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Migrate from Mailgun

Move Mailgun Messages API sends, templates, webhooks, suppressions, and Routes to the SendHQ API, with a prompt your coding agent can run.

What changes

Mailgun sends with POST /v3/{domain_name}/messages on https://api.mailgun.net (or https://api.eu.mailgun.net), as multipart/form-data with HTTP Basic auth (user api). SendHQ takes JSON with a bearer key, and the sending domain comes from the from address instead of the URL.

  • No SMTP relay and no Mailgun-compatible endpoint. SendHQ is a JSON REST API at https://sendhq.cc/api/v1. There is no zero-code-change path: every call site moves to POST /emails. There is no official SendHQ SDK, so use your language's HTTP client behind one small adapter.
  • Attachments are uploaded to a draft first and sent with draft_id, not inlined as base64 in the send body. There is no inline (CID) image support.
  • Tags, categories, metadata, and custom variables have no equivalent on a send and are not returned in webhooks. Unknown JSON fields are ignored, not rejected, so remove them deliberately. Store your own correlation data against the returned em_… ID. labels file a message in the SendHQ mailbox; they are not analytics tags.
  • Scheduled sends, open tracking, and click tracking are not available on POST /emails. Scheduling and open/click reports exist only for newsletter broadcasts.
  • Suppression lists cannot be imported. SendHQ builds its list from its own bounces and complaints. Keep the exported list in your application during cutover (see below).
  • Integration trial. Until a paid plan is active, a workspace can deliver only to the account email or a mailbox-simulator address (…@simulator.amazonses.com), and attachments need a paid plan.

Concept mapping

How each Mailgun concept carries over. Where SendHQ has nothing equivalent, the row says so.

MailgunSendHQ
API key over HTTP Basic (api:KEY)Workspace API key re_… in Authorization: Bearer
Domain in the URL (/v3/{domain_name}/…)No domain in the path; the from domain must be verified in the workspace
US and EU regionsNo SendHQ equivalent. One API base: https://sendhq.cc/api/v1.
SMTP smtp.mailgun.org / smtp.eu.mailgun.org, per-domain credentialsNo SendHQ equivalent. No SMTP relay; move SMTP senders to the HTTP API.
Sandbox domain, o:testmodeNo SendHQ equivalent. An unpaid workspace delivers only to the account email and …@simulator.amazonses.com.
Stored templates (Handlebars), t:variablesHosted templates with typed flat variables and template.data
Webhooks (signed event-data)Webhooks: Standard Webhooks HMAC signature
Bounces, unsubscribes, complaints lists; allowlistAutomatic suppressions for permanent bounces and complaints. No import, no allowlist.
Routes (match_recipient, forward(), store())Inboxes per address and forwarding per inbox. No filter expressions.
o:tag, v: variables, recipient-variablesNo SendHQ equivalent. Use the batch endpoint with one message per recipient instead of recipient variables.
o:deliverytime, o:tracking*, o:sending-ip-poolNo SendHQ equivalent.

Sending: endpoint and fields

Mailgun form fields map onto SendHQ JSON fields. Repeated form keys become arrays.

MailgunSendHQ POST /emails
POST https://api.mailgun.net/v3/{domain_name}/messagesPOST https://sendhq.cc/api/v1/emails
from, to, cc, bccSame names; 100 addresses combined
subject, text, htmlSame names
amp-htmlNo SendHQ equivalent.
h:X-My-Header form fieldsheaders: {"X-My-Header": "…"}
A Reply-To addressreply_to (one address), not a custom header
template, t:version, t:variablestemplate: {key, version_id, data}, exactly one to
attachmentDraft upload, then draft_id
inlineNo SendHQ equivalent.
recipient-variables (batch personalization)POST /emails/batch, one message per recipient
o:tag, v:…No SendHQ equivalent. Remove them.
o:deliverytime, o:testmode, o:tracking, o:tracking-clicks, o:tracking-opens, o:require-tls, o:dkim, o:sending-ip, o:sending-ip-poolNo SendHQ equivalent. Remove them.
No idempotency fieldIdempotency-Key header
200 {"id", "message"}201 {"id": "em_…", "providerMessageId", "threadId"}

