Python · Flask

Send your first email from a Flask route using the Bird Python SDK's sync client. Three steps: install, send, run.

1. Install the SDK

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pip install messagebird-sdk flask

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# or
uv add messagebird-sdk flask
poetry add messagebird-sdk flask

Requires Python 3.10+. The import package is bird.

2. Send an email

Export your API key. The SDK reads BIRD_API_KEY from the environment and infers the region (us1 or eu1) from the bk_us1_ / bk_eu1_ prefix, so Bird() needs no arguments:

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export BIRD_API_KEY="bk_us1_..."

Create app.py. Construct one Bird at module load and reuse it across requests: it pools connections and is safe to share across threads.

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from bird import Bird, APIError
from flask import Flask, jsonify

app = Flask(__name__)
client = Bird()


@app.post("/send")
def send():
    try:
        message = client.email.send(
            from_="onboarding@messagebird.dev",
            to=["delivered@messagebird.dev"],
            subject="Hello from Bird",
            html="<p>My first Bird email.</p>",
        )
    except APIError as err:
        return jsonify({"error": str(err)}), 502
    return jsonify({"id": message.id, "status": message.status}), 202

from_ is the Python spelling of the from field (from is a reserved word). onboarding@messagebird.dev is Bird's shared onboarding sender (no domain verification needed) and delivered@messagebird.dev is a sandbox recipient that always delivers.

Transient failures retry automatically, and a retried send reuses one idempotency key across attempts, so it never double-applies.

3. Try it

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flask run
curl -X POST http://localhost:5000/send

Bird accepts the message with a 202 and delivers it asynchronously; your route returns the em_ ID and status:

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{
  "id": "em_01ky7ma8y2es1s2akzk53tmjn0",
  "status": "accepted"
}

Fetch the message by its em_ ID with client.email.get(...) and watch the status move from accepted to delivered.

Next steps

Python SDK email reference: every method and option.
Send your first email: the same flow with curl and the full sandbox address list.
Sending domains: verify your own domain for production sending.
Email API reference: the full request and response schema.