home / skills / jackspace / claudeskillz / cloudflare-email-routing

cloudflare-email-routing skill

/skills/cloudflare-email-routing

This skill helps you configure and manage Cloudflare Email Routing, including Email Workers and Send Email bindings, to automate inbound and outbound emails.

npx playbooks add skill jackspace/claudeskillz --skill cloudflare-email-routing

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

Files (4)
SKILL.md
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---
name: cloudflare-email-routing
description: |
  Complete guide for Cloudflare Email Routing covering both Email Workers (receiving emails) and Send Email bindings (sending emails from Workers).

  Use when: setting up email routing, creating email workers, processing incoming emails, sending emails from Workers, implementing email allowlists/blocklists, forwarding emails with custom logic, replying to emails automatically, parsing email content, configuring MX records for email, troubleshooting email delivery issues, or encountering email worker errors.

  Prevents 8 documented issues: "Email Trigger not available" errors, destination address verification bugs, Gmail rate limiting, SPF permerror issues, worker call failures, test event loading issues, activity log discrepancies, and limited debugging on free plans.

  Keywords: Cloudflare Email Routing, Email Workers, send email, receive email, email forwarding, email allowlist, email blocklist, postal-mime, mimetext, cloudflare:email, EmailMessage, ForwardableEmailMessage, EmailEvent, MX records, SPF, DKIM, email worker binding, send_email binding, wrangler email, email handler, email routing worker, "Email Trigger not available", "failed to call worker", email delivery failed, email not forwarding, destination address not verified
license: MIT
---

# Cloudflare Email Routing

**Status**: Production Ready ✅
**Last Updated**: 2025-10-23
**Latest Versions**: [email protected], [email protected]

---

## What is Cloudflare Email Routing?

Cloudflare Email Routing provides two complementary capabilities:

1. **Email Workers** - Receive and process incoming emails with custom logic (allowlists, blocklists, forwarding, parsing, replying)
2. **Send Email** - Send emails from Workers to verified destination addresses (notifications, alerts, confirmations)

Both capabilities are **free** and work together to enable complete email functionality in Cloudflare Workers.

---

## Quick Start (10 Minutes)

### Part 1: Enable Email Routing (Dashboard)

**Prerequisites**: Domain must be on Cloudflare DNS

1. Log in to Cloudflare Dashboard → select your domain
2. Go to **Email** > **Email Routing**
3. Select **Enable Email Routing** → **Add records and enable**
   - This automatically adds MX records, SPF, and DKIM to your DNS
4. Create a destination address:
   - **Custom address**: `[email protected]`
   - **Destination**: Your personal email (e.g., `[email protected]`)
   - **Verify** the destination address via email
5. ✅ Basic email forwarding is now active

**What you just did**: Configured DNS and basic forwarding. Now let's add Workers for custom logic.

---

### Part 2: Receiving Emails with Email Workers

#### 1. Install Dependencies

```bash
npm install [email protected] [email protected]
```

**Why these packages:**
- `postal-mime` - Parse incoming email messages (headers, body, attachments)
- `mimetext` - Create email messages for sending/replying

#### 2. Create Email Worker

Create `src/email.ts`:

```typescript
import { EmailMessage } from 'cloudflare:email';
import PostalMime from 'postal-mime';

export default {
  async email(message, env, ctx) {
    // Parse the incoming message
    const parser = new PostalMime.default();
    const email = await parser.parse(await new Response(message.raw).arrayBuffer());

    console.log('From:', message.from);
    console.log('To:', message.to);
    console.log('Subject:', email.subject);

    // Forward to verified destination
    await message.forward('[email protected]');
  },
};
```

#### 3. Configure Wrangler

Update `wrangler.jsonc`:

```jsonc
{
  "name": "email-worker",
  "main": "src/email.ts",
  "compatibility_date": "2025-10-11"
}
```

#### 4. Deploy and Bind

```bash
npx wrangler deploy

# In Cloudflare Dashboard:
# Email > Email Routing > Email Workers
# Select your worker → Create route → Enter address (e.g., [email protected])
```

