Creating custom email providers#

Build a custom email provider by exporting a Node.js module with a `send()` function. Use it locally in your project or publish it to npm to share with the community.

Strapi's Email feature delegates sending to a provider, a Node.js module that implements a standard interface. When no official or community provider meets your needs, you can create your own.

Provider interface#

To implement a custom provider you must . The module must export an init function that returns a send function:

module.exports = {
  init: (providerOptions = {}, settings = {}) => {
    return {
      send: async options => {},
    };
  },
};

export default {
  init: (providerOptions = {}, settings = {}) => {
    return {
      send: async options => {},
    };
  },
};

Inside the send function you have access to:

providerOptions — the values passed under providerOptions in /config/plugins.js|ts.
settings — the values passed under settings in /config/plugins.js|ts.
options — the options passed when calling send() from a controller or service.

You can review the for reference implementations.

Publishing and using your provider#

After creating your provider you can either publish it to npm or use it locally within your project.

Publishing to npm#

to make it available to the Strapi community. Once published, install and configure it like any other provider (see Configuring providers).

Using a local provider#

To use a custom provider without publishing it to npm:

Create a providers folder at the root of your Strapi application.
Create your provider inside it (e.g., providers/strapi-provider-email-custom).
Update package.json to point the dependency to the local path:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "strapi-provider-email-custom": "file:providers/strapi-provider-email-custom"
  }
}

Update /config/plugins.js|ts to configure the provider.
Run yarn or npm install to link the local package.

Private providers#

A provider can be marked as private, meaning every asset URL will be signed for secure access rather than exposed as a plain URL.

To enable this, implement the isPrivate() method and return true in your provider module.

When a provider is private, Strapi uses a getSignedUrl(file) method — also implemented in the provider — to generate a signed URL for each asset. The signed URL contains an encrypted signature that grants access for a limited time and with specific restrictions, depending on your implementation.