SendHQ limits that affect a migration

SendHQ ruleValue
Recipients per message100 combined to, cc, and bcc; each one uses one recipient credit
BatchPOST /emails/batch with {"emails": [...]}, up to 100 messages; 201, or 207 when some fail. Each item returns {index, ok, id} or {index, ok: false, error}
Attachments10 files and 10 MB per message, paid plans only
IdempotencyIdempotency-Key header, at most 200 characters. Same key and identical body replays the stored response with Idempotent-Replayed: true; same key with a different body returns 409
Daily volume for a new paid workspaceA workspace-wide daily recipient limit starts at 100 and steps up (100, 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, 15,000, 25,000, 35,000, 45,000, 50,000) after each day that used at least half of it with healthy bounce and complaint rates; rising rates step it back. Each sender address also has its own daily limit. Sends past a limit return 429
DomainsEvery from address must be on a verified domain in the workspace; otherwise 403

Before and after: Node.js

Before: Mailgun (Node.js)
// mailgun.js + form-data
const formData = require("form-data");
const Mailgun = require("mailgun.js");
const mg = new Mailgun(formData).client({ username: "api", key: process.env.MAILGUN_API_KEY });

await mg.messages.create("example.com", {
  from: "Acme <hello@example.com>",
  to: [user.email],
  subject: "Welcome to Acme",
  text: "Your account is ready.",
  html: "<p>Your account is ready.</p>",
});
After: SendHQ (Node.js)
// No SendHQ SDK: call the REST API with fetch (Node 18+).
const res = await fetch("https://sendhq.cc/api/v1/emails", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.SENDHQ_API_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    "Idempotency-Key": `welcome-${user.id}`, // one stable key per logical send
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    from: "Acme <hello@example.com>",
    to: [user.email],
    reply_to: "support@example.com",
    subject: "Welcome to Acme",
    html: "<p>Your account is ready.</p>",
    text: "Your account is ready.",
  }),
});
const body = await res.json();
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`SendHQ ${res.status}: ${body.error?.message}`);
const emailId = body.id; // "em_…": store it with the event that caused the email

Before and after: Python

Before: Mailgun (Python)
# requests against the Messages API
import os
import requests

requests.post(
    "https://api.mailgun.net/v3/example.com/messages",
    auth=("api", os.environ["MAILGUN_API_KEY"]),
    data={
        "from": "Acme <hello@example.com>",
        "to": [user.email],
        "subject": "Welcome to Acme",
        "text": "Your account is ready.",
        "html": "<p>Your account is ready.</p>",
    },
)
After: SendHQ (Python)
# No SendHQ SDK: call the REST API with requests.
import os
import requests

res = requests.post(
    "https://sendhq.cc/api/v1/emails",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['SENDHQ_API_KEY']}",
        "Idempotency-Key": f"welcome-{user.id}",  # one stable key per logical send
    },
    json={
        "from": "Acme <hello@example.com>",
        "to": [user.email],
        "reply_to": "support@example.com",
        "subject": "Welcome to Acme",
        "html": "<p>Your account is ready.</p>",
        "text": "Your account is ready.",
    },
    timeout=30,
)
if not res.ok:
    raise RuntimeError(f"SendHQ {res.status_code}: {res.json()['error']['message']}")
email_id = res.json()["id"]  # "em_…": store it with the event that caused the email

Before and after: curl

Before: Mailgun (curl)
curl -s --user "api:$MAILGUN_API_KEY" \
  https://api.mailgun.net/v3/example.com/messages \
  -F from="Acme <hello@example.com>" \
  -F to=customer@example.net \
  -F subject="Welcome to Acme" \
  -F text="Your account is ready." \
  -F html="<p>Your account is ready.</p>"
After: SendHQ (curl)
curl https://sendhq.cc/api/v1/emails \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENDHQ_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: welcome-user-42" \
  -d '{
    "from": "Acme <hello@example.com>",
    "to": ["customer@example.net"],
    "reply_to": "support@example.com",
    "subject": "Welcome to Acme",
    "html": "<p>Your account is ready.</p>",
    "text": "Your account is ready."
  }'

Attachments

Mailgun takes files as attachment (and inline) form parts in the send request. In SendHQ, upload each file's bytes to a draft and send with draft_id. inline images have no SendHQ equivalent; link a hosted image instead.