**What you just did**: Created a Worker that logs and forwards emails.

---

### Part 3: Sending Emails from Workers

#### 1. Configure Send Email Binding

Update `wrangler.jsonc`:

```jsonc
{
  "name": "my-worker",
  "main": "src/index.ts",
  "compatibility_date": "2025-10-11",
  "send_email": [
    {
      "name": "EMAIL",
      "destination_address": "[email protected]"
    }
  ]
}
```

**CRITICAL**: `destination_address` must be:
- A domain where you have Email Routing enabled
- A verified destination address in Email Routing settings

#### 2. Send Email from Worker

```typescript
import { EmailMessage } from 'cloudflare:email';
import { createMimeMessage } from 'mimetext';

export default {
  async fetch(request, env, ctx) {
    // Create email message
    const msg = createMimeMessage();
    msg.setSender({ name: 'My App', addr: '[email protected]' });
    msg.setRecipient('[email protected]');
    msg.setSubject('Welcome to My App');
    msg.addMessage({
      contentType: 'text/plain',
      data: 'Thank you for signing up!',
    });

    // Send via binding
    const message = new EmailMessage(
      '[email protected]',
      '[email protected]',
      msg.asRaw()
    );

    await env.EMAIL.send(message);

    return new Response('Email sent!');
  },
};
```

#### 3. Deploy

```bash
npx wrangler deploy
```

**What you just did**: Configured your Worker to send emails to verified addresses.

---

## Email Workers: Complete Guide

### Runtime API

#### EmailEvent Handler

```typescript
export default {
  async email(message: ForwardableEmailMessage, env: Env, ctx: ExecutionContext) {
    // Process email here
  },
};
```

**Parameters:**
- `message` - ForwardableEmailMessage object
- `env` - Environment bindings (KV, D1, secrets, etc.)
- `ctx` - Execution context (waitUntil for async operations)

#### ForwardableEmailMessage Properties

```typescript
interface ForwardableEmailMessage {
  readonly from: string;          // Sender email
  readonly to: string;            // Recipient email
  readonly headers: Headers;      // Email headers
  readonly raw: ReadableStream;   // Raw email message
  readonly rawSize: number;       // Size in bytes

  // Methods
  setReject(reason: string): void;
  forward(rcptTo: string, headers?: Headers): Promise<void>;
  reply(message: EmailMessage): Promise<void>;
}
```

---

## Common Patterns

### Pattern 1: Allowlist

Only accept emails from approved senders:

```typescript
export default {
  async email(message, env, ctx) {
    const allowList = [
      '[email protected]',
      '[email protected]',
      '[email protected]',
    ];

    if (!allowList.includes(message.from)) {
      message.setReject('Address not on allowlist');
      return;
    }

    await message.forward('[email protected]');
  },
};
```

**When to use**: Contact forms, private email addresses, team inboxes

---

### Pattern 2: Blocklist

Reject emails from specific senders or domains:

```typescript
export default {
  async email(message, env, ctx) {
    const blockList = [
      '[email protected]',
      '@suspicious-domain.com', // Block entire domain
    ];

    const isBlocked = blockList.some(pattern =>
      message.from.includes(pattern)
    );

    if (isBlocked) {
      message.setReject('Sender blocked');
      return;
    }

    await message.forward('[email protected]');
  },
};
```

**When to use**: Spam filtering, blocking harassers, domain-level blocks

---

### Pattern 3: Parse and Store

Extract email content and store in D1 or KV:

```typescript
import PostalMime from 'postal-mime';

export default {
  async email(message, env, ctx) {
    // Parse email
    const parser = new PostalMime.default();
    const rawEmail = new Response(message.raw);
    const email = await parser.parse(await rawEmail.arrayBuffer());

    // Store in D1
    await env.DB.prepare(
      'INSERT INTO emails (from_addr, subject, text, received_at) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?)'
    ).bind(
      message.from,
      email.subject,
      email.text,
      new Date().toISOString()
    ).run();

    // Forward to inbox
    await message.forward('[email protected]');
  },
};
```

