---
title: How to Receive Email with an API | SendHQ
description: Route inbound mail to your application, parse it safely, and make it useful in a product workflow.
canonical: https://sendhq.cc/guides/receive-email-with-api
last-updated: 2026-08-24
---
# How to Receive Email with an API

Route inbound mail to your application, parse it safely, and make it useful in a product workflow.

Inbound email turns a domain into an application interface. A reliable setup combines MX routing, verified ownership, MIME parsing, storage, and controls for attachments and untrusted content.

## What this means in practice

- MX routing for a domain you control
- Inbound message parsing and storage
- A programmatic inbox or webhook workflow
- Attachment and content-safety boundaries

## Implementation checklist

1. Choose a dedicated inbound domain or subdomain.
2. Publish the MX records requested by the routing provider.
3. Store raw message metadata before processing content.
4. Parse text, HTML, recipients, and attachments defensively.
5. Expose a workspace-scoped inbox or webhook to the product.

## Questions teams ask

**Can an application receive replies by email?**

Yes. Route a reply domain to an inbound handler, match recipients or reply tokens, and associate the message with the correct workspace or conversation.

**Why store raw inbound metadata?**

It preserves an audit trail and lets you reprocess messages if parsing rules change.

## Continue learning

- [Email API: Send, Receive, and Track Transactional Email](https://sendhq.cc/guides/email-api.md): Understand what an email API does, how sending and inbound receiving work, and what to evaluate before choosing one.
- [Transactional Email API Guide](https://sendhq.cc/guides/transactional-email-api.md): A practical guide to sending passwords, receipts, alerts, and other product-triggered email reliably.
- [How to Send Email with an API](https://sendhq.cc/guides/send-email-with-api.md): A step-by-step approach to authenticated API email sending, testing, and production safety.
- [Email Domain Verification: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC](https://sendhq.cc/guides/email-domain-verification.md): What domain verification is, why it matters, and how SPF, DKIM, and DMARC work together.
- [Improve Email Deliverability: Issues, Factors, and Monitoring](https://sendhq.cc/guides/email-deliverability.md): How to improve email deliverability: the factors that decide inbox placement, common deliverability problems, and how to monitor delivery rates.