Sending test emails
Lettermint provides special test addresses that simulate real-world delivery scenarios (bounces, complaints, and successful deliveries) without sending actual emails. Use them to verify your integration handles all outcomes correctly.
Why use test addresses?
Sending test emails to real mailboxes (including your own) can harm your sender reputation. Repeated bounces, spam complaints, or test content flagged as suspicious may cause mailbox providers to throttle or block your domain. Test addresses let you simulate every scenario without affecting your deliverability metrics.
Test emails sent to @testing.lettermint.co addresses are:
- Excluded from billing: They don't count toward your monthly email quota
- Excluded from statistics: They won't skew your bounce or complaint rates
- Processed instantly: Events are generated within seconds
Test addresses
Send to any of these addresses to trigger specific delivery events:
| Address | Simulated Event | Webhook Event |
|---|---|---|
ok@testing.lettermint.co | Successful delivery | message.delivered |
softbounce@testing.lettermint.co | Soft bounce (mailbox full) | message.soft_bounced |
hardbounce@testing.lettermint.co | Hard bounce (user unknown) | message.hard_bounced |
spamcomplaint@testing.lettermint.co | Delivery + spam complaint | message.delivered → message.spam_complaint |
dsn@testing.lettermint.co | Out-of-band DSN bounce | message.hard_bounced |
The local part (before @) determines behavior. You can use any local part ending in @testing.lettermint.co. For example, user+tag@testing.lettermint.co also works.
Sending test emails
Install the SDK first: npm install lettermint (Node.js), composer require lettermint/lettermint-php (PHP), or pip install lettermint (Python).
Testing with webhooks
Test addresses are most useful when combined with webhooks. Set up a webhook to receive events, then send test emails to verify your handler processes each event type correctly.
Example: Verify bounce handling
- Create a webhook subscribed to
message.hard_bouncedevents - Send to
hardbounce@testing.lettermint.co - Confirm your webhook receives the event and your application handles it (e.g., marks the address as undeliverable)
Example webhook payload
When sending to softbounce@testing.lettermint.co, you'll receive:
Code
See Webhook events for the complete payload reference.
Common testing workflows
Integration testing
Use test addresses in your CI/CD pipeline to verify email sending works without sending real emails:
Code
Manual testing
When developing locally, use a tunnel like ngrok to expose your webhook endpoint, then send test emails to verify the full flow.
Troubleshooting
No webhook received
- Check webhook is enabled: Disabled webhooks don't send events
- Verify event subscription: Ensure the webhook subscribes to the relevant event type (e.g.,
message.soft_bounced) - Allow processing time: Test events typically arrive within 5-10 seconds
- Check webhook logs: View recent deliveries in Dashboard → Route → Webhooks → [Your Webhook]
API returns an error
- Verify API token: Ensure your token is valid and has send permissions
- Check "from" address: The sender domain must be verified in your project
Test address not recognized
- Use exact domain: The domain must be exactly
testing.lettermint.co(case-insensitive) - Check for typos: Common mistakes:
test.lettermint.co(wrong),testing.lettermint.com(wrong TLD)
Next steps
Set up webhooks
Receive delivery events in real-time
Webhook events
See all event types and payloads
Verify domains
Configure DNS for sending
API Reference
Complete endpoint documentation