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SMTP_SETUP_INSTRUCTIONS.md

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Configuring Free SMTP Service

Setting Up Ethereal.email (Recommended for Testing)

  1. Sign up for a free account at https://ethereal.email/

    • This service provides temporary email addresses for testing
    • No credit card required
    • Provides real SMTP credentials that work for testing

  2. Get your SMTP credentials

    • After signing up, you'll receive an email with your test account credentials
    • Or log in to your account and go to the "SMTP & API" section

  3. Create your environment file

    # In your project root, create a .env file:
touch .env

  4. Add your credentials to the .env file

    SMTP_USER=your-test-email@ethereal.email
SMTP_PASS=your-test-password
CONTACT_EMAIL=alandanielalvarez0000@gmail.com

  5. Restart your development server

    pnpm run dev

Alternative: Using Gmail with App Passwords

  1. Enable 2-factor authentication on your Google account
  2. Generate an App Password:
  3. Use these settings in your .env file: 
    SMTP_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_SECURE=false
SMTP_USER=your-gmail@gmail.com
SMTP_PASS=your-16-character-app-password
CONTACT_EMAIL=alandanielalvarez0000@gmail.com

Other Free SMTP Options

Mailtrap (Testing)

SMTP_HOST=smtp.mailtrap.io
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_SECURE=false
SMTP_USER=your-username
SMTP_PASS=your-password
CONTACT_EMAIL=alandanielalvarez0000@gmail.com

Outlook/Hotmail

SMTP_HOST=smtp-mail.outlook.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_SECURE=false
SMTP_USER=your-email@outlook.com
SMTP_PASS=your-password
CONTACT_EMAIL=alandanielalvarez0000@gmail.com

Production Considerations

For production use, consider these services with free tiers:

  • SendGrid: 100 emails/day free forever
  • Mailgun: 10,000 emails/month free for first 3 months
  • Amazon SES: 62,000 emails/month free for first year (requires AWS account)

To use these in production:

  1. Sign up for the service
  2. Verify your sending domain
  3. Update your .env file with the appropriate SMTP settings
  4. Remember to never commit your .env file to version control

Troubleshooting

  • Make sure your .env file is named .env and not .env.txt or similar
  • Ensure your .env file is in the project root directory
  • Restart your development server after adding environment variables
  • Check that your .gitignore file includes .env to prevent committing credentials

Testing the Setup

After configuring your SMTP service:

  1. Start your development server: pnpm run dev
  2. Go to http://localhost:4321/contact
  3. Fill out the contact form with test data
  4. Submit the form and check for success message
  5. Check your receiving email (or Ethereal inbox) for the message