Django Email and SMTP Setup

SMTP settings

Configure Django from environment variables:

EMAIL_BACKEND = "django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend"
EMAIL_HOST = "smtp.postscale.io"
EMAIL_PORT = 587
EMAIL_USE_TLS = True
EMAIL_HOST_USER = os.environ["POSTSCALE_SMTP_USERNAME"]
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = os.environ["POSTSCALE_SMTP_PASSWORD"]
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = "Acme <alerts@example.com>"

Use port 587 with STARTTLS. Use port 465 only if you intentionally configure implicit TLS with the right backend behavior.

Sending example

from django.core.mail import send_mail

send_mail(
    subject="Welcome",
    message="Hello from Acme",
    from_email="Acme <alerts@example.com>",
    recipient_list=["user@example.com"],
    html_message="<p>Hello from Acme</p>",
)

For production, send from a background job and store an application message record before dispatch.

When to use the REST API

Use the REST API when you need:

1. Structured metadata.
2. Template IDs.
3. Idempotency keys.
4. A clean provider adapter.
5. Easier integration tests.

Keep API calls in one service module instead of scattering provider calls across views and signals.

Delivery state

Django's send_mail() returning successfully does not mean a recipient mailbox accepted the message. Store message state and update it from delivery webhooks:

1. accepted
2. delivered
3. deferred
4. bounced
5. complained

Suppress hard bounces and complaints before future sends.

References

• Django email documentation
• Django settings: email
• SMTP relay vs email API
• Transactional email bounces