# Quickstart

Send your first email in three steps. No domain setup needed: every account gets a sandbox sender and simulator recipients.

## 1. Get an API key

[Sign in](/login) and create a key from the dashboard. You get two kinds:

- `av_test_…` runs the full pipeline without sending anything. Events and webhooks still fire.
- `av_live_…` sends real email.

Every request carries the key as a bearer token: `Authorization: Bearer av_test_…`.

## 2. Send an email

The request below sends from your sandbox domain (`sandbox.avelto.dev`) to the `delivered@` simulator address, which always reports a delivery. The sandbox sender and the simulator addresses both work with live and test keys.

**curl**

```bash
curl -X POST https://api.avelto.dev/v1/emails \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer av_test_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "from": "you@sandbox.avelto.dev",
    "to": "delivered@sandbox.avelto.dev",
    "subject": "Hello from Avelto",
    "text": "It works."
  }'
```

**Node**

```ts
import { Avelto } from "@avelto/sdk";

const avelto = new Avelto(process.env.AVELTO_API_KEY!);

const { id } = await avelto.emails.send({
  from: "you@sandbox.avelto.dev",
  to: "delivered@sandbox.avelto.dev",
  subject: "Hello from Avelto",
  text: "It works.",
});
```

The page shows the same request in Python, Go, Ruby, PHP and C# as well.

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" }
```

## 3. Watch it move

Fetch the email to see its status and every event so far.

**curl**

```bash
curl https://api.avelto.dev/v1/emails/9c1f4a52-6f6e-4b8f-9b8e-2e1a5c7d3f10 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer av_test_..."
```

**Node**

```ts
const email = await avelto.emails.get(id);
console.log(email.status); // "queued", then "sent", then "delivered"
```

The page shows the same request in Python, Go, Ruby, PHP and C# as well.

```json
{
  "id": "9c1f4a52-6f6e-4b8f-9b8e-2e1a5c7d3f10",
  "mode": "test",
  "from": "you@sandbox.avelto.dev",
  "to": ["delivered@sandbox.avelto.dev"],
  "cc": [],
  "bcc": [],
  "reply_to": null,
  "subject": "Hello from Avelto",
  "tags": [],
  "status": "delivered",
  "scheduled_at": null,
  "created_at": "2026-09-17T10:12:04.000Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-09-17T10:12:06.000Z",
  "html": null,
  "text": "It works.",
  "headers": {},
  "unsubscribe_url": null,
  "idempotency_key": null,
  "attachments": [],
  "domain_id": null,
  "ses_message_id": "test-9c1f4a52-6f6e-4b8f-9b8e-2e1a5c7d3f10",
  "error": null,
  "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"
    }
  ]
}
```

Status goes `queued`, then `sent`, then `delivered` (or `bounced`, `complained`, `failed`). The `events` array is the full log.

> **Limits on a new account.** For its first 7 days every account is capped at 100 live emails a day and 5 domains, whatever the plan. A live send past the daily cap is refused with `429 plan_limit` until midnight UTC. Test sends do not count, so a load test belongs on a test key. Details on [Plans and limits](/docs/plans-and-limits).

> **Pick your language once.** Every request in the docs is shown in the same seven languages. Node uses the [SDK](/docs/sdk) (`npm install @avelto/sdk`); the others are plain HTTPS with a common client for the language, so anything that can make an HTTPS request works. Choose a tab once and every page remembers it, or set your stack in the sidebar. The [quickstarts](/docs/quickstart) repeat these steps inside Next.js, Express, Fastify, Django, Laravel, Rails and more.

## What next

- [Send email](/docs/send-email) covers every field: multiple recipients, attachments, headers, tags, scheduling and idempotency.
- [Domains](/docs/domains) walks through sending from your own domain. Until a domain is verified, the sandbox sender only delivers to your own verified account email and the simulator addresses.
- [Webhooks](/docs/webhooks) push events to your app as they happen.
- The [API reference](/docs/api) lists every route, field and error code.

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