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Send Emails from the Command Line with Swaks

Send emails through AhaSend’s SMTP servers directly from your terminal using Swaks, a powerful command-line tool designed for testing and debugging SMTP servers. Perfect for scripting, automation, and troubleshooting email delivery issues.
What is Swaks? Swaks (Swiss Army Knife for SMTP) is a versatile, scriptable tool for testing SMTP servers and sending emails from the command line. It supports TLS encryption, various authentication methods, and is designed as a diagnostic tool rather than for high-volume sending.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:
  • Swaks installed on your system
  • Command line access (Terminal, Command Prompt, etc.)
  • Basic familiarity with command-line tools
  • Domain verified in your AhaSend account
  • SMTP credentials created (username and password)
  • Access to your AhaSend dashboard for credential management
Need SMTP Credentials? If you haven’t created SMTP credentials yet, check out our SMTP Credentials guide for step-by-step instructions.

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Installation

Install Swaks using your system’s package manager: 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install swaks

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Connection Settings

Use these settings for all Swaks commands with AhaSend:

Primary Server

Host: send.ahasend.com Ports: 587 (recommended), 25, 2525 Security: TLS (—tls flag) Authentication: Plain (—auth plain)

US Server

Host: send-us.ahasend.com Ports: 587 (recommended), 25, 2525 Security: TLS (—tls flag) Authentication: Plain (—auth plain)

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Basic Email Examples

swaks \
  --from [email protected] \
  --to [email protected] \
  --server send.ahasend.com \
  --port 587 \
  --auth plain \
  --tls \
  --auth-user 'YOUR_SMTP_USERNAME' \
  --auth-password 'YOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD' \
  --header 'Subject: Welcome to our platform!' \
  --body "Thanks for signing up. We're excited to have you!"

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Advanced Examples

swaks \
  --from [email protected] \
  --to [email protected],[email protected] \
  --server send.ahasend.com \
  --port 587 \
  --auth plain \
  --tls \
  --auth-user 'YOUR_SMTP_USERNAME' \
  --auth-password 'YOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD' \
  --header 'Subject: Newsletter Update' \
  --body "This is our latest newsletter update."

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Using Special Headers

Add AhaSend’s special headers to control tracking, retention, and other features: 
swaks \
  --from [email protected] \
  --to [email protected] \
  --server send.ahasend.com \
  --port 587 \
  --auth plain \
  --tls \
  --auth-user 'YOUR_SMTP_USERNAME' \
  --auth-password 'YOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD' \
  --header 'Subject: Newsletter with Tracking' \
  --add-header "ahasend-track-opens: true" \
  --add-header "ahasend-track-clicks: true" \
  --add-header "ahasend-tags: newsletter,cli,swaks" \
  --body "<html><body><h1>Newsletter</h1><p>Check out our <a href='https://yourdomain.com/features'>latest features</a>!</p></body></html>" \
  --add-header "Content-Type: text/html"

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Testing with Sandbox Mode

Use sandbox mode to safely test your email integration: 
swaks \
  --from [email protected] \
  --to [email protected] \
  --server send.ahasend.com \
  --port 587 \
  --auth plain \
  --tls \
  --auth-user 'YOUR_SMTP_USERNAME' \
  --auth-password 'YOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD' \
  --header 'Subject: Sandbox Test Email' \
  --add-header "AhaSend-Sandbox: true" \
  --add-header "AhaSend-Sandbox-Result: deliver" \
  --body "This email is sent in sandbox mode for testing."
Sandbox Benefits: Emails sent in sandbox mode are free, trigger webhooks normally, and never actually deliver to recipients - perfect for development and testing.

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Scripting and Automation

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Shell Script Example

Email Script Example
#!/bin/bash

# Configuration
SMTP_SERVER="send.ahasend.com"
SMTP_PORT="587"
SMTP_USERNAME="YOUR_SMTP_USERNAME"
SMTP_PASSWORD="YOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD"
FROM_EMAIL="[email protected]"

# Function to send email
send_email() {
    local to_email="$1"
    local subject="$2"
    local body="$3"

    swaks \
        --from "$FROM_EMAIL" \
        --to "$to_email" \
        --server "$SMTP_SERVER" \
        --port "$SMTP_PORT" \
        --auth plain \
        --tls \
        --auth-user "$SMTP_USERNAME" \
        --auth-password "$SMTP_PASSWORD" \
        --header "Subject: $subject" \
        --body "$body"
}

# Send notification email
send_email "[email protected]" "System Alert" "The backup process has completed successfully."

# Send welcome email
send_email "[email protected]" "Welcome!" "Thanks for joining our platform."

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Environment Variables

For security, use environment variables for credentials:
Environment Setup
# Set environment variables
export AHASEND_SMTP_USERNAME="your_smtp_username"
export AHASEND_SMTP_PASSWORD="your_smtp_password"
export AHASEND_FROM_EMAIL="[email protected]"

# Use in swaks command
swaks \
  --from "$AHASEND_FROM_EMAIL" \
  --to [email protected] \
  --server send.ahasend.com \
  --port 587 \
  --auth plain \
  --tls \
  --auth-user "$AHASEND_SMTP_USERNAME" \
  --auth-password "$AHASEND_SMTP_PASSWORD" \
  --header 'Subject: Secure Email' \
  --body "This email uses environment variables for credentials."

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Resources

Swaks Documentation

Official Swaks documentation and manual

SMTP Testing Guide

Complete guide to testing email delivery

AhaSend SMTP Settings

SMTP server configuration and credentials

AhaSend Support

Get help from our engineering team
Pro Tip: Start with sandbox mode and basic commands before building complex automation. Use environment variables for credentials and always test scripts thoroughly before production use.