# IP warmup

A brand-new IP address has no sending history, and mailbox providers treat mail from an unknown IP with suspicion: sudden volume from a cold IP looks exactly like a spammer spinning up infrastructure, so Gmail, Outlook, and the rest throttle or junk it. Warmup earns the address a reputation gradually, starting small and ramping up over weeks so providers learn to trust it. Every [dedicated IP](/docs/guides/email/dedicated-ips-and-pools) you purchase from Bird goes through it before carrying your full volume.

## The ramp

You don't manage warmup yourself. Every newly purchased dedicated IP starts in the `warming` status, and Bird's sending infrastructure warms it automatically over **roughly 30 days**. The ramp is a fixed series of stages: at each stage the new IP carries a larger share of your traffic, and anything beyond what it can safely handle overflows through Bird's shared pool. Your mail keeps flowing at full volume the entire time; only the split between the new IP and the shared infrastructure changes as the ramp progresses.

Three facts define the ramp:

- **`warmup_progress` is the completed fraction of the ramp**, `0` to `100`. It advances steadily as stages complete; expect increments, not jumps.
- **Progress syncs hourly.** Bird reconciles every warming IP against the sending infrastructure once an hour, so a change can take up to an hour to appear. Polling more often than that gains nothing.
- **Completion flips the status to `active`.** When the final stage is reached, `warmup_progress` reads `100`, `warmup_completed_at` is set, and the IP carries whatever volume its pool sends with no overflow to shared infrastructure.

The full set of statuses a dedicated IP can report, including cancellation, lives in [Dedicated IPs & pools](/docs/guides/email/dedicated-ips-and-pools#buy-a-dedicated-ip).

## Monitoring warmup

Watch status and progress on the [**Dedicated IPs**](https://bird.com/dashboard/w/email/ip-pools/dedicated-ips) page (**Email → IP Pools → Dedicated IPs**), or read the IP resource with the [Bird CLI](/docs/cli):

![A warming dedicated IP in the Bird dashboard with its warmup progress bar](/images/docs/dashboard-email-dedicated-ips.png)

```bash
bird email dedicated-ips get dip_6jeq30c6f79n9st5z6002c349r
```

```json
{
  "address": "198.51.100.22",
  "created_at": "2026-06-29T13:56:39Z",
  "hostname": "mta2.send.goldcrest.dev",
  "id": "dip_6jeq30c6f79n9st5z6002c349r",
  "ip_pool_id": "ipp_1btmn1nnkd8y6a4jckbkvvt9eh",
  "organization_id": "org_01ky7m235keybaf72b0fdgfwj4",
  "purchased_at": "2026-06-29T13:56:39Z",
  "status": "warming",
  "updated_at": "2026-07-23T13:56:39Z",
  "warmup_progress": 45,
  "warmup_started_at": "2026-06-29T13:56:39Z"
}
```

The warmup fields:

- **`warmup_progress`**: how much of the ramp is complete, `0` to `100`.
- **`warmup_started_at`**: when the ramp began, which is the moment of purchase.
- **`warmup_completed_at`**: appears once warmup finishes and the IP transitions to `active`. Absent while the IP is still warming.

## When to flip your default

The ramp protects you from the volume curve, but two decisions stay in your hands:

- **The shared pool stays your default until you change it.** Buying a dedicated IP never reroutes your traffic: sends that don't name a pool keep riding Bird's warmed shared infrastructure, and traffic is never forced onto a cold IP. When you're ready, make your dedicated pool the default; the rules are in [Dedicated IPs & pools](/docs/guides/email/dedicated-ips-and-pools#the-default-pool).
- **Wait for `active` before flipping.** You can point traffic at a pool whose IPs are still warming, and overflow routing means the mail still delivers, but the cleanest pattern is to leave the shared pool as default until `warmup_completed_at` is set, then switch. Never plan around dumping your full volume on a freshly purchased IP; the reputation you build during warmup is the whole point.

If you run multiple pools, treat each new IP the same way: purchase it into its pool, watch `warmup_progress`, and route dedicated traffic deliberately once the IP is `active`.

## Next steps

- [Dedicated IPs & pools](/docs/guides/email/dedicated-ips-and-pools): purchasing IPs, organizing pools, and default-pool rules
- [Deliverability · Email](/docs/guides/email/deliverability): where warmup fits in the reputation model