SendHQ attachments: draft, upload, send
# 1. Create a draft (same from/to/subject as the send).
curl https://sendhq.cc/api/v1/drafts \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENDHQ_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"from":"billing@example.com","to":["customer@example.net"],"subject":"Invoice 1042"}'
# -> {"id":"dr_…","attachments":[]}

# 2. Upload each file as raw bytes (at most 10 files, 10 MB in total).
curl https://sendhq.cc/api/v1/drafts/dr_123/attachments \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENDHQ_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/pdf" \
  -H "X-Filename: invoice-1042.pdf" \
  --data-binary @invoice-1042.pdf

# 3. Send with draft_id. The draft's files go with the message.
curl https://sendhq.cc/api/v1/emails \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENDHQ_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: invoice-1042" \
  -d '{"from":"billing@example.com","to":["customer@example.net"],"subject":"Invoice 1042","text":"Your invoice is attached.","draft_id":"dr_123"}'

Move the domain

Mailgun verifies a domain with an SPF TXT include of mailgun.org, a DKIM record copied from its control panel (or pdk1._domainkey and pdk2._domainkey CNAMEs with Automatic Sender Security), a tracking CNAME to mailgun.org, and MX records mxa.mailgun.org and mxb.mailgun.org for receiving. Keep all of them during cutover: SendHQ's DKIM selectors differ, and your SPF record can carry both includes (v=spf1 include:mailgun.org include:amazonses.com ~all). Leave the Mailgun MX records in place while Routes still handle inbound mail.

Records for SendHQ

  1. Add the domain with POST /domains {"name": "example.com"} or in the dashboard. Read the exact records with GET /domains/:id; GET /dns/provider?domain_id=… also returns the relative host to type at your DNS provider.
  2. Publish the three DKIM CNAME records SendHQ returns: <token>._domainkey.example.com pointing to <token>.dkim.amazonses.com. These prove ownership and sign your mail. Cloudflare users can authorize a one-time setup instead, and Domain Connect providers get a consent link.
  3. SPF: keep exactly one v=spf1 record per name. If you publish SPF for SendHQ, merge include:amazonses.com into the existing value; never add a second SPF record.
  4. DMARC: keep exactly one record at _dmarc.example.com. If you have none, SendHQ recommends v=DMARC1; p=none; adkim=r; aspf=r while you confirm all legitimate mail passes.
  5. Run POST /domains/:id/verify until the status is verified. DNS can pass through pending, checking, and propagating first.

Webhooks and events

Mailgun eventSendHQ event
acceptedemail.sent
deliveredemail.delivered
failed with severity: temporaryemail.delivery_delayed, or email.bounced with bounce.type: Transient
failed with severity: permanentemail.bounced with bounce.type: Permanent
rejectedemail.failed, or a synchronous 4xx at send time
complainedemail.complained
opened, clicked, unsubscribedNo SendHQ equivalent.
stored / Route forward() to a URLemail.received (then GET /emails/:id)

Mailgun signs webhooks with a signature object (timestamp, token, signature), a hex HMAC-SHA256 of timestamp + token keyed with the webhook signing key, next to event-data. SendHQ signs the raw body with the headers below. Use data.email_id where you used event-data.message.headers.message-id, and webhook-id for deduplication.

