# Email sending FAQ

Quick answers to the questions almost everyone asks when they start sending email through Bird. Each answer links to the full article if you want the details.

## Can I send email before verifying a domain?

**Yes.** Every new workspace can send immediately from Bird's shared onboarding domain — no DNS records, no verification, no waiting. There's a catch that's actually a feature: messages from the shared domain are only delivered to **verified members of your workspace** (you and your teammates), and there's a daily recipient cap. That's enough to prove your integration works end to end on day one; it's deliberately not enough for production.

One exception: the mail sandbox addresses (like `delivered@` and `bounce@` at `messagebird.dev`) always work, so you can simulate deliveries and bounces without inviting anyone.

See [Sending from the shared domain](/docs/knowledge-base/dns-and-domains/shared-domain) for the full rules, or jump straight to the [Send your first email](/docs/get-started/send-your-first-email) quickstart.

## What is the onboarding domain, and what are its limits?

The shared onboarding domain is `messagebird.dev` — a Bird-owned domain that every workspace can send from out of the box (messages come from `onboarding@messagebird.dev`). Its guardrails, all by design:

- **Recipients must be verified members of your workspace.** Sends to anyone else are rejected with a clear error.
- **A daily recipient cap** — by default 50 recipients per organization per day, resetting daily.
- **Sandbox addresses are exempt** from the members-only rule, but still count toward the cap.

It never goes away: even after you verify your own domain, the shared domain stays available as a known-good test sender. Full details in [Sending from the shared domain](/docs/knowledge-base/dns-and-domains/shared-domain).

## Can I use a Gmail, Yahoo, or other free-email address as my From address?

**No.** You can only send from domains you've verified in Bird, and you can't verify `gmail.com` — you don't own it. Even setting that aside, it wouldn't work: free-mail providers publish strict DMARC policies, so mail claiming to be from `you@gmail.com` but sent through Bird would fail authentication and be rejected or junked by recipients. Gmail and Yahoo's own bulk-sender rules require exactly this kind of authentication.

The fix is to send from a domain you own — `you@yourcompany.com` — which you verify once and control completely. See [Gmail & Yahoo sender requirements](/docs/knowledge-base/deliverability/gmail-yahoo-requirements) for why the rules exist, and the [Sending domains guide](/docs/guides/email/sending-domains) for how to set your domain up.

## How do I set up my own sending domain?

Register the domain in Bird, publish the DNS records it gives you (DKIM, return-path, and DMARC), and wait for verification — usually minutes once the DNS records are live. The [Sending domains guide](/docs/guides/email/sending-domains) walks through the whole lifecycle, and there are [step-by-step walkthroughs per DNS provider](/docs/knowledge-base/dns-and-domains/generic-registrar) if you want exact clicks for Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Route 53, and others.

## Where do I start as a developer?

The [Send your first email](/docs/get-started/send-your-first-email) quickstart takes you from API key to a delivered message in a few minutes, using the shared onboarding domain so there's nothing to configure first.

## Next steps

- [Deliverability FAQ](/docs/knowledge-base/faq/deliverability) — verification times, warmup, suppressions, open rates
- [Sending from the shared domain](/docs/knowledge-base/dns-and-domains/shared-domain) — the onboarding domain in full
- [Sending domains](/docs/guides/email/sending-domains) — the developer guide to your own domain