Open-source email infrastructure for developers.
OpenSend APIs with familiar email primitives, a full dashboard, and self-hosted delivery on your AWS SES quota.
Quick start · Agent setup · Features · Docs · API · Self-hosting · Contributing
Opensend is a self-hostable email platform with REST APIs, SDKs, React email templates, domain verification, webhooks, broadcasts, automations, analytics, and an admin dashboard for teams that want an OpenSend-first Resend alternative.
Use your OpenSend API key (os_...) with OpenSend's familiar email API surface and selected compatibility aliases for migration-oriented code.
Use Opensend when you want:
- Control — run email infrastructure on your own cloud and AWS SES quota.
- Familiar API — move common sends, audiences, and webhooks with minimal code changes where compatibility aliases are implemented.
- A real dashboard — manage the Today overview, domains, API keys, broadcasts, automations, templates, audiences, logs, audit trails, billing, and metrics.
- First-party docs — ship a local docs hub, OpenAPI schema, LLM index, SDK guides, and MCP guidance from this repo.
- Open deployment — Docker Compose for local/self-hosted installs, with production guides for split app + ingester deployments.
| Opensend Cloud | Self-host | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Managed at opensend.namuh.co |
Your infrastructure |
| Fastest setup | Sign in with Google and add a domain | docker compose up -d |
| Cost model | Free tier, paid plans for hosted usage | Free software; you pay AWS SES/infrastructure |
| Best for | Teams that want zero ops | Teams that want full control |
Opensend Cloud is in early access. The Free tier needs no card; paid tiers are wired through Stripe.
The fastest local path is Docker Compose:
git clone https://github.com/namuh-eng/opensend.git
cd opensend
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env when you want Google login or real email sending.
docker compose up -dOpen http://localhost:3015.
Compose starts:
app— Next.js dashboard and public API on:3015postgres— local databasemigrate— one-shot schema migration runneringester— SES/SNS ingestion and workers on:3016scheduler— scheduled job trigger sidecar
For local development without the full app container:
cp .env.example .env
make setup # starts Postgres, installs deps, pushes schema, seeds data
make dev # http://localhost:3015This repo is designed to be understandable to coding agents. Give the agent this checklist instead of making it infer the setup from random scripts:
cat AGENTS.mdImportant defaults from AGENTS.md:
- TypeScript is strict; do not introduce
any. - Do not replace the existing Next.js, Playwright, Biome, Drizzle, or Docker setup.
- Run
make check && make testbefore committing code changes. - README images live in
docs/assets/; keep the landing copy in sync if an image is also used underpublic/landing/.
git fetch origin --prune
git checkout staging
git pull --ff-only origin staging
git checkout -b <type>/<short-description>Open feature/fix/docs PRs against staging unless a maintainer explicitly asks for main.
bun install
cp .env.example .env
make setup
make devLocal ports:
| Service | Port | Command |
|---|---|---|
| Next.js app + API | 3015 |
make dev or bun run dev |
| Bun/Hono ingester | 3016 |
bun run start:ingester or Compose |
| Control-plane API skeleton | 3026 |
bun run dev:api |
| Experimental Go ingester | 3027 |
cd services/ingester-go && go run . |
Start from .env.example. For local UI work, Postgres plus auth URLs are enough. For real sends/domain flows, add AWS SES/S3, Cloudflare, and Google OAuth.
Minimum local values to check:
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://opensend:opensend@localhost:5432/opensend
BETTER_AUTH_URL=http://localhost:3015
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL=http://localhost:3015
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=Google OAuth callback for local development:
http://localhost:3015/api/auth/callback/google
Use the narrowest useful check while iterating, then run the full bar before the PR:
bun run check # changed-file guardrail used by pre-push
make check # full typecheck + Biome
make test # Vitest
make test-e2e # Playwright; requires the dev server on :3015If you touch SDKs or service skeletons, also run their package-specific tests:
cd packages/go-sdk && go test ./...
ruby -I packages/ruby-sdk/lib packages/ruby-sdk/test/opensend_test.rb
bun run --cwd services/api test # if tests exist for the touched API sliceNever commit .env, API keys, bearer tokens, database URLs with real passwords, OAuth secrets, Stripe secrets, Cloudflare tokens, or AWS credentials. Use placeholders in docs and screenshots.
- REST API — send single or batch emails with API-key auth and idempotency keys.
