Transactional emails are sent by your application (password reset, receipts, alerts) — not bulk marketing campaigns.
Transactional vs marketing
| Compare | Transactional | Marketing |
|---|---|---|
| Examples | Password reset, invoice, signup confirm | Newsletter, promo, drip sequence |
| Where you send | POST /api/email or transactional templates API |
Campaigns and automations in the UI |
| Domain to verify | Transactional domains (usually root) | Marketing domains (dedicated subdomain) |
| Example From | noreply@acme.com |
hello@news.acme.com |
| Account approval | Required for live sends | Required for live sends |
Read Sending domains overview before you publish DNS. To send a campaign instead, see Send your first email.
Transactional log
Transactional → Log lists messages Mailivate sent on behalf of your app:
- Recipient and subject
- Status (sent, bounced, etc.)
- Resend option for failures
Templates vs marketing designs
Transactional templates define HTML for named sends from your codebase. Marketing templates under Templates are for campaigns and automations.
Developer setup
- Verify your transactional domain.
- Request account approval and wait until status is approved.
- Create an API token under Account → API Tokens.
- Send with Send transactional email (API) — includes cURL, Node.js, Python, PHP, and Ruby.
- Optionally create named templates — see Transactional templates.