## What It Is

Startupkit Email is a managed inbound mail service. Add your domain, point its MX record at our mail server, and Startupkit starts receiving email for any address on that domain. Incoming messages flow into Kit where they can power the catch-all candidate inbox, per-job email inboxes, or anywhere else Kit listens for inbound mail.

You don't need your own mail server, a Cloudflare account, or any API tokens. Startupkit runs the infrastructure; you just tell DNS where to send mail.

## When to Use It

Pick Startupkit Email when:

- You want the simplest possible setup (one DNS record, no third-party accounts)
- You don't already run Cloudflare Email Routing on the domain you want to use
- You want Startupkit to handle uptime, spam filtering, and delivery

Pick **Cloudflare Email Routing** instead when your domain is already on Cloudflare and you'd rather keep mail routing there.

Both options live side by side on the [Inbound Email](/integrations/inbound_email) page. You can switch between them at any time — no migration required.

## Setup

### 1. Add Your Domain

Navigate to [Integrations > Startupkit Email](/integrations/hosted_email) and click **Add Domain**. Enter the domain you want to receive mail on (for example, `mail.yourcompany.com`). Startupkit provisions the domain on its mail server and shows you the MX record you need to publish.

> Use a subdomain like `mail.yourcompany.com` if your main domain already receives email from another provider. That way Startupkit handles inbound mail for candidate addresses without touching the rest of your setup.

### 2. Publish the MX Record

Add the following MX record at your DNS provider:

| Type | Host | Priority | Value |
|------|------|----------|-------|
| MX | _your domain_ | 10 | _shown on the domain detail page_ |

DNS propagation usually takes a few minutes but can take up to an hour depending on your registrar's TTL. The domain detail page shows the current status and will flip to **Active** once routing is live.

### 3. Add Email Handlers

Once the domain is active, create **email handlers** — these are the individual addresses Startupkit listens for. For example, a handler named `apply` on domain `mail.yourcompany.com` creates the inbox `apply@mail.yourcompany.com`.

Handlers are where inbound mail becomes useful to Kit:

- Connect a handler to the [catch-all candidate inbox](/hiring/settings) to route any email to the matching open role
- Attach a handler to a specific job posting so candidate replies land on that application
- Use a handler as a contact address that Kit routes into a specific workflow

## Managing Domains

From the [Startupkit Email](/integrations/hosted_email) index page you can:

- **Add Domain** — Register another domain
- **View** — See the DNS status, handlers, and recent activity for a domain
- **Remove** — Disconnect a domain (handlers and received emails for that domain are deleted)

If a domain's status shows as **Failed**, hover the error message for details. The most common causes are DNS records that haven't propagated yet or MX records pointing at the wrong host.

## Troubleshooting

**Domain is stuck in pending.** DNS is still propagating. Give it up to an hour, then reload the domain detail page.

**Mail isn't arriving.** Check that the MX record is published exactly as shown on the domain detail page, including the priority. Use `dig MX yourdomain.com` to confirm from the command line.

**Can I use my main domain?** Yes, but only if your main domain isn't already used for outbound mail from another provider. Otherwise use a subdomain like `mail.yourcompany.com` to keep things separate.

**Does Startupkit send outbound email too?** Not on this domain. Startupkit Email handles inbound only. Outbound transactional email is configured separately under SMTP settings.

## See Also

- [Inbound Email overview](/integrations/inbound_email) — compare Startupkit Email and Cloudflare Email Routing
- [Cloudflare Email Routing](/integrations/cloudflare) — the alternative provider if you'd rather use your own Cloudflare account