Quickstart

Create an API key in the Temp Mail Lab dashboard, then replace the placeholders in these requests.

1. Create an inbox

curl --fail-with-body \
  --request POST \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --header "Idempotency-Key: YOUR_UNIQUE_KEY_16_CHARS_OR_MORE" \
  --data '{}' \
  https://api.tempmaillab.com/v1/emails

The response contains the inbox ID and address:

{
  "data": {
    "id": "eml_example",
    "address": "test-run@example.com",
    "status": "active",
    "expires_at": "2026-09-15T12:00:00Z"
  }
}

Use a new idempotency key for each inbox. If the request times out, retry the same request with the same key.

2. Send email to the address

Trigger an email from the application or provider you are testing. Temp Mail Lab receives email; it does not send it.

3. List messages

Replace eml_example with the inbox ID returned in step 1.

curl --fail-with-body \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  https://api.tempmaillab.com/v1/emails/eml_example/messages

If data is empty, wait a few seconds and try again. Stop polling after a deadline that fits your test.

4. Read the message

Replace msg_example with an ID from the message list.

curl --fail-with-body \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  https://api.tempmaillab.com/v1/messages/msg_example

The response includes sender and recipient fields, subject, text, sanitized HTML, attachment metadata, and expiry time.

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1. Create an inbox

2. Send email to the address

3. List messages

4. Read the message

​1. Create an inbox

​2. Send email to the address

​3. List messages

​4. Read the message

1. Create an inbox

2. Send email to the address

3. List messages

4. Read the message