Transactional email services: Resend, SendGrid, Mailgun Advanced
Transactional email means one-to-one automatic mail like order confirmations and receipts. Services such as Resend, SendGrid and Mailgun let your code send it through an API.
What you'll learn
- What these services do
- The common setup steps
- Bounces and webhooks
Before you start
- The Grok Bot app, installed and signed in. New? See where to download it and installing and signing in.
- A domain you control.
- Basic comfort with APIs.
1. Why use one?
Your personal mailbox isn't built for automatic mail from code. These services handle sending, tracking delivery and reporting bounces (mail that couldn't be delivered).
2. Common setup
- Create an account with the service.
- Add and verify your domain (SPF/DKIM, see this guide).
- Create an API key with sending permission only; keep it secret (how).
- Send a test email to yourself from code or your bot.
- Set up a webhook for delivery events.
3. Comparing them
- Resend: developer-focused, simple API; has a Grok Bot connector.
- SendGrid (by Twilio): long-established, includes inbound parsing.
- Mailgun: API plus routes for inbound mail.
Check each site for current plans and pricing.
4. Handle bounces
Stop sending to addresses that bounce or complain. Webhooks tell you when that happens.
Ideas to try
- Small store.
Draft an order-confirmation email and show how to send it with Resend.
- Choosing.
Compare Resend, SendGrid and Mailgun for 200 emails a month, using their official sites.
- Cleanup.
List addresses that bounced last month.
- Testing.
Send a test email to me and tell me if it was delivered.
Tips
- Use a subdomain like mail.yourdomain.com for sending.
- Never put API keys in website code visitors can see.
- Keep transactional and marketing mail separate.
Facts about the Grok Bot app come from Cursor's official Grok Bot documentation. Menus and services change; if something looks different, check the official docs or ask your bot.