Create an endpoint with POST /webhooks {"url": "https://example.com/webhooks/sendhq", "events": [...]} (omit events for all). The response includes the signing secret whsec_…; store it as SENDHQ_WEBHOOK_SECRET. Up to 10 endpoints per workspace. Each request is one JSON event, {"type", "created_at", "data"}, signed with the Standard Webhooks scheme (webhook-id, webhook-timestamp, webhook-signature: v1,<base64 HMAC-SHA256 of id.timestamp.body>). Answer 2xx within 10 seconds; failures are retried 8 times over about 27 hours with the same webhook-id, so deduplicate on it. Events can arrive out of order.

data always carries email_id, from, to, and subject (plus cc, thread_id, and template_key when present). Event-specific fields: email.delivered → recipients; email.delivery_delayed → recipients, delay.type, delay.diagnostic, delay.expiration; email.bounced → recipient, bounce.type (Permanent or Transient), bounce.sub_type, bounce.diagnostic, bounce.suppressed (one event per bounced recipient); email.complained → recipient, complaint.feedback_type; email.failed → reason; email.received → inbox_id, category. There are no open, click, or unsubscribe webhook events.

Verify a SendHQ webhook (Node.js)
// Standard Webhooks signature check (any Standard Webhooks library also works).
import crypto from "node:crypto";

export function verifySendHQ(rawBody, headers, secret = process.env.SENDHQ_WEBHOOK_SECRET) {
  const id = headers["webhook-id"];
  const timestamp = headers["webhook-timestamp"];
  const signatures = String(headers["webhook-signature"] || "").split(" ");
  if (!id || !timestamp || Math.abs(Date.now() / 1000 - Number(timestamp)) > 300) return null;
  const key = Buffer.from(secret.replace(/^whsec_/, ""), "base64");
  const expected = crypto.createHmac("sha256", key).update(`${id}.${timestamp}.${rawBody}`).digest();
  const ok = signatures.some((entry) => {
    const [version, value] = entry.split(",");
    const given = Buffer.from(value || "", "base64");
    return version === "v1" && given.length === expected.length && crypto.timingSafeEqual(given, expected);
  });
  return ok ? JSON.parse(rawBody) : null; // { type, created_at, data: { email_id, … } }
}
Verify a SendHQ webhook (Python)
# Standard Webhooks signature check with the standard library.
import base64, hashlib, hmac, json, os, time

def verify_sendhq(raw_body: bytes, headers) -> dict | None:
    msg_id = headers.get("webhook-id")
    timestamp = headers.get("webhook-timestamp")
    signatures = (headers.get("webhook-signature") or "").split(" ")
    if not msg_id or not timestamp or abs(time.time() - int(timestamp)) > 300:
        return None
    secret = os.environ["SENDHQ_WEBHOOK_SECRET"].removeprefix("whsec_")
    signed = f"{msg_id}.{timestamp}.".encode() + raw_body
    expected = base64.b64encode(hmac.new(base64.b64decode(secret), signed, hashlib.sha256).digest()).decode()
    if not any(s.startswith("v1,") and hmac.compare_digest(s[3:], expected) for s in signatures):
        return None
    return json.loads(raw_body)  # {"type", "created_at", "data": {"email_id", ...}}

Suppressions and bounces

Export the three per-domain lists. Each list returns items and paging links, with limit up to 1,000:

Export Mailgun suppressions
for list in bounces unsubscribes complaints; do
  url="https://api.mailgun.net/v3/example.com/$list?limit=1000"
  while [ -n "$url" ]; do
    page=$(curl -s --user "api:$MAILGUN_API_KEY" "$url")
    count=$(echo "$page" | jq '.items | length')
    [ "$count" -eq 0 ] && break
    echo "$page" | jq -r --arg list "$list" '.items[] | [.address, $list] | @csv' >> mailgun-suppressions.csv
    url=$(echo "$page" | jq -r '.paging.next // empty')
  done
done

SendHQ adds a suppression automatically for every permanent bounce and every complaint it sees, and refuses later sends to that address with 422. Read it with GET /suppressions (paged with limit and offset) or GET /blocked-recipients. There is no endpoint to import another provider's suppression list into it.