- OpenSend-first familiar API — transactional sends, audiences/contacts, suppressions, and webhook semantics shaped for teams choosing a Resend alternative.
- SDKs — first-party TypeScript, Python, Go, and Ruby packages.
- React email templates — pass React components via the TypeScript SDK, or use registry-controlled dashboard starters with shared-renderer previews (see docs/react-email-templates.md).
- Domain verification — DKIM, SPF, DMARC, click tracking, and custom return paths, with Cloudflare automation.
- Broadcasts — block editor, slash commands, audience targeting, and review flow.
- Automations — multi-step workflows triggered by contact updates and custom events, executed by the ingester worker.
- Audience — contacts, segments, topics, custom properties, CSV import, and API routes.
- Suppressions — tenant-scoped bounce/complaint suppression handling.
- Inbound email — receive replies through
/api/emails/receiving. - Webhooks — HMAC-signed, Svix-compatible delivery for accepted/sent/delivered/opened/clicked/bounced/complained/delayed/failed events.
- Hosted usage and billing — plan-aware quotas, usage summaries, Stripe Checkout, and customer portal routes for Opensend Cloud.
- Dashboard — dark-mode admin UI with the
/todayoverview, live activity, domains, API keys, broadcasts, automations, templates, audience, metrics, logs, audit log, webhooks, billing, and settings. - Public status — expose component health through
/statusand/api/status. - Health checks —
/api/health, ingester/health, and service readiness endpoints.
Open http://localhost:3015/docs for the first-party docs hub. The generated markdown corpus and machine-readable references live at:
/docs/llms.txt— canonical LLM documentation index for OpenSend-owned docs./openapi.json— route and schema source of truth for API integrations.public/docs/**/*.md— public markdown pages indexed bybun run docs:generate.public/docs/mcp-server.md— MCP guidance for AI clients.
When adding public API, SDK, dashboard, webhook, automation, or operations docs, update the matching public/docs/**/*.md page and run bun run docs:generate.
curl -X POST http://localhost:3015/api/emails \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENSEND_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"from": "hello@yourdomain.com",
"to": ["recipient@example.com"],
"subject": "Hello from Opensend",
"html": "<h1>It works!</h1>"
}'Open http://localhost:3015/docs for the local API reference.
bun add opensendimport { Opensend } from "opensend";
const client = new Opensend(process.env.OPENSEND_API_KEY!, {
baseUrl: "https://your-deployment.example.com",
});
const { data } = await client.emails.send({
from: "hello@yourdomain.com",
to: "recipient@example.com",
subject: "Hello from Opensend",
html: "<h1>It works!</h1>",
});
console.log("Queued email", data?.id);Full docs: packages/sdk/README.md
python -m pip install ./packages/python-sdkimport os
import opensend
opensend.api_key = os.environ["OPENSEND_API_KEY"]
opensend.base_url = os.environ.get("OPENSEND_BASE_URL", opensend.DEFAULT_BASE_URL)
email = opensend.Emails.send({
"from": "hello@yourdomain.com",
"to": "recipient@example.com",
"subject": "Hello from Opensend",
"html": "<h1>It works!</h1>",
})
print("Queued email", email["id"])Full docs: packages/python-sdk/README.md and docs/sdk/python.md
go get github.com/namuh-eng/opensend/packages/go-sdk@v0.1.0package main
import (
"context"
"fmt"
"log"
"os"
opensend "github.com/namuh-eng/opensend/packages/go-sdk"
)
func main() {
client, err := opensend.NewClient(os.Getenv("OPENSEND_API_KEY"))
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
email, err := client.Send(context.Background(), opensend.SendRequest{
From: "hello@yourdomain.com",
To: []string{"recipient@example.com"},
Subject: "Hello from Opensend",
HTML: "<h1>It works!</h1>",
})
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Println("Queued email", email.ID)
}Full docs: packages/go-sdk/README.md and docs/sdk/go.md
cd packages/ruby-sdk
gem build opensend.gemspec
gem install ./opensend-0.1.0.gem
# After the RubyGems publish is complete:
# gem install opensendrequire "opensend"
OpenSend.api_key ENV.fetch("OPENSEND_API_KEY")
email = OpenSend::Emails.send(
from: "hello@yourdomain.com",
to: "recipient@example.com",
subject: "Hello from Opensend",
html: "<h1>It works!</h1>"
)
puts "Queued email #{email.fetch('id')}"Full docs: packages/ruby-sdk/README.md and docs/sdk/ruby.md
- Docker and Docker Compose
- AWS account with SES access for real email delivery
- Optional Cloudflare account for automatic DNS records
- Optional Redis/SQS/EventBridge for production-grade rate limiting and background jobs
