email

Email

Val Town supports both directions: vals can be triggered by incoming mail (email-type vals) and can send mail via std/email.

Receiving email — email-type vals

Email vals (fileType: "email") run when a message is delivered to the val's assigned address.

// Learn more: https://docs.val.town/vals/email/
// Email type: {
//   from: string,
//   to: string[],
//   subject?: string,
//   text?: string,
//   html?: string,
//   attachments: File[],
//   headers: Record<string, string>
// }
export default async function (e: Email) {
  console.log(e.from, e.subject, e.text);
}

The file must have an export — export default for the handler.

Maximum 30MB per message, including attachments. Larger messages will be rejected.

Reading the assigned address

When you list files or create an email-type file, the response includes links.email — the address that triggers this val. Always read this from the API response. Never construct an email address yourself — the format is owned by the platform and may change.

Sending email — std/email

For outgoing mail, import from std/email:

import { email } from "https://esm.town/v/std/email";

await email.send({
  to: "[email protected]",
  subject: "Hello",
  text: "Message body",
});

email.send accepts the same shape you'd expect: to, subject, text, html, and standard fields. By default mail is sent from the val owner's address.

Replying to an incoming message

Combine the two — read the inbound from in an email-type handler, then call email.send to reply:

import { email } from "https://esm.town/v/std/email";

export default async function (e: Email) {
  await email.send({
    to: e.from,
    subject: `Re: ${e.subject ?? ""}`,
    text: "Got it, thanks!",
  });
}

Verifying changes

After editing an email-type val, use run_file with a sample Email payload to invoke the handler manually instead of waiting for a real incoming message. For send-only vals, run the script the same way and check get_logs for delivery errors.