  • Transactional sends: keep the exported list in your own database and check it in your SendHQ adapter before calling POST /emails. Drop that check once SendHQ has run long enough to build its own list.
  • Newsletter contacts: import the addresses with POST /contact-imports and a status column of unsubscribed, bounced, or complained. Those rows import as unsubscribed, so broadcasts skip them. This does not block POST /emails.

Templates

Fetch each stored template with GET /v3/{domain_name}/templates/{template_name}?active=yes; the active version's template field holds the content. Mailgun templates use a customized Handlebars: simple {{title}} variables map to SendHQ variables (rename them to lowercase with underscores), while block helpers must move into your code.

SendHQ hosted templates support plain variable substitution only: {{variable}}, where a variable key is lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores, declared with a type (text, number, url, or boolean), a required flag, and an optional fallback. Values are HTML-escaped; a url variable may only fill a whole href or src. There are no conditionals, loops, partials, helpers, or nested objects. Templates that use them need the logic moved into your code (render the varying part yourself and pass the result as html/text, or pass a precomputed text value).

Recreate a template in SendHQ
# 1. Create the template (key: lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens).
curl https://sendhq.cc/api/v1/templates \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENDHQ_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name":"Password reset","key":"password-reset"}'
# -> {"template":{"id":"tmpl_…","key":"password-reset"},"draft":{"revision":1,…},…}

# 2. Save the converted content and declare every variable.
curl -X PUT https://sendhq.cc/api/v1/templates/tmpl_123/draft \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENDHQ_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"revision":1,"name":"Password reset","subjectTemplate":"Reset your password, {{first_name}}",
       "htmlTemplate":"<p>Hi {{first_name}},</p><p><a href=\"{{reset_url}}\">Reset password</a></p>",
       "textTemplate":"Hi {{first_name}}, reset your password: {{reset_url}}",
       "variables":[{"key":"first_name","type":"text","required":true},{"key":"reset_url","type":"url","required":true}],
       "sampleData":{"first_name":"Asha","reset_url":"https://example.com/reset/abc"}}'

# 3. Check the exact output, then publish an immutable release.
curl -X POST https://sendhq.cc/api/v1/templates/tmpl_123/render -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENDHQ_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"data":{"first_name":"Asha","reset_url":"https://example.com/reset/abc"}}'
curl -X POST https://sendhq.cc/api/v1/templates/tmpl_123/publish -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENDHQ_API_KEY"

# 4. Send by key: exactly one To recipient, no cc/bcc, no subject/html/text.
curl https://sendhq.cc/api/v1/emails -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENDHQ_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: reset-8f2c" \
  -d '{"from":"Acme <security@example.com>","to":["customer@example.net"],
       "template":{"key":"password-reset","data":{"first_name":"Asha","reset_url":"https://example.com/reset/abc"}}}'

Inbound email

Mailgun Routes match on match_recipient(), match_header(), or catchall() and then forward(), store(), or stop(); forwarded HTTP posts carry fields such as body-plain, body-html, and stripped-text. In SendHQ, create one inbox per receiving address and read messages after the email.received webhook. There are no header filters, catch-all routes, or stripped-reply fields; do that matching in your webhook handler.

SendHQ receives mail into inboxes it stores; it does not post parsed messages to a URL of your choice, and it has no route expressions. To move receiving:

  1. Verify the domain for sending first, then call POST /domains/:id/inbound/setup. It returns the one MX record to publish. When the domain already has MX records that point elsewhere (your team mailboxes, or the old provider), SendHQ uses inbound.<domain> instead, so existing mail keeps flowing. Check it with POST /domains/:id/inbound/verify.
  2. Create each address with POST /inboxes {"domain_id": "dom_…", "local_part": "support", "name": "Support"}.
  3. Subscribe a webhook to email.received. Its data has email_id, inbox_id, from, to, subject, and category; fetch the body with GET /emails/:id (html, text, attachments) and each file with GET /attachments/:id. Reply in the same thread with reply_to_email_id.
  4. To keep a copy flowing to a human mailbox, use PUT /inboxes/:id/forwarding {"forward_to": "team@example.net"}; addresses other than the account owner's must confirm first.

