Managed Email

Your app needs to send email: account verification, password resets and one-time sign-in codes. Normally that means signing up for an email provider and copying its settings into PocketBase. Managed Email skips all of that. Turn it on and your instance can send email straight away.

Managed Email is included with the Starter and Pro plans. It is off by default: turn it on for each instance that should use it.

It is made for the emails your app sends its own users, such as the ones above. It is not a tool for newsletters or marketing campaigns.

Prerequisites

• A PocketBase instance on the Starter or Pro plan (Deploying PocketBase, Plans and Billing)

Step 1: Turn it on

Using the portal

1. Open the instance in the portal
2. In the sidebar, click Email
3. Switch on Managed email

The badge changes to Active. Your instance is ready to send; there is nothing to set up in the PocketBase admin panel.

If your instance already sends through your own email provider, the page names it and asks before replacing it.

Using the CLI

pbc pocketbase email enable --name my-app
pbc pocketbase email status --name my-app

status shows whether sending is on, your sender level, the sending address and how much of today’s and this month’s allowance you have used.

Step 2: Set your sender details

Your users see the sender name on every email, and their replies go to the reply-to address. A new instance starts with a placeholder address, so replies are not delivered until you set one you read. The Email page warns you while that is the case.

Using the portal

1. On the instance’s Email page, click Edit next to Sender
2. Enter the sender name (usually your app’s name) and the reply-to address
3. Click Save

Using the CLI

pbc pocketbase email sender --name my-app
pbc pocketbase email sender --name my-app --sender-name "Acme" --reply-to [email protected]

Without the two flags, the command shows the current sender details.

Step 3: Send a test email

Using the portal

On the instance’s Email page, click Send Test Email. It goes to your account email and appears under Recent emails.

Using the CLI

pbc pocketbase email test --name my-app
pbc pocketbase email test --name my-app --to [email protected]

A test email counts toward today’s limit.

What your users see

• Who it is from. Emails show your sender name. The address behind the name belongs to the platform; the Email page shows it.
• Where replies go. Replies go to your reply-to address, so you still hear from your users.
• An unsubscribe link. Every email ends with a short line letting the reader stop emails from your app. Someone who unsubscribes no longer gets any email from your app, including password resets, until they resubscribe from the same link.

Sending limits

New apps start with small limits. They grow on their own once your app has a week of healthy sending behind it.

Your app moves up after at least 7 days and 200 delivered emails, as long as very few of them bounced or were reported as spam. The Email page shows which level you are on and how much of today’s and this month’s allowance you have used, and warns you once you pass 80% of either. Daily counts restart at midnight UTC; monthly counts on the 1st.

If your app sends a lot at once, the emails wait in line and go out over the next few minutes instead of being refused.

Emails that are not sent

To keep every app’s email out of spam folders, some emails are never sent:

• to an address that bounced or reported spam, for any app on the platform
• to throwaway inbox services and to addresses that cannot receive email
• to someone who unsubscribed from your app
• to shared addresses such as abuse@ or noreply@, while your app is new
• emails that look like spam or phishing

Each one appears on the Email page under Recent emails with the reason.

When sending is paused

If something looks wrong, sending stops automatically to protect your app’s reputation and everyone else’s. This can happen when:

• many emails bounce, or recipients mark them as spam
• many recipients unsubscribe
• emails keep looking like spam
• your app suddenly sends far more than usual

We email you when it happens, and the Email page explains why. A pause caused only by a sudden surge lifts by itself within an hour once sending is back to normal. For any other reason, contact support and we review it with you.

A few habits keep sending healthy: only email people who signed up for your app, ask users to confirm their address, and remove accounts whose emails keep bouncing.

Step 4: Check recent emails

Using the portal

On the instance’s Email page, Recent emails lists the latest emails with who they went to, the subject and whether they were delivered, bounced or not sent.

Using the CLI

pbc pocketbase email messages --name my-app

If emails stop sending

If someone changed the mail settings in the PocketBase admin panel, your instance no longer sends through Managed Email. Put them back with Reapply SMTP Settings on the Email page, or from the terminal:

pbc pocketbase email reapply --name my-app

Step 5: Turn it off

Using the portal

1. On the instance’s Email page, switch off Managed email
2. Confirm with Turn Off

Your instance stops sending email until you turn Managed Email back on or set up your own email provider.

Using the CLI

pbc pocketbase email disable --name my-app

Using your own email provider instead

You can always use your own provider, for example to send from your own domain. Turn Managed Email off, then enter your provider’s details in the PocketBase admin panel under Settings → Mail settings (Manage your instance).

Next steps

• User Authentication
• Manage your instance
• Plans and billing