**When to use**: Email archiving, ticket systems, support inboxes, audit logs

---

### Pattern 4: Auto-Reply

Send automatic replies with custom logic:

```typescript
import PostalMime from 'postal-mime';
import { createMimeMessage } from 'mimetext';
import { EmailMessage } from 'cloudflare:email';

export default {
  async email(message, env, ctx) {
    // Parse incoming email
    const parser = new PostalMime.default();
    const email = await parser.parse(await new Response(message.raw).arrayBuffer());

    // Create reply
    const msg = createMimeMessage();
    msg.setSender({ name: 'Support Team', addr: '[email protected]' });
    msg.setRecipient(message.from);
    msg.setHeader('In-Reply-To', message.headers.get('Message-ID'));
    msg.setSubject(`Re: ${email.subject}`);
    msg.addMessage({
      contentType: 'text/plain',
      data: `Thank you for your message about "${email.subject}". We'll respond within 24 hours.`,
    });

    // Send reply
    const replyMessage = new EmailMessage(
      '[email protected]',
      message.from,
      msg.asRaw()
    );

    await message.reply(replyMessage);

    // Also forward to team inbox
    await message.forward('[email protected]');
  },
};
```

**When to use**: Out-of-office replies, support ticket acknowledgments, automated responses

---

### Pattern 5: Conditional Routing

Route emails to different destinations based on content:

```typescript
import PostalMime from 'postal-mime';

export default {
  async email(message, env, ctx) {
    const parser = new PostalMime.default();
    const email = await parser.parse(await new Response(message.raw).arrayBuffer());

    const subject = email.subject.toLowerCase();

    // Route based on subject keywords
    if (subject.includes('urgent') || subject.includes('critical')) {
      await message.forward('[email protected]');
    } else if (subject.includes('invoice') || subject.includes('payment')) {
      await message.forward('[email protected]');
    } else if (subject.includes('support') || subject.includes('help')) {
      await message.forward('[email protected]');
    } else {
      await message.forward('[email protected]');
    }
  },
};
```

**When to use**: Department routing, priority filtering, category-based inboxes

---

## Send Email: Complete Guide

### Configuration

#### Single Destination (Simple)

```jsonc
{
  "send_email": [
    {
      "name": "EMAIL",
      "destination_address": "[email protected]"
    }
  ]
}
```

**Behavior**: All emails sent via `env.EMAIL` go to this address.

#### Multiple Destinations (Flexible)

```jsonc
{
  "send_email": [
    {
      "name": "EMAIL",
      "allowed_destination_addresses": [
        "[email protected]",
        "[email protected]",
        "[email protected]"
      ]
    }
  ]
}
```

**Behavior**: Can send to any address in the list.

#### Multiple Bindings (Organized)

```jsonc
{
  "send_email": [
    {
      "name": "NOTIFICATIONS",
      "destination_address": "[email protected]"
    },
    {
      "name": "ALERTS",
      "destination_address": "[email protected]"
    }
  ]
}
```

**Behavior**: Use different bindings for different purposes.

---

### Sending Emails

#### Basic Text Email

```typescript
import { EmailMessage } from 'cloudflare:email';
import { createMimeMessage } from 'mimetext';

const msg = createMimeMessage();
msg.setSender({ name: 'My App', addr: '[email protected]' });
msg.setRecipient('[email protected]');
msg.setSubject('Welcome!');
msg.addMessage({
  contentType: 'text/plain',
  data: 'Welcome to our service!',
});

const email = new EmailMessage(
  '[email protected]',
  '[email protected]',
  msg.asRaw()
);

await env.EMAIL.send(email);
```

#### HTML Email

```typescript
import { EmailMessage } from 'cloudflare:email';
import { createMimeMessage } from 'mimetext';

const msg = createMimeMessage();
msg.setSender({ name: 'My App', addr: '[email protected]' });
msg.setRecipient('[email protected]');
msg.setSubject('Welcome!');

// Add both plain text and HTML versions
msg.addMessage({
  contentType: 'text/plain',
  data: 'Welcome to our service!',
});

msg.addMessage({
  contentType: 'text/html',
  data: '<h1>Welcome!</h1><p>Thanks for joining us.</p>',
});

const email = new EmailMessage(
  '[email protected]',
  '[email protected]',
  msg.asRaw()
);

await env.EMAIL.send(email);
```

