Quickstart

This guide takes you from nothing to a first email in your logs. By the end you will have a verified domain, an API key, and a working request.

Add your domain

Go to Settings > Email Service > Email domains and click Add email domain. Enter the subdomain you want to send from, such as mail.acme.com.Hiveku lists the DNS records to add at your DNS provider: three DKIM records, which are required, and the bounce-domain, SPF and DMARC records, which are recommended. Add them, then click Check Status. It usually takes a few minutes. See Email Domains for what each record does.

Create a test key

Go to Settings > API Keys and click Create API Key. Name it, for example dev-local, choose Test, and keep Send Emails selected.A test key (hk_test_...) runs every check and records the email, but delivers nothing. That makes it safe while you wire things up.

The key is shown only once. Store it in your .env file or secret manager right away, for example as HIVEKU_EMAIL_API_KEY.

Send your first email

Once the domain shows Verified, send from an address on it:

curl
Node.js

curl -X POST https://app.hiveku.com/api/v1/email/send \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HIVEKU_EMAIL_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "from": "Acme <noreply@mail.acme.com>",
    "to": ["you@example.com"],
    "subject": "Welcome to Acme",
    "html": "<h1>Welcome</h1><p>Thanks for signing up.</p>",
    "text": "Welcome. Thanks for signing up."
  }'

const res = await fetch("https://app.hiveku.com/api/v1/email/send", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.HIVEKU_EMAIL_API_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    from: "Acme <noreply@mail.acme.com>",
    to: ["you@example.com"],
    subject: "Welcome to Acme",
    html: "<h1>Welcome</h1><p>Thanks for signing up.</p>",
    text: "Welcome. Thanks for signing up.",
  }),
});

console.log(res.status, await res.json());

With a test key, the answer says the email was simulated:

{
  "id": "5f0c7a2e-8d1b-4c3e-9a4f-2b6d8e1f0a37",
  "status": "simulated",
  "mode": "test",
  "message": "Email simulated, nothing delivered: this is a test key, and only production keys send real email."
}

Always send a plain-text text version along with html. It helps delivery, and gives mail apps without HTML something to show.

Check the logs

Go to Settings > Email Service > Email Logs and open the email you just sent. A test key’s email shows as Simulated, and opening it shows the whole message, so you can check that it rendered correctly. Opening an email’s content needs the Open sent emails permission, which owners and admins have. Hiveku keeps the message itself (its text and HTML) for 30 days after you send, then removes it; who it went to, the subject, the status, and the opens, clicks and bounces stay in the log.

Go live

Create a Production key (hk_live_...) the same way and put it in your production environment. The same request then delivers the email, and answers "status": "sent".

What’s next

Send over SMTP from a framework or service that speaks SMTP.
Set up Webhooks to track deliveries, bounces and opens.
Moving an app? See Migrate from Resend or Migrate from Mailgun.
Read Sending Emails for batches, templates, attachments and errors.
Review Deliverability before your first large send.

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