Cutover plan

  1. Prepare. Verify every From domain in SendHQ while Mailgun keeps sending. DKIM records for different providers live under different selectors, so both can stay published for the whole cutover. Activate a paid plan before real traffic; the integration trial only delivers to your own address.
  2. Build the switch. Route every send through one adapter with a provider setting per stream, for example EMAIL_PROVIDER_PASSWORD_RESET=sendhq, plus an optional percentage (hash the recipient or user ID so one person always gets the same provider). Keep the Mailgun code path intact.
  3. Parallel run. Keep both webhook handlers live. Store which provider sent each message next to its ID, so events, retries, and support lookups go to the right place.
  4. Ramp. Start with one low-volume stream (password resets, receipts) to an internal list, then real users. Raise the SendHQ share as the workspace daily limit rises; the first day allows 100 recipients, and anything over the limit returns 429, which your adapter should send back to Mailgun during the ramp instead of dropping.
  5. Monitor. Watch GET /deliverability/stats, GET /deliverability/reputation, webhook email.bounced and email.complained rates, and your own 4xx/5xx counts per provider. A 423 means one From address is paused for bounce or complaint rates: stop that stream and clean its list.
  6. Roll back by flipping the stream setting back to Mailgun. Nothing in DNS has to change for a rollback while both providers' records stay published.
  7. Finish. When every stream has run cleanly on SendHQ, remove the Mailgun SDK, credentials, webhook endpoint, and DNS records that only it used (its DKIM selector, tracking or return-path CNAMEs, and its SPF include).

Hand this to your coding agent

Paste this into Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, or another coding agent at the root of your repository. It is self-contained: it lists the SendHQ endpoints, fields, and limits so the agent does not have to guess, and it asks for a report of anything it could not map. Review the diff like any other change, and register the webhook URL and DNS records yourself.

Prompt for your coding agent
Migrate this codebase from Mailgun to SendHQ. Keep user-visible behaviour identical. Do not send real email, change DNS, or call production APIs while working.

STEP 1: INVENTORY
Search the whole repository (application code, workers, scripts, infrastructure as code, CI config, .env examples, docs) for every use of Mailgun, including: the mailgun.js and form-data npm packages, the mailgun Python package or requests calls, raw HTTP calls to api.mailgun.net or api.eu.mailgun.net (/v3/<domain>/messages), SMTP transports pointed at smtp.mailgun.org or smtp.eu.mailgun.org, MAILGUN_* env vars, webhook handlers that check a signature object (timestamp, token, signature) or read event-data, and Route handlers that read body-plain/body-html/stripped-text.
List each call site with: what it sends (transactional, marketing, inbound handling), the Mailgun features it uses (multipart fields, templates and t:variables, attachments and inline files, o:tag, v: variables, recipient-variables, o:deliverytime, o:testmode, tracking options, webhooks, Routes), and the env vars it reads.