#### Email with Custom Headers

```typescript
import { EmailMessage } from 'cloudflare:email';
import { createMimeMessage } from 'mimetext';

const msg = createMimeMessage();
msg.setSender({ name: 'My App', addr: '[email protected]' });
msg.setRecipient('[email protected]');
msg.setSubject('Password Reset');

// Add custom headers
msg.setHeader('X-Priority', '1');
msg.setHeader('X-Application-ID', 'my-app-123');

msg.addMessage({
  contentType: 'text/plain',
  data: 'Click here to reset your password...',
});

const email = new EmailMessage(
  '[email protected]',
  '[email protected]',
  msg.asRaw()
);

await env.EMAIL.send(email);
```

---

## DNS Configuration

### Automatic Setup (Recommended)

When you enable Email Routing in the dashboard, Cloudflare automatically adds:

1. **MX Records** - Direct email to Cloudflare's servers
   ```
   yourdomain.com. 300 IN MX 13 amir.mx.cloudflare.net.
   yourdomain.com. 300 IN MX 86 linda.mx.cloudflare.net.
   yourdomain.com. 300 IN MX 24 isaac.mx.cloudflare.net.
   ```

2. **SPF Record** - Authorize Cloudflare to send on your behalf
   ```
   yourdomain.com. 300 IN TXT "v=spf1 include:_spf.mx.cloudflare.net ~all"
   ```

3. **DKIM Records** - Sign outgoing emails
   ```
   Automatically configured per domain
   ```

### Manual Setup (Advanced)

If you need to migrate from another provider:

1. Go to **Email > Email Routing > Settings**
2. Select **Start disabling > Unlock records and continue**
3. Edit DNS records as needed
4. When ready, **Lock DNS records** to protect Email Routing

**WARNING**: Changing MX records will break Email Routing. Only do this if migrating providers.

---

## Known Issues Prevention

This skill prevents **8 documented issues**:

### Issue #1: "Email Trigger not available to this workers"

**Error**: Testing email workers fails with "Email Trigger not available to this workers"

**Source**: [workers-sdk #3751](https://github.com/cloudflare/workers-sdk/issues/3751)

**Why It Happens**: Wrangler dev doesn't fully support email triggers; testing must be done via deployed Workers

**Prevention**:
- Always deploy email workers before testing
- Use `wrangler tail` for live debugging
- Use dashboard "Test Email Event" feature (when working)

---

### Issue #2: Destination Address Verification Bug

**Error**: Verified destination addresses show as "unverified" in Email Worker forwarding

**Source**: Community reports ([Cloudflare Community](https://community.cloudflare.com/t/email-worker-free-reliability/486680))

**Why It Happens**: Bug in dashboard where addresses only show verified if also used in regular routing rules

**Prevention**:
- Create a regular forward rule for each destination address first
- Then use the same addresses in Email Workers
- Verify addresses before deploying workers

---

### Issue #3: Gmail Rate Limiting

**Error**: "421: Our system has detected an unusual rate of unsolicited mail originating from your IP address"

**Source**: Community reports

**Why It Happens**: Gmail may flag Cloudflare's IP ranges as suspicious due to shared infrastructure

**Prevention**:
- Implement proper SPF/DKIM/DMARC records
- Don't send bulk emails through Email Routing
- Use transactional email services (e.g., SendGrid, Mailgun) for high volume
- Rate-limit your sending (max 50-100 emails/hour for personal use)

---

### Issue #4: SPF Permerror with MailChannels

**Error**: SPF permerror when routing through MailChannels

**Source**: [Community discussion](https://community.cloudflare.com/t/worker-mailchannels-email-routing-spf-permerror/637766)

**Why It Happens**: SPF record chain breaks when forwarding through multiple services

**Prevention**:
- Use Email Routing's native send capabilities instead of MailChannels
- If using MailChannels, configure SPF includes correctly
- Test with [MXToolbox SPF checker](https://mxtoolbox.com/spf.aspx)

---

### Issue #5: Limited Logging on Free Plan

**Error**: Cannot see worker logs or email processing details

**Source**: Community reports

**Why It Happens**: Free plan has limited log retention and streaming

**Prevention**:
- Use `wrangler tail` during development for live logs
- Use `console.log()` extensively in email workers
- Store critical data in D1/KV for debugging
- Upgrade to Workers Paid plan for better observability

