Send your first email with Inbixio in 5 minutes

Inbixio turns the email account you already have into a clean, key-protected HTTPS API. Instead of opening SMTP connections from every service you run, your code makes one POST request and Inbixio handles the conversation with your mail server.

This guide takes you from a new account to a delivered email. You need about five minutes, an email account that supports SMTP (a Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Zoho or hosting-provider mailbox all work), and a terminal.

How Inbixio fits into your stack

Before the steps, it helps to see the moving parts:

1. Your app sends a JSON request to the Inbixio API with an API key.
2. Inbixio checks the key, its permissions and your plan’s monthly limit, then queues the message.
3. Your SMTP server (the one you connect in step 2) delivers it. Inbixio signs in, upgrades the connection to TLS and hands over the message.
4. Your dashboard shows how many emails went out, what share failed and how long your server took to accept them.

Because the message goes out through your own mail server, it is sent from your own address and domain, and the reputation you have built with inbox providers stays yours.

Step 1: Create your account and choose a plan

Go to app.inbixio.com/create-account and fill in your name, email address, company name, phone number and business address, then choose a password.

Inbixio sends a verification link to the address you used. Open it, then log in. The first time you log in you will be asked to pick a plan; checkout is handled securely by Stripe. Plans differ mainly in monthly volume. If you are not sure which one you need, read how to estimate your email volume.

Step 2: Connect your SMTP server

In the dashboard, open Email Servers and choose Add Server. You will see four fields and two switches:

Two details save a lot of debugging later:

• The username is also your sender. Inbixio sends from the address you log in with, so use a real mailbox on your own domain, such as hello@ or notifications@, rather than a personal inbox.
• Many providers need an app password. Google, for example, requires 2-Step Verification and a 16-character app password for SMTP. Your normal password will be rejected.

Not sure what to enter? SMTP settings explained walks through hosts, ports and TLS for the common providers.

Step 3: Generate an API key

Open API Keys and choose Create Api Key. Give it a name that says where it will live, for example production-backend or staging-signup-service, then set:

• Server Access: All Server sends through the first email server you connected. Selected Server pins the key to one server. If you have more than one sending address, give each service a key pinned to its server; that is how you control which address it sends from.
• Permissions: tick Send so the key can send email. Only give a key the permissions it needs.

Choose Generate API Key, then copy the key. Inbixio keys start with ibx_. Store it like a password: in your secrets manager or an environment variable, never in frontend code or a public repository. API key security covers rotation and scoping in more detail.

Step 4: Send your first email

Export the key, then send a request with curl:

export INBIXIO_API_KEY="ibx_your_key_here"

curl -X POST https://backend.inbixio.com/api/send-email/ \
  -H "X-API-Key: $INBIXIO_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "to_email": "you@example.com",
    "subject": "Hello from Inbixio",
    "message": "<h1>It works!</h1><p>My first email sent through the Inbixio API.</p>"
  }'

A successful request returns HTTP 200:

{ "message": "Email queued successfully." }

Check your inbox. The email arrives from the address you used as the SMTP username.

Keep the trailing slash. The endpoint is /api/send-email/. Without the final / the server answers with a redirect, and many HTTP clients will not resend the request body after a redirect.

The request body has three required fields:

Step 5: Confirm delivery in the dashboard

“Queued” means Inbixio accepted the request and started delivery in the background. The SMTP delivery happens a moment later, and the results add up on your Dashboard:

• Email Sent counts successful sends over the last 7 days.
• Failed Deliveries shows the share of emails your SMTP server refused over the same 7 days.
• Avg Latency shows how long your SMTP server takes to accept messages.
• The logs table lists every API call with its event ID, endpoint, status code and response time.

If your test email doesn’t arrive and the failure rate goes up, the cause is almost always in the server settings: a wrong password, a provider that wants an app password, or the wrong host or port. Check them under Email Servers and send another test.

Common first-request errors

For retries, monthly limits and production-grade error handling, see handling email API errors and limits.

Where to go next

You now have a working pipeline from your code to your users’ inboxes. From here:

• Send from your real stack with the Node.js, Python and cURL examples.
• Make sure your messages land in the inbox with the SPF, DKIM and DMARC checklist.
• Build the emails users wait for: OTP and verification codes and password resets.