git clone https://github.com/namuh-eng/opensend.git
cd opensend
cp .env.example .env
# Set BETTER_AUTH_SECRET, Google OAuth if you want dashboard login,
# and AWS credentials when you want real sending.
docker compose up -dThe dashboard/API runs at http://localhost:3015. The ingester health endpoint is http://localhost:3016/health.
Read the deployment guides before shipping real traffic:
docs/self-hosting.md— env vars, database, SES, DNS, auth, reverse proxy, background jobs, Redis, upgrades, troubleshooting.docs/ingester-deploy.md— standalone ingester deployment, SNS cutover, replay runbook.docs/observability.md— logs, metrics, traces, and provider tracing.docs/hosted-stripe-cutover.md— hosted Stripe/paywall cutover checklist.
Production gotchas worth not learning the hard way:
- Run migrations before app code that expects new columns.
- Build Linux images for Linux deploys:
docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64 .... - Keep app and ingester as separate deployable services for production traffic.
- Point SES/SNS events at the ingester
/events/sesendpoint, not the Next.js app. - Inject secrets at runtime from a real secrets manager; do not bake them into images.
Opensend is a Bun workspace monorepo. The Next.js app and production Hono ingester share a typed core package. Experimental service skeletons live alongside the current production path so migrations can happen incrementally.
src/ # Next.js app and public API routes
├── app/ # App Router pages, dashboard, auth, docs, API
├── components/ # React UI
├── lib/ # auth, db, SES, S3, Cloudflare, cache, workers, events
└── middleware.ts # API rate limiting
packages/
├── core/ # Shared DB client, repositories, DTOs, webhook helpers
├── ingester/ # Production Hono ingester and workers, port 3016
├── sdk/ # TypeScript SDK
├── python-sdk/ # Python SDK
├── go-sdk/ # Go SDK
└── ruby-sdk/ # Ruby SDK
services/
├── api/ # Bun + Hono control-plane API skeleton, port 3026
└── ingester-go/ # Experimental Go ingester skeleton, port 3027
tests/ # Vitest unit tests
tests/e2e/ # Playwright E2E tests
drizzle/ # Generated migration SQL
docs/ # Deployment, SDK, and operations docs
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Framework | Next.js 16, App Router, Turbopack |
| Runtime/package manager | Bun |
| Language | TypeScript strict mode |
| UI | Tailwind CSS, Radix UI, React 19 |
| Auth | Better Auth with Google OAuth and organizations |
| Database | PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM |
| AWS SES v2 | |
| Storage | AWS S3 |
| DNS | Cloudflare API |
| Billing for hosted cloud | Stripe |
| Ingester | Hono on Bun |
| Background jobs | AWS SQS, EventBridge, scheduler sidecar |
| Cache/rate limit | Redis |
| Tests | Vitest, Playwright |
| Lint/format | Biome |
make setup # first-time local setup
make dev # app on http://localhost:3015
make check # full typecheck + lint
make test # Vitest
make test-e2e # Playwright, requires dev server
make all # check + test
make fix # Biome autofix
bun run docs:generate # rebuild public/docs/llms.txt after public docs changesUseful package commands:
bun run dev:api # control-plane API skeleton on :3026
bun run start:ingester # production ingester locally on :3016
cd services/ingester-go && go test ./...
cd packages/go-sdk && go test ./...
ruby -I packages/ruby-sdk/lib packages/ruby-sdk/test/opensend_test.rb- Webhook signature verification with Svix-compatible HMAC headers
- Email scheduling with EventBridge/SQS-backed scans
- Team support with multi-tenant auth and organization invites
- Built-in open/click analytics
- Additional webhook event types: opened, clicked, complained, delivery delayed
- Familiar audiences/contact API slices
- SMTP relay support without AWS SES
Contributions are welcome. Read CONTRIBUTING.md, branch from staging, keep changes narrow, and include validation evidence in the PR.
Elastic License 2.0 — free to use, modify, and self-host. The restriction: you cannot offer Opensend itself as a hosted email service to third parties.