---

### Issue #6: Activity Log Discrepancies

**Error**: Emails show as "Dropped" in Activity Log even when successfully forwarded

**Source**: Community reports

**Why It Happens**: Dashboard bug showing incorrect status

**Prevention**:
- Check actual email delivery instead of relying on dashboard
- Use `wrangler tail` to verify processing
- Implement your own logging in D1/KV
- Test with real emails to confirm delivery

---

### Issue #7: Test Email Event Loading Indefinitely

**Error**: Dashboard "Test Email Event" button remains in loading state forever

**Source**: [workers-sdk #9195](https://github.com/cloudflare/workers-sdk/issues/9195)

**Why It Happens**: Bug in dashboard testing interface (unresolved as of 2025-10)

**Prevention**:
- Don't rely on dashboard testing feature
- Use `curl` with local development instead (see Local Development section)
- Deploy and test with real emails
- Use `wrangler tail` to monitor processing

---

### Issue #8: Worker Call Failures

**Error**: "Rejected reason: Unknown error: failed to call worker: Worker call failed for 3 times, aborting…"

**Source**: [workers-sdk #9069](https://github.com/cloudflare/workers-sdk/issues/9069), Community reports

**Why It Happens**: Worker crashes due to runtime errors, timeouts, or memory issues

**Prevention**:
- Add comprehensive error handling with try/catch
- Set timeouts for external API calls
- Log errors to D1/KV before rejecting
- Use `ctx.waitUntil()` for non-critical operations
- Test with various email formats (plain text, HTML, attachments)

---

## Local Development

### Receiving Emails

Wrangler simulates email reception via HTTP POST:

```bash
# Start dev server
npx wrangler dev

# In another terminal, send test email
curl http://localhost:8787 -X POST \
  --data-binary @- << EOF
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Test Email

This is a test email body.
EOF
```

**What happens**: Wrangler logs the email processing and shows where forwarded emails would go.

### Sending Emails

Wrangler writes sent emails to local .eml files:

```typescript
// Your worker code
await env.EMAIL.send(message);
```

**Output in terminal**:
```
[wrangler:inf] send_email binding called with the following message:
  /tmp/miniflare-abc123/files/email/message-123.eml
```

**View the email**:
```bash
cat /tmp/miniflare-abc123/files/email/message-123.eml
```

---

## Configuration Files Reference

### Complete wrangler.jsonc (Both Receive + Send)

```jsonc
{
  "$schema": "node_modules/wrangler/config-schema.json",
  "name": "email-worker",
  "main": "src/email.ts",
  "account_id": "YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID",
  "compatibility_date": "2025-10-11",
  "observability": {
    "enabled": true
  },

  // Send email binding
  "send_email": [
    {
      "name": "NOTIFICATIONS",
      "destination_address": "[email protected]"
    },
    {
      "name": "ALERTS",
      "allowed_destination_addresses": [
        "[email protected]",
        "[email protected]"
      ]
    }
  ],

  // Optional: Add other bindings
  "d1_databases": [
    {
      "binding": "DB",
      "database_name": "email-archive",
      "database_id": "YOUR_DATABASE_ID"
    }
  ],

  "kv_namespaces": [
    {
      "binding": "EMAIL_CACHE",
      "id": "YOUR_KV_ID"
    }
  ]
}
```

---

## TypeScript Types

### Environment Bindings

```typescript
interface Env {
  // Send email bindings
  EMAIL: SendEmail;
  NOTIFICATIONS: SendEmail;
  ALERTS: SendEmail;

  // Other bindings
  DB: D1Database;
  EMAIL_CACHE: KVNamespace;
}

interface SendEmail {
  send(message: EmailMessage): Promise<void>;
}
```

### Full Type Definitions

```typescript
import { EmailMessage } from 'cloudflare:email';

interface ForwardableEmailMessage {
  readonly from: string;
  readonly to: string;
  readonly headers: Headers;
  readonly raw: ReadableStream;
  readonly rawSize: number;

  setReject(reason: string): void;
  forward(rcptTo: string, headers?: Headers): Promise<void>;
  reply(message: EmailMessage): Promise<void>;
}

declare module 'cloudflare:email' {
  export class EmailMessage {
    constructor(from: string, to: string, raw: string | ReadableStream);
  }
}
```

