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By default, Formbricks doesn’t include an SMTP server for sending emails. However, you can easily configure your self-hosted instance to use your own email provider through environment variables.

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Why Configure SMTP?

Setting up an SMTP server enables important email functionality in Formbricks, including:
  • Email verification for new accounts
  • Password reset emails
  • Team member invitation emails
  • Survey response notifications

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Email Configuration Options

Formbricks uses Nodemailer to send emails and supports various SMTP providers like:
  • AWS SES
  • SendGrid
  • Mailgun
  • Gmail (for low volume)
  • Custom SMTP servers
  • Other SMTP providers

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Required Environment Variables

To enable email functionality, configure the following environment variables:
Additional optional settings:
Do not set SMTP_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED_TLS=0 in production. It disables SMTP server certificate verification and makes encrypted connections vulnerable to an active man-in-the-middle attack. If your SMTP server uses a private certificate authority, mount that CA certificate into the Formbricks container and add it to Node.js’ trust store instead.

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Trusting A Private Certificate Authority

Store the CA certificate as a PEM file, mount it read-only, and set NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS to the path inside the container. Keep SMTP_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED_TLS=1. For Docker Compose, add the following to the Formbricks service:
For Kubernetes, create a ConfigMap containing the public CA certificate:
Then mount it with the Helm chart:
Restart the Formbricks pods after changing the CA file because Node.js reads NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS when the process starts.

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Enabling Email Features

By default, email verification and password reset features are disabled in Formbricks. To enable these features:

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Configuration for One-Click Setup

If you’re using the one-click setup with Docker Compose, you can either:
  1. Edit the docker-compose.yml file and add the SMTP environment variables:
  1. Or during the setup, answer “Yes” when prompted to set up the email service:

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Provider-Specific Examples

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SendGrid

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AWS SES

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Gmail

Note: For Gmail, you need to use an App Password if you have 2FA enabled.

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Troubleshooting

If you’re experiencing issues with your email configuration:
  1. Check that all required environment variables are set correctly
  2. Verify your SMTP credentials are valid
  3. Ensure your email provider allows sending from the specified MAIL_FROM address
  4. If using Gmail, ensure you’re using an App Password
  5. For secure connections, make sure you’ve set the correct port and SMTP_SECURE_ENABLED value
For additional help, join the conversation on GitHub Discussions.