Mail providers

Externa sends mail through Laravel’s mailer (config/mail.php). Pick a transport with MAIL_MAILER, set provider credentials, and keep a real MAIL_FROM_*. Logo/colors for transactional templates come from Project settings, not MAIL_*.

Defaults

Local / CI often use:

MAIL_MAILER=log
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS="hello@example.com"
MAIL_FROM_NAME="${APP_NAME}"

log writes messages to the Laravel log — fine for smoke tests, not production.

For production, prefer a real provider and queue mail so admin requests do not wait on SMTP (QUEUE_CONNECTION + worker / Horizon).

SMTP (generic)

Any SMTP relay (workspace Google/Microsoft, Mailtrap, corporate relay):

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.example.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=apikey_or_user
MAIL_PASSWORD=secret
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS="noreply@example.com"
MAIL_FROM_NAME="Externa"
# Optional when the server expects a scheme:
# MAIL_SCHEME=null

Amazon SES

MAIL_MAILER=ses
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS="noreply@example.com"
MAIL_FROM_NAME="Externa"

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=AKIA…
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=…
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=eu-west-1

Uses Laravel’s ses transport (config/mail.php). Verify the from-domain in SES and move out of sandbox for arbitrary recipients.

Postmark

MAIL_MAILER=postmark
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS="noreply@example.com"
MAIL_FROM_NAME="Externa"

POSTMARK_TOKEN=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

Token is read by Laravel’s Postmark transport / Symfony bridge (see Laravel mail docs for your framework version).

Mailgun

MAIL_MAILER=mailgun
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS="noreply@example.com"
MAIL_FROM_NAME="Externa"

MAILGUN_DOMAIN=mg.example.com
MAILGUN_SECRET=key-…
# MAILGUN_ENDPOINT=api.mailgun.net   # or api.eu.mailgun.net

Checklist

1. Set MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS to a domain you control (SPF / DKIM at the provider).
2. Smoke: password reset or notification → real inbox (not only log).
3. Branding: Project settings → transactional email (logo URL must be publicly reachable).
4. Queue worker running if you use ShouldQueue notifications / mailables.
5. Failures: Horizon / failed_jobs — see Operations.