---

## Complete Setup Checklist

### Email Routing Setup
- [ ] Domain is on Cloudflare DNS
- [ ] Email Routing enabled in dashboard
- [ ] MX, SPF, DKIM records automatically added
- [ ] At least one destination address verified
- [ ] Test basic forwarding with a custom address

### Email Workers (Receiving)
- [ ] `[email protected]` installed
- [ ] `[email protected]` installed
- [ ] Email worker created with `async email()` handler
- [ ] Worker deployed: `npx wrangler deploy`
- [ ] Worker bound to email route in dashboard
- [ ] Test with real email to route address
- [ ] Verify logs with `wrangler tail`

### Send Email (Sending)
- [ ] `send_email` binding configured in `wrangler.jsonc`
- [ ] `destination_address` or `allowed_destination_addresses` specified
- [ ] All destination addresses verified in Email Routing
- [ ] Worker code uses `env.EMAIL.send()`
- [ ] Worker deployed: `npx wrangler deploy`
- [ ] Test sending email via Worker endpoint
- [ ] Confirm email delivery to recipient

---

## Troubleshooting

### Problem: "Email Trigger not available to this workers"

**Solution**:
- Deploy your worker: `npx wrangler deploy`
- Test with real emails, not local simulation
- Use `wrangler tail` to monitor processing

---

### Problem: "Destination address not verified"

**Solution**:
- Check Email Routing > Destination addresses in dashboard
- Click "Resend verification" if needed
- Create a regular forwarding rule first (workaround for bug)
- Verify all addresses before deploying workers

---

### Problem: Gmail rejects emails with 421 error

**Solution**:
- Verify SPF/DKIM records are configured (automatic with Email Routing)
- Reduce sending rate (max 50-100/hour for personal use)
- Don't send unsolicited emails or bulk mail
- Consider transactional email service for high volume

---

### Problem: Emails not forwarding from Email Worker

**Solution**:
- Check worker is bound to correct email route in dashboard
- Verify destination address is verified
- Use `wrangler tail` to see processing logs
- Check for errors in worker code (try/catch around forward())
- Confirm MX records are still pointing to Cloudflare

---

### Problem: Cannot see worker logs

**Solution**:
- Use `wrangler tail --format pretty` for live logs
- Add extensive `console.log()` statements in worker
- Store debug info in D1 or KV for later inspection
- Upgrade to Workers Paid plan for better log retention

---

### Problem: Worker crashes with "failed to call worker"

**Solution**:
- Add try/catch error handling around all operations
- Set timeouts for external API calls
- Test with different email formats (plain text, HTML, attachments)
- Check worker doesn't exceed CPU/memory limits
- Use `ctx.waitUntil()` for non-blocking operations

---

## Advanced Topics

### Parsing Email Attachments

```typescript
import PostalMime from 'postal-mime';

export default {
  async email(message, env, ctx) {
    const parser = new PostalMime.default();
    const email = await parser.parse(await new Response(message.raw).arrayBuffer());

    // Access attachments
    if (email.attachments && email.attachments.length > 0) {
      for (const attachment of email.attachments) {
        console.log('Attachment:', attachment.filename);
        console.log('Type:', attachment.mimeType);
        console.log('Size:', attachment.content.length);

        // Store in R2
        await env.BUCKET.put(
          `emails/${Date.now()}-${attachment.filename}`,
          attachment.content
        );
      }
    }

    await message.forward('[email protected]');
  },
};
```

---

### Email-Based Task Creation

```typescript
import PostalMime from 'postal-mime';

export default {
  async email(message, env, ctx) {
    const parser = new PostalMime.default();
    const email = await parser.parse(await new Response(message.raw).arrayBuffer());

    // Extract task from email subject
    const taskMatch = email.subject.match(/\[TASK\](.*)/i);

    if (taskMatch) {
      const taskDescription = taskMatch[1].trim();

      // Create task in D1
      await env.DB.prepare(
        'INSERT INTO tasks (description, created_by, created_at) VALUES (?, ?, ?)'
      ).bind(
        taskDescription,
        message.from,
        new Date().toISOString()
      ).run();

      // Send confirmation
      await message.reply(new EmailMessage(
        '[email protected]',
        message.from,
        `Task created: ${taskDescription}`
      ));
    }
  },
};
```

