# Send email programmatically Human Guide

## What This Is For
Send emails via SMTP, free APIs, or privacy-focused services. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for email marketing: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Send email programmatically agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for send email programmatically.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Send email programmatically guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- Use case 1: When the user asks to send email notifications or alerts
- Use case 2: When you need to deliver automated reports or summaries
- Use case 3: For error logging and monitoring alerts
- Use case 4: When building user communication workflows (confirmations, updates)
- **curl** — For API-based email sending (pre-installed on most systems)
- **sendmail** / **msmtp** — For SMTP email sending
- **Mailgun API** — Free tier: 5,000 emails/month (requires API key)
- **SendGrid API** — Free tier: 100 emails/day (requires API key)
- **mail.tm** — Temporary email API (no API key required)
- ✅ **Use app passwords** — For Gmail/Outlook, create app-specific passwords instead of account passwords
- ✅ **Free tier limits** — Mailgun: 5,000/month, SendGrid: 100/day, Gmail: 500/day
- ✅ **Retry logic** — Implement exponential backoff for failed sends

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: When to use, Required tools / APIs, Skills, send_email_via_smtp_curl, send_email_via_mailgun_api, send_email_via_sendgrid_api, send_email_via_msmtp, send_email_nodejs_nodemailer, advanced_email_with_retry, Rate limits / Best practices.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- **mail.tm** — Temporary email API (no API key required)
- Send email using Mailgun free tier (5,000 emails/month, no credit card required for sandbox).
- ✅ **Error handling** — Catch and log errors, don't expose credentials in logs
- ✅ **SPF/DKIM** — Configure DNS records for custom domains to avoid spam
- ⚠️ **Never hardcode credentials** — Use environment variables or secure vaults
- Always use app passwords, never account passwords
- No credit card required for sandbox
- Never log credentials or sensitive data

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Send email programmatically human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the besoeasy/open-skills skill entry for `send-email-programmatically`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Send Email Programmatically

Send emails via SMTP, free APIs (Mailgun, SendGrid free tier), or privacy-focused services. Essential for notifications, alerts, automated reports, and user communication.

## When to use

- Use case 1: When the user asks to send email notifications or alerts
- Use case 2: When you need to deliver automated reports or summaries
- Use case 3: For error logging and monitoring alerts
- Use case 4: When building user communication workflows (confirmations, updates)

## Required tools / APIs

- **curl** — For API-based email sending (pre-installed on most systems)
- **sendmail** / **msmtp** — For SMTP email sending
- **Mailgun API** — Free tier: 5,000 emails/month (requires API key)
- **SendGrid API** — Free tier: 100 emails/day (requires API key)
- **mail.tm** — Temporary email API (no API key required)

Install options:

```bash
# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install -y curl msmtp msmtp-mta

# macOS (postfix is pre-installed, or use msmtp)
brew install msmtp

# Node.js
npm install nodemailer
```

## Skills

### send_email_via_smtp_curl

Send email using SMTP via curl (works with Gmail, Outlook, custom SMTP servers).

```bash
# Gmail SMTP example (requires app password)
SMTP_SERVER="smtp.gmail.com:587"
FROM_EMAIL="your-email@gmail.com"
TO_EMAIL="recipient@example.com"
SUBJECT="Test Email"
BODY="This is a test email sent via SMTP."
APP_PASSWORD="your-app-password"

# Send email
curl -v --url "smtp://${SMTP_SERVER}" \
  --mail-from "${FROM_EMAIL}" \
  --mail-rcpt "${TO_EMAIL}" \
  --user "${FROM_EMAIL}:${APP_PASSWORD}" \
  --upload-file - <<EOF
From: ${FROM_EMAIL}
To: ${TO_EMAIL}
Subject: ${SUBJECT}

${BODY}
EOF

# Outlook/Office365 SMTP
curl --url "smtp://smtp.office365.com:587" \
  --mail-from "your-email@outlook.com" \
  --mail-rcpt "recipient@example.com" \
  --user "your-email@outlook.com:your-password" \
  --ssl-reqd \
  --upload-file - <<EOF
From: your-email@outlook.com
To: recipient@example.com
Subject: Hello from Outlook

This is an automated email.
EOF
```

### send_email_via_mailgun_api

Send email using Mailgun free tier (5,000 emails/month, no credit card required for sandbox).

```bash