Route emails

The simplest way to route emails is forwarding them to existing email addresses.

Before you can create a routing rule, add and verify the destination address that will receive the forwarded emails. Destination addresses are managed at the account level and can be reused across domains.

1. In the Cloudflare dashboard, go to Compute > Email Service > Email Routing > Destination Addresses.

   Go to Email Routing ↗

2. Under Destination addresses, enter the email address you want to use as a destination in the inline form and submit it.

3. Open the verification email Cloudflare sends to that address and select Verify email address.

For full details, refer to Add a destination address.

1. In the Cloudflare dashboard, go to Compute > Email Service > Email Routing.

   Go to Email Routing ↗

2. Select the domain you want to create an email address for.

3. Select the Routing Rules tab.

4. Select Create routing rule.

5. Configure your first rule (for instance, forwarding emails to support@yourdomain.com to your personal email address):

   • Email pattern: Enter the local part of the email (for example, support for support@yourdomain.com), and select your domain
   • Action: Send to an email
   • Destination: Your personal email address (for example, your-email@gmail.com)

6. Select Save.

Verify that your routing rule is working:

1. Send an email from another email account to your newly created address (for example, support@yourdomain.com). Send from an account that is different from the destination address. Some providers discard messages that appear to come from the same account they are being delivered to.

2. Check the destination inbox for the forwarded email.

3. If you do not see the email right away, check your spam folder.

Use Workers to process emails with custom logic before forwarding or responding.

1. Create a new Worker project:

   npm create cloudflare@latest email-processor

   When prompted, select "Hello World" Worker as the template. Then navigate to the project directory:

   cd email-processor

2. Install the required package for creating email replies:

   npm install mimetext

3. Add the nodejs_compat compatibility flag to your Wrangler configuration file. This is required for the mimetext package:

   {
   	"compatibility_flags": ["nodejs_compat"],
   }

   compatibility_flags = [ "nodejs_compat" ]

4. Create your email handler in src/index.ts:

   import { EmailMessage } from "cloudflare:email";
   import { createMimeMessage } from "mimetext";
   
   // ============================================
   // Configuration - Update these values
   // ============================================
   const YOUR_DOMAIN = "yourdomain.com"; // Replace with your verified domain
   const FORWARD_TO_EMAIL = "your-team@example.com"; // Replace with where you want emails forwarded
   
   export default {
   	async email(message, env, ctx): Promise<void> {
   		const sender = message.from;
   		const recipient = message.to;
   		const subject = message.headers.get("subject") || "";
   
   		console.log(
   			`Processing email from ${sender} to ${recipient} with subject ${subject}`,
   		);
   
   		// Route based on recipient
   		if (recipient.includes("support@")) {
   			// Send auto-reply
   			const msg = createMimeMessage();
   			const messageId = message.headers.get("Message-ID");
   			if (messageId) {
   				msg.setHeader("In-Reply-To", messageId);
   				msg.setHeader("References", messageId);
   			}
   			msg.setSender({
   				name: "Support Team",
   				addr: `support@${YOUR_DOMAIN}`,
   			});
   			msg.setRecipient(message.from);
   			msg.setSubject(`Re: ${subject}`);
   
   			// Add plain text version
   			msg.addMessage({
   				contentType: "text/plain",
   				data: "Thank you for contacting support. Your ticket number is 123.\n\nA member of our support team will get back to you shortly.",
   			});
   
   			// Add HTML version
   			msg.addMessage({
   				contentType: "text/html",
   				data: "<p>Thank you for contacting support. Your ticket number is <strong>123</strong>.</p><p>A member of our support team will get back to you shortly.</p>",
   			});
   
   			const replyMessage = new EmailMessage(
   				`support@${YOUR_DOMAIN}`,
   				message.from,
   				msg.asRaw(),
   			);
   
   			await message.reply(replyMessage);
   
   			// Forward to support team
   			await message.forward(FORWARD_TO_EMAIL);
   		} else {
   			// Default: forward to admin
   			await message.forward(FORWARD_TO_EMAIL);
   		}
   	},
   } satisfies ExportedHandler<Env>;

5. Deploy your Worker:

   npm run deploy

1. In the Cloudflare dashboard, go to Compute > Email Service > Email Routing.

   Go to Email Routing ↗

2. Select the domain you want to configure routing for.

3. Select the Routing Rules tab.

4. Select Create routing rule.

5. Configure Worker routing:

   • Email pattern: Enter the local part of the email (for example, support for support@yourdomain.com), and select your domain
   • Action: Send to a Worker
   • Worker: Select your email-processor Worker

6. Select Save.

After configuring the routing rule, test that it works:

1. Send an email from your personal email account to the address you configured (for example, support@yourdomain.com).

2. Check your FORWARD_TO_EMAIL inbox for the forwarded email.

3. If the recipient email was support@, you should also receive an auto-reply at your personal email address.