Vercel + MailKite

Vercel can receive inbound email via MailKite webhooks. Process email in a Vercel Serverless Function — create support tickets, trigger workflows, or forward notifications.

What you need

• A verified domain with SPF + DKIM published
• Your API key (mk_live_…)
• Vercel project with API routes

How it works

MailKite POSTs inbound email to a Vercel API route. The function processes it and returns 200. Vercel's edge network ensures low latency, and API routes support both Node.js and Edge runtimes.

Set up the webhook

Create an API route at api/mailkite-inbound.js in your Vercel project. This function receives the POST from MailKite and processes the inbound email.

// api/mailkite-inbound.js (Vercel Serverless Function)
export default async function handler(req, res) {
  if (req.method !== 'POST') {
    return res.status(405).json({ error: 'Method not allowed' });
  }
  const email = req.body;
  console.log(`Inbound: ${email.from} → ${email.to} — ${email.subject}`);

  // Process: create a ticket, store in DB, or forward
  return res.status(200).json({ ok: true });
}

Receive inbound email

Configure your MailKite domain's webhook URL to point at your Vercel API route. Every inbound email delivers this payload:

• from — sender address
• to — recipient address
• subject — email subject
• text — plain text body
• html — HTML body
• attachments — array of file objects

Test it

curl -X POST https://yoursite.vercel.app/api/mailkite-inbound \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"from":"test@example.com","to":"hello@yourdomain.com","subject":"Hello","text":"Test"}'

Troubleshooting

• Vercel serverless functions have a 10-second timeout on Hobby plan; for longer processing, acknowledge the webhook and process async.
• Check function logs in the Vercel dashboard under Deployments → your deployment → Functions.
• Ensure the file is at api/mailkite-inbound.js — Vercel maps /api/* to the api/ directory.

See the SMTP relay docs for connection details, or Inbound webhooks for the full payload.