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Email sending FAQ

Use these answers to send a first email, understand the shared onboarding domain, and prepare your own sending domain.

Can I send email before verifying a domain?

Yes. Every new workspace can send from Bird's shared onboarding domain without DNS setup. It delivers only to verified members of your workspace and sandbox addresses, and it has a daily recipient cap. Use it only for testing.
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 for the full rules, or jump straight to the 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 without setup (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 resets every UTC day. See Sending from the shared domain for the exact limit.
  • 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.

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.
Send from a domain you own, such as you@yourcompany.com, and verify it in Bird. See Gmail & Yahoo sender requirements and the Sending domains guide.

How do I set up my own sending domain?

Register the domain in Bird, publish its DKIM, return-path, and DMARC records, and wait for verification. The Sending domains guide covers the lifecycle. For provider-specific steps, see the DNS walkthroughs.

Where do I start as a developer?

The Send your first email quickstart uses the shared onboarding domain, so you can test an API key before configuring DNS.

Next steps