export complete |

## Customer-Facing Emails

By default, **Spree sends all customer transactional emails itself** — the `spree_emails` gem ships installed in every deployment. This works for every client of the API: mobile apps, custom frontends, POS integrations — no storefront required. Delivery uses the same [SMTP configuration](#configuration) as system emails.

Customer emails can be turned off in the admin under **Settings → Emails** — do this when your storefront takes over sending them (below), otherwise customers receive both.

### Sending from the Storefront Instead

With the Next.js storefront, you can let the storefront own the customer email experience: the Spree backend publishes webhook events, and the storefront receives them, renders React email templates, and sends via [Resend](https://resend.com) (or any provider).

```
Spree Backend → Webhook POST → Storefront → render email → send via Resend
                (HMAC signed)   (verified)    (react-email)
```

#### Setup

1. **Create a webhook endpoint** in Spree Admin → Settings → Developers → Webhooks:
   - **URL:** `https://your-storefront.com/api/webhooks/spree`
   - **Events:** `order.completed`, `order.canceled`, `order.shipped`, `customer.password_reset_requested`, `newsletter_subscriber.subscription_requested`

2. **Configure the storefront** with the webhook secret and email provider:

    ```env
    # .env.local (storefront)
    SPREE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=your_webhook_endpoint_secret_key
    RESEND_API_KEY=re_your_resend_api_key
    EMAIL_FROM=Your Store <orders@your-domain.com>
    ```

3. **The storefront handles everything else** — signature verification, event routing, email rendering, and delivery are built in. See the [Next.js storefront email docs](../storefront/nextjs/customization.md#transactional-emails) for template customization.

4. **Turn off Spree's own customer emails** under **Settings → Emails** in the admin, so customers don't receive duplicates.

#### Supported Events

| Event | Email |
|-------|-------|
| `order.completed` | Order confirmation with items, totals, addresses |
| `order.canceled` | Cancellation notice |
| `order.shipped` | Shipping notification with tracking link |
| `customer.password_reset_requested` | Password reset link |
| `newsletter_subscriber.subscription_requested` | Newsletter double opt-in confirmation link |

#### Custom Frameworks

If you're not using the Next.js storefront, you can build your own webhook handler with any framework. Use `@spree/sdk/webhooks` for signature verification:

```typescript
import { verifyWebhookSignature } from '@spree/sdk/webhooks'
```

See [Webhooks documentation](../core-concepts/webhooks.md) for the full payload format and verification details.

## System Emails

System emails are internal notifications sent to **store staff**, not customers. They are always sent by Spree itself and can't be taken over by a storefront.

| Email | When |
|-------|------|
| Staff invitation | Admin invites a new team member |
| Invitation accepted | Invited user accepts |
| Report ready | Background report generation completes |
| Export complete | Data export finishes |
| Webhook endpoint disabled | Endpoint auto-disabled after repeated failures |

### Configuration

Set the following environment variables on the **Spree backend** to enable email delivery — this configuration powers both customer transactional emails and system emails:

| Variable | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `SMTP_HOST` | — | SMTP server address (e.g., `smtp.sendgrid.net`, `smtp.resend.com`) |
| `SMTP_PORT` | `587` | SMTP server port |
| `SMTP_USERNAME` | — | SMTP auth username |
| `SMTP_PASSWORD` | — | SMTP auth password |
| `SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS` | — | Default "from" email address (e.g., `admin@mystore.com`) |
| `RAILS_HOST` | `example.com` | Public host used in email links and other [generated URLs](environment_variables.md#urls-and-hosts) — image/attachment URLs use `CDN_HOST` instead when set |

When `SMTP_HOST` is not set, emails are printed to the Rails log instead of being sent.

### Provider Examples

**SendGrid:**

```bash
    SMTP_HOST=smtp.sendgrid.net
    SMTP_USERNAME=apikey
    SMTP_PASSWORD=SG.your-sendgrid-api-key
    SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS=admin@mystore.com
    ```

    > **WARNING:** Remember to verify the email address in SendGrid you intend to use for sending, otherwise emails will be rejected.
>     [Read more about sender verification](https://www.twilio.com/docs/sendgrid/ui/sending-email/sender-verification).

  **Resend:**

```bash
    SMTP_HOST=smtp.resend.com
    SMTP_USERNAME=resend
    SMTP_PASSWORD=re_your-resend-api-key
    SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS=admin@mystore.com
    ```

  **Postmark:**

```bash
    SMTP_HOST=smtp.postmarkapp.com
    SMTP_USERNAME=your-postmark-server-token
    SMTP_PASSWORD=your-postmark-server-token
    SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS=admin@mystore.com
    ```

  **Amazon SES:**

```bash
    SMTP_HOST=email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
    SMTP_USERNAME=your-ses-access-key-id
    SMTP_PASSWORD=your-ses-secret-access-key
    SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS=admin@mystore.com
    ```


## Local Development

### Storefront-sent emails

In development, no email provider is needed. Emails are rendered to HTML files in `.next/emails/` with a clickable `file://` link in the console. To preview and design templates:

```bash
npm run email:dev
```

To test the full webhook flow locally, use [Cloudflare Tunnel](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/connections/connect-apps/install-and-setup/):

```bash
brew install cloudflared
cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:3001
```

Use the tunnel URL as the webhook endpoint URL in Spree Admin.

### Spree-sent emails

In development, all emails Spree sends (customer and system alike) are captured by [Mailpit](https://mailpit.axllent.org/) — nothing is delivered externally. Open **http://localhost:8025** to read them. To deliver through a real provider instead, set `SMTP_HOST` (and friends) in `.env`.