---

### Email-Triggered Workflows

```typescript
export default {
  async email(message, env, ctx) {
    // Trigger Cloudflare Workflow based on email
    if (message.from.endsWith('@trusted-domain.com')) {
      await env.WORKFLOW.create({
        params: {
          emailFrom: message.from,
          emailTo: message.to,
          receivedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
        },
      });
    }

    await message.forward('[email protected]');
  },
};
```

---

## Dependencies

**Required**:
- `[email protected]` - Parse incoming email messages
- `[email protected]` - Create email messages for sending

**Built-in**:
- `cloudflare:email` - EmailMessage class (no installation needed)

**Optional**:
- `@cloudflare/workers-types` - TypeScript type definitions

---

## Official Documentation

- **Email Routing**: https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-routing/
- **Email Workers**: https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-routing/email-workers/
- **Send Email**: https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-routing/email-workers/send-email-workers/
- **Runtime API**: https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-routing/email-workers/runtime-api/
- **Local Development**: https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-routing/email-workers/local-development/
- **postal-mime**: https://www.npmjs.com/package/postal-mime
- **mimetext**: https://www.npmjs.com/package/mimetext

---

## Package Versions (Verified 2025-10-23)

```json
{
  "dependencies": {
    "postal-mime": "^2.5.0",
    "mimetext": "^3.0.27"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@cloudflare/workers-types": "^4.20251014.0",
    "wrangler": "^4.44.0"
  }
}
```

---

**Questions? Issues?**

1. Check `references/common-errors.md` for detailed troubleshooting
2. Review `references/dns-setup.md` for DNS configuration help
3. See `references/local-development.md` for testing patterns
4. Check official docs: https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-routing/
5. Use `wrangler tail` for live debugging
6. Verify all destination addresses are verified in dashboard

Overview

This skill is a complete guide to Cloudflare Email Routing, covering Email Workers (receiving and processing incoming mail) and Send Email bindings (sending mail from Workers). It explains setup, common patterns (allowlist/blocklist/auto-reply/conditional routing), send_email binding configuration, DNS requirements, and how to avoid eight known issues that commonly break email workers.

How this skill works

It walks through enabling Email Routing in the Cloudflare dashboard, adding MX/SPF/DKIM records, creating destination addresses, and binding Workers to addresses. For incoming mail it shows how Email Workers receive a ForwardableEmailMessage, parse raw MIME with postal-mime, apply logic, forward/reply or reject. For outgoing mail it shows how to configure send_email bindings and use mimetext with EmailMessage to send through env.EMAIL.

When to use it

  • Setting up Cloudflare Email Routing and MX/SPF/DKIM configuration
  • Creating Email Workers to parse, forward, or store incoming mail
  • Implementing allowlists and blocklists or conditional routing rules
  • Sending transactional or notification emails from Workers via send_email binding
  • Automating replies, parsing attachments, or archiving emails to KV/D1
  • Troubleshooting delivery, worker errors, or dashboard verification problems

Best practices

  • Deploy email workers before testing; wrangler dev may not expose email triggers
  • Verify destination addresses by creating dashboard forward rules first to avoid verification bugs
  • Use postal-mime to reliably parse raw email and mimetext to build MIME replies
  • Limit recipients in send_email bindings to verified destinations to prevent send failures
  • Log minimal, relevant headers and use ctx.waitUntil for async tasks to avoid timeouts
  • Lock Email Routing DNS records once configured to prevent accidental breakage

Example use cases

  • Allowlist-only contact form that rejects unapproved senders and forwards approved mail to team inbox
  • Blocklist or domain-level block to drop spam and abusive messages at the worker edge
  • Auto-reply acknowledgements for support tickets using mimetext and message.reply
  • Conditional routing to billing/oncall/support inboxes based on parsed subject or body keywords
  • Send transactional welcome or alert emails from Workers using send_email binding and EmailMessage

FAQ

Why does my worker show "Email Trigger not available" in tests?

Wrangler dev often lacks email trigger support; deploy the worker and test via the dashboard or use wrangler tail for live debugging.

My destination address appears unverified in the worker despite verification. What now?

Create a regular forward rule for that destination in Email Routing first, then re-add the address to worker forwarding; this avoids a known dashboard verification bug.