smtp-sink 📧

A minimal SMTP sink for local development and testing. Receives emails via SMTP and exposes them via HTTP for inspection.

Features

• SMTP server on configurable port (default: 1025)
• HTTP REST API for email retrieval (default: 1080)
• WebSocket for real-time updates
• Web UI for visual inspection
• Ring buffer with configurable max emails
• Sender whitelist filtering
• SMTP AUTH (PLAIN and LOGIN mechanisms)
• STARTTLS support (upgrade plain connection to TLS)
• Implicit TLS/SMTPS support
• Catch-all routing (accepts any recipient domain)
• Attachment parsing and download via API
• SQLite persistence (optional) - survive restarts
• Search/filter API - query by from, to, subject, date
• Email forwarding - relay to external SMTP server

Screenshots

Installation

From source

cargo install --path .

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew install jimmystridh/tap/smtp-sink

Arch Linux (AUR)

yay -S smtp-sink

Pre-built binaries

Download from GitHub Releases.

Docker

# Run with default settings
docker run -p 1025:1025 -p 1080:1080 jimmystridh/smtp-sink

# With authentication
docker run -p 1025:1025 -p 1080:1080 jimmystridh/smtp-sink \
  --auth-username user --auth-password pass

# With self-signed TLS
docker run -p 1025:1025 -p 1080:1080 jimmystridh/smtp-sink \
  --tls --tls-self-signed

# With SQLite persistence
docker run -p 1025:1025 -p 1080:1080 -v ./data:/data jimmystridh/smtp-sink \
  --db /data/emails.db

Usage

# Basic usage (accepts all emails, no auth)
smtp-sink

# Custom ports
smtp-sink --smtp-port 2525 --http-port 8080

# With sender whitelist
smtp-sink --whitelist alice@example.com,bob@example.com

# With SMTP AUTH (optional authentication)
smtp-sink --auth-username myuser --auth-password mypass

# With required SMTP AUTH
smtp-sink --auth-required --auth-username myuser --auth-password mypass

# With STARTTLS
smtp-sink --starttls --tls-self-signed

# With implicit TLS (SMTPS)
smtp-sink --tls --tls-self-signed

# With custom certificates
smtp-sink --tls --tls-key ./key.pem --tls-cert ./cert.pem

# With SQLite persistence (emails survive restart)
smtp-sink --db ./emails.db

# Forward all emails to another server
smtp-sink --forward-host smtp.example.com --forward-port 587 --forward-tls \
  --forward-username user --forward-password pass

# Forward with recipient override (catch-all redirect)
smtp-sink --forward-host smtp.example.com --forward-to dev@example.com

Options

-s, --smtp-port <PORT>     SMTP port [default: 1025]
-p, --http-port <PORT>     HTTP port [default: 1080]
-w, --whitelist <ADDRS>    Comma-separated allowed senders
-m, --max <N>              Max emails to keep [default: 10]
    --tls                  Enable implicit TLS (SMTPS)
    --starttls             Enable STARTTLS
    --tls-key <PATH>       TLS private key (PEM)
    --tls-cert <PATH>      TLS certificate (PEM)
    --tls-self-signed      Generate self-signed certificate
    --auth-required        Require authentication before sending
    --auth-username <USER> Username for SMTP AUTH
    --auth-password <PASS> Password for SMTP AUTH
    --db <PATH>            SQLite database path for persistence
    --forward-host <HOST>  Forward emails to this SMTP host
    --forward-port <PORT>  Forward SMTP port (default: 587/465)
    --forward-tls          Use STARTTLS when forwarding
    --forward-implicit-tls Use implicit TLS (SMTPS) when forwarding
    --forward-username <U> SMTP username for forwarding
    --forward-password <P> SMTP password for forwarding
    --forward-to <ADDR>    Override all recipients (catch-all redirect)
    --forward-from <ADDR>  Override sender when forwarding

API

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/	Web UI
GET	/emails	List all emails (JSON)
GET	/emails?from=alice&subject=test	Search/filter emails
GET	/emails/:id	Get single email
DELETE	/emails	Clear all emails
DELETE	/emails/:id	Delete single email
GET	/emails/:id/attachments	List attachments
GET	/emails/:id/attachments/:filename	Download attachment
GET	/ws	WebSocket for real-time updates

Search Parameters

Parameter	Description
from	Filter by sender (partial match)
to	Filter by recipient (partial match)
subject	Filter by subject (partial match)
since	Filter emails since date (ISO 8601)
until	Filter emails until date (ISO 8601)

Example

# Start the sink
smtp-sink

# Send a test email (catch-all accepts any domain)
echo -e "HELO localhost\nMAIL FROM:<test@example.com>\nRCPT TO:<anyone@anywhere.com>\nDATA\nSubject: Hello\n\nTest message\n.\nQUIT" | nc localhost 1025

# View emails
curl http://localhost:1080/emails

# Search by sender
curl "http://localhost:1080/emails?from=test@example.com"

# Get attachments
curl http://localhost:1080/emails/{id}/attachments

License

MIT