Avelto
View as MarkdownOpen in Claude

Send email from PHP

Five steps: install Guzzle, create a test key, send to the sandbox, read the log, then verify a domain so you can send to anyone. Using Laravel? The Laravel quickstart uses the Http facade instead.

1. Install

No SDK needed. The API is plain JSON over HTTPS; any HTTP client works, and Guzzle is the one most PHP projects already have.

shell
composer require guzzlehttp/guzzle

2. Create an API key

Sign in, open API keys in the dashboard and create a test key. It starts with av_test_. Export it so the script can read it:

shell
export AVELTO_API_KEY=av_test_...
Sandbox rules

Test keys never deliver anything; they run the pipeline and record events. The sandbox sender you@sandbox.avelto.dev only delivers to your account's verified owner email and to the simulator addresses delivered@, bounced@ and complained@sandbox.avelto.dev. Anything else is refused with 403 sandbox_recipient_not_allowed. To send to anyone, verify a domain (step 5).

3. Send your first email

Every request carries the key as a bearer token. Guzzle throws on a non-2xx status; the catch reads the code and message from the error envelope.

PHP
<?php
// send.php
require "vendor/autoload.php";

use GuzzleHttp\Client;
use GuzzleHttp\Exception\ClientException;

$client = new Client([
    "base_uri" => "https://api-staging.avelto.dev",
    "headers" => ["Authorization" => "Bearer " . getenv("AVELTO_API_KEY")],
]);

try {
    $res = $client->post("/v1/emails", ["json" => [
        "from" => "you@sandbox.avelto.dev",
        "to" => "delivered@sandbox.avelto.dev",
        "subject" => "Hello from Avelto",
        "text" => "It works.",
    ]]);
} catch (ClientException $e) {
    $error = json_decode((string) $e->getResponse()->getBody(), true)["error"];
    fwrite(STDERR, $e->getResponse()->getStatusCode() . " {$error["code"]}: {$error["message"]}\n");
    exit(1);
}

$email = json_decode((string) $res->getBody(), true);
echo $email["id"], "\n"; // "9c1f4a52-6f6e-4b8f-9b8e-2e1a5c7d3f10"
shell
php send.php

The API answers 201 Created with the email id:

HTTP
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json

{ "id": "9c1f4a52-6f6e-4b8f-9b8e-2e1a5c7d3f10" }
Retrying safely

Send an Idempotency-Key header (any unique string, such as your order id) with every POST /v1/emails. If the request times out or comes back 429, 502, 503 or 504, wait a moment and send it again unchanged with the same key: the API returns the original email id instead of sending twice. See Idempotency.

4. Check the log

Fetch the email by id with the same client. status moves from queued to sent to delivered, and events records each step: email.queued, email.sent, email.delivered.

PHP
$email = json_decode((string) $client->get("/v1/emails/{$email["id"]}")->getBody(), true);

echo $email["status"], "\n"; // "queued", then "sent", then "delivered"
foreach ($email["events"] as $e) {
    echo $e["type"], " ", $e["occurred_at"], "\n";
}
JSON
{
  "id": "9c1f4a52-6f6e-4b8f-9b8e-2e1a5c7d3f10",
  "mode": "test",
  "from": "you@sandbox.avelto.dev",
  "to": ["delivered@sandbox.avelto.dev"],
  "subject": "Hello from Avelto",
  "status": "delivered",
  "events": [
    {
      "id": "e1f0c3a4-8b2d-4c6e-9a1f-5d7b3e2c8a90",
      "type": "email.queued",
      "payload": {},
      "occurred_at": "2026-09-17T10:12:04.000Z"
    },
    {
      "id": "a7c2e9d1-3f4b-4a8e-b6c0-2d9e1f7b5c34",
      "type": "email.sent",
      "payload": { "test": true, "ses_message_id": "test-9c1f4a52-6f6e-4b8f-9b8e-2e1a5c7d3f10" },
      "occurred_at": "2026-09-17T10:12:06.000Z"
    },
    {
      "id": "c4b8d2f6-7e1a-4d3c-8f9b-6a2e0c5d1b78",
      "type": "email.delivered",
      "payload": { "test": true, "recipients": ["delivered@sandbox.avelto.dev"] },
      "occurred_at": "2026-09-17T10:12:06.000Z"
    }
  ]
}

5. Verify a domain

Add a domain, publish the DNS records it prints (three DKIM CNAMEs, an SPF TXT and a DMARC TXT), then poll GET /v1/domains/:id until status is verified. The GET re-checks DNS on every call. Use a subdomain such as mail.acme.com.

PHP
<?php
// verify_domain.php (same $client as send.php)
$res = $client->post("/v1/domains", ["json" => ["name" => "mail.acme.com"]]);
$domain = json_decode((string) $res->getBody(), true);

foreach ($domain["dns_records"] as $r) {
    echo "{$r["type"]}\t{$r["name"]}\t{$r["value"]}\t({$r["purpose"]})\n";
}

// Publish the records, then poll. GET re-checks DNS on every call.
while ($domain["status"] === "pending") {
    sleep(30);
    $domain = json_decode((string) $client->get("/v1/domains/{$domain["id"]}")->getBody(), true);
}
echo $domain["status"], "\n"; // "verified" or "failed"
shell
php verify_domain.php

Once the domain is verified, switch AVELTO_API_KEY to a live key (av_live_) and change from to an address on it, such as hello@mail.acme.com. Nothing else changes.

Next

  • Send email: every field, attachments, tags, scheduling and idempotency.
  • Webhooks: get events pushed to your app.
  • Test mode: test keys, the sandbox sender and the simulator addresses.