STEP 2: SENDHQ API FACTS (use exactly these; do not guess or invent other endpoints)
- Base URL: https://sendhq.cc/api/v1
- Auth: header "Authorization: Bearer <SENDHQ_API_KEY>". Keys start with re_. Server side only, never in browser or mobile code.
- There is no SendHQ SDK, no SMTP relay, and no Mailgun-compatible endpoint. Call the REST API with the project's existing HTTP client (fetch, axios, requests, httpx, net/http, ...).
- Send one: POST /emails, Content-Type: application/json. Fields:
  from (string, "Name <addr@verified-domain>", required; the domain must be verified in SendHQ)
  to (string or array of strings, required), cc, bcc (string or array). At most 100 addresses across to+cc+bcc.
  subject (string), html (string), text (string). One of html, text, or template is required.
  reply_to (ONE address string, not an array)
  headers (object of string to string; not allowed: From, To, Cc, Bcc, Subject, Date, Message-ID, In-Reply-To, References, Content-Type, MIME-Version)
  message_class ("transactional" default, or "marketing", which adds SendHQ's unsubscribe link and headers unless you supply your own one-click List-Unsubscribe)
  template ({"key": "...", "data": {...}} or {"id": "tmpl_..."}; not combinable with subject/html/text; exactly one to and no cc/bcc)
  draft_id (attachments, see below), reply_to_email_id (thread a reply), labels (array of up to 10 mailbox label names)
  Response 201: {"id": "em_...", "providerMessageId": "...", "threadId": "..."}. Persist id.
- Unknown fields (tags, metadata, categories, custom variables, scheduled times, tracking flags) are ignored. Do not send them.
- Idempotency: header "Idempotency-Key" (max 200 chars), one stable key per logical send. Retrying the identical body with the same key replays the stored response (response header Idempotent-Replayed: true). Same key with a different body returns 409.
- Batch: POST /emails/batch {"emails": [ ...up to 100 send objects ]} returns 201 or 207 with {"data": [{"index", "ok", "id"} or {"index", "ok": false, "error": {"message", "status"}}], "count", "successful", "failed"}.
- Attachments: POST /drafts {"from", "to", "subject"} returns {"id": "dr_..."}; then for each file POST /drafts/{id}/attachments with the raw bytes as the body, header Content-Type: <mime type> and X-Filename: <name>; then POST /emails with "draft_id": "dr_...". Max 10 files and 10 MB per message. No inline/CID images.
- Errors: JSON {"error": {"message", "status", "code"?}}. 400 invalid input, 401 bad key, 402 trial or plan limit, 403 domain not verified or not owned, 404 missing resource, 409 idempotency conflict, 413 attachments too large, 422 recipient suppressed or unsubscribed, 423 this From address is paused, 429 usage or daily limit, 502/503 transient. Retry only 429/502/503, with backoff and the same Idempotency-Key and identical body.
- Webhooks: create with POST /webhooks {"url": "https://...", "events": [...]}; the response has "secret": "whsec_...". Event types: email.sent, email.delivered, email.delivery_delayed, email.bounced, email.complained, email.failed, email.received. One JSON event per request: {"type", "created_at", "data"}; data has email_id, from, to, subject, and per type: delivered -> recipients; delivery_delayed -> recipients, delay {type, diagnostic, expiration}; bounced -> recipient, bounce {type "Permanent"|"Transient", sub_type, diagnostic, suppressed}; complained -> recipient, complaint {feedback_type}; failed -> reason; received -> inbox_id, category. No open, click, or unsubscribe events.
  Verify Standard Webhooks signatures on the RAW body: headers webhook-id, webhook-timestamp, webhook-signature ("v1,<base64>", space separated if several). Expected = base64(HMAC-SHA256(key = base64-decode(secret without "whsec_"), message = "{webhook-id}.{webhook-timestamp}.{raw body}")). Constant-time compare, reject timestamps older than 5 minutes, dedupe on webhook-id, return 2xx within 10 seconds.
- Suppressions: SendHQ suppresses permanent bounces and complaints itself (GET /suppressions, GET /blocked-recipients). There is no import endpoint.
- Templates: POST /templates {"name", "key"}; PUT /templates/{id}/draft {"revision", "name", "subjectTemplate", "htmlTemplate", "textTemplate", "variables": [{"key", "type": "text"|"number"|"url"|"boolean", "required"}], "sampleData"}; POST /templates/{id}/render {"data"}; POST /templates/{id}/publish. Only {{variable}} substitution with lowercase_snake_case keys: no conditionals, loops, partials, or nested objects.
- Inbound: POST /domains/{id}/inbound/setup returns the MX record to publish; POST /inboxes {"domain_id", "local_part", "name"} creates an address; an email.received webhook carries data.email_id and data.inbox_id; GET /emails/{id} returns from, to, subject, html, text, and attachments (download with GET /attachments/{id}). Mail is stored, not forwarded to your URL.
- Full contract: https://sendhq.cc/openapi.json and https://sendhq.cc/docs/mailgun-migration

STEP 3: FIELD MAPPING FROM MAILGUN
- Remove the domain from the URL: POST /emails; the from address's domain must be verified in SendHQ.
- Send JSON instead of multipart form data. from, to, cc, bcc, subject, text, html keep their names. Repeated "to" form keys -> one array.
- A Reply-To set through an h: header -> reply_to (one address). Other h:X-Name fields -> headers {"X-Name": "value"}.
- template + t:variables (JSON string) -> template {"key": "<new SendHQ key>", "data": <parsed object>}; t:version -> template.version_id of the matching SendHQ release.
- attachment parts -> upload to a draft, send with draft_id. inline parts and amp-html -> not supported, report them.
- recipient-variables batches -> POST /emails/batch with one message per recipient and the values already substituted.
- o:tag, v:*, o:deliverytime, o:testmode, o:tracking*, o:require-tls, o:dkim, o:sending-ip, o:sending-ip-pool -> not supported; remove and report.
- 200 {"id", "message"} -> 201 {"id": "em_..."}.
- Webhooks: accepted -> email.sent; delivered -> email.delivered; failed (severity temporary) -> email.delivery_delayed or email.bounced with bounce.type "Transient"; failed (severity permanent) -> email.bounced with bounce.type "Permanent"; complained -> email.complained; rejected -> email.failed; opened, clicked, unsubscribed -> no SendHQ event, report the handlers.
- Routes: replace each route with a SendHQ inbox for that address and an email.received handler; move match_header/catchall logic into the handler; report any route that cannot be expressed per address.

STEP 4: IMPLEMENT
- Create one SendHQ email adapter module with the same function signatures the app already uses, so call sites change as little as possible. Read the key from SENDHQ_API_KEY.
- Keep the Mailgun implementation behind a switch (for example EMAIL_PROVIDER=sendhq|mailgun, optionally per stream) so the team can run both and roll back. Default it to mailgun.
- Env vars: add SENDHQ_API_KEY and SENDHQ_WEBHOOK_SECRET to every .env example, config schema, secret manifest, and deployment config where MAILGUN_API_KEY, MAILGUN_DOMAIN, MAILGUN_WEBHOOK_SIGNING_KEY (or however the project names them) appear. Do not delete the Mailgun variables yet.
- Generate one Idempotency-Key per logical send from data you already have (for example "<event>-<record id>") and reuse it on retries.
- Webhooks: add a SendHQ webhook route next to the existing Mailgun handler. Map SendHQ events onto the same internal handlers (for example delivered, failed, complained). Correlate by the em_ id you stored at send time, not by Mailgun message IDs.
- Suppressions: keep honouring the existing Mailgun suppression data (export it to the app's database if the app does not already store it) and check it in the adapter before sending.
- SMTP senders: replace each SMTP transport that targets smtp.mailgun.org or smtp.eu.mailgun.org with the HTTP adapter; SendHQ has no SMTP relay.

STEP 5: TESTS
- Unit-test the adapter with a mocked HTTP client: exact URL, method, headers (Authorization, Content-Type, Idempotency-Key) and JSON body for a plain send, cc/bcc, reply_to, custom headers, a template send, a batch, and an attachment send (draft, upload, send with draft_id).
- Test error handling for 401, 409, 422, 423, 429 and 503, and that only 429/502/503 are retried with the same key.
- Test the webhook route: a valid signature is accepted, a tampered body, an old timestamp, and a wrong secret are rejected, a repeated webhook-id is processed once, and each event type reaches the right internal handler.
- Run the existing test suite and keep it green.

STEP 6: REPORT
Finish with a list of everything you could not map one-to-one, with file paths, for example: o:tag analytics, v: variables read back from webhooks, scheduled delivery, tracking toggles, EU region requirements, inline images, Route expressions that are not per address, SMTP senders. Also list the env vars added, the webhook URL to register in SendHQ, and the DNS records the team must add by hand. Do not remove Mailgun code or credentials; the team will do that after cutover.

Provider references

Provider details on this page were checked against these official pages on November 7, 2026. Check them again before you migrate; provider APIs change.