> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://ahasend.com/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Send emails from the CLI > Learn how to send emails using AhaSend SMTP from the command line with Swaks (Swiss Army Knife for SMTP) # 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. ## 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](/smtp/credentials) for step-by-step instructions. ## Installation Install Swaks using your system's package manager: ```bash Ubuntu/Debian theme={null} sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install swaks ``` ```bash CentOS/RHEL/Fedora theme={null} # CentOS/RHEL sudo yum install swaks # Fedora sudo dnf install swaks ``` ```bash macOS (Homebrew) theme={null} brew install swaks ``` ```bash Windows (Chocolatey) theme={null} choco install swaks ``` ## Connection Settings Use these settings for all Swaks commands with AhaSend: **Host:** `send.ahasend.com` **Ports:** 587 (recommended), 25, 2525 **Security:** TLS (--tls flag) **Authentication:** Plain (--auth plain) **Host:** `send-us.ahasend.com` **Ports:** 587 (recommended), 25, 2525 **Security:** TLS (--tls flag) **Authentication:** Plain (--auth plain) ## Basic Email Examples ```bash Plain Text Email theme={null} swaks \ --from hello@yourdomain.com \ --to user@example.com \ --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!" ``` ```bash HTML Email theme={null} swaks \ --from hello@yourdomain.com \ --to user@example.com \ --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 "

Welcome!

Thanks for signing up. We're excited to have you!

" \ --add-header "Content-Type: text/html" ``` ```bash With Attachment theme={null} swaks \ --from hello@yourdomain.com \ --to user@example.com \ --server send.ahasend.com \ --port 587 \ --auth plain \ --tls \ --auth-user 'YOUR_SMTP_USERNAME' \ --auth-password 'YOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD' \ --header 'Subject: Your Invoice is Ready' \ --body "Please find your invoice attached to this email." \ --attach @/path/to/invoice.pdf ``` ## Advanced Examples ```bash Multiple Recipients theme={null} swaks \ --from hello@yourdomain.com \ --to user1@example.com,user2@example.com \ --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." ``` ```bash With CC and BCC theme={null} swaks \ --from hello@yourdomain.com \ --to user@example.com \ --cc manager@yourdomain.com \ --bcc analytics@yourdomain.com \ --server send.ahasend.com \ --port 587 \ --auth plain \ --tls \ --auth-user 'YOUR_SMTP_USERNAME' \ --auth-password 'YOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD' \ --header 'Subject: Project Update' \ --body "Here's the latest project update." ``` ```bash Multiple Attachments theme={null} swaks \ --from hello@yourdomain.com \ --to user@example.com \ --server send.ahasend.com \ --port 587 \ --auth plain \ --tls \ --auth-user 'YOUR_SMTP_USERNAME' \ --auth-password 'YOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD' \ --header 'Subject: Documents Package' \ --body "Please find the requested documents attached." \ --attach @/path/to/document1.pdf \ --attach @/path/to/document2.xlsx ``` ## Using Special Headers Add AhaSend's special headers to control tracking, retention, and other features: ```bash With Tracking Headers theme={null} swaks \ --from hello@yourdomain.com \ --to user@example.com \ --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 "

Newsletter

Check out our latest features!

" \ --add-header "Content-Type: text/html" ``` ```bash With Retention Headers theme={null} swaks \ --from hello@yourdomain.com \ --to user@example.com \ --server send.ahasend.com \ --port 587 \ --auth plain \ --tls \ --auth-user 'YOUR_SMTP_USERNAME' \ --auth-password 'YOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD' \ --header 'Subject: Temporary Notification' \ --add-header "ahasend-message-retention: 7" \ --add-header "ahasend-message-data-retention: 1" \ --body "This is a temporary notification that will be automatically deleted." ``` ```bash Complete Example theme={null} swaks \ --from hello@yourdomain.com \ --to user@example.com \ --server send.ahasend.com \ --port 587 \ --auth plain \ --tls \ --auth-user 'YOUR_SMTP_USERNAME' \ --auth-password 'YOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD' \ --header 'Subject: Product Update with Tracking' \ --add-header "ahasend-track-opens: true" \ --add-header "ahasend-track-clicks: true" \ --add-header "ahasend-tags: product-update,announcement,cli" \ --add-header "ahasend-message-retention: 30" \ --add-header "ahasend-message-data-retention: 7" \ --body "

Product Updates

We've launched exciting new features!

" \ --add-header "Content-Type: text/html" ``` ## Testing with Sandbox Mode Use sandbox mode to safely test your email integration: ```bash Sandbox Test theme={null} swaks \ --from hello@yourdomain.com \ --to test@example.com \ --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." ``` ```bash Sandbox Bounce Test theme={null} swaks \ --from hello@yourdomain.com \ --to test@example.com \ --server send.ahasend.com \ --port 587 \ --auth plain \ --tls \ --auth-user 'YOUR_SMTP_USERNAME' \ --auth-password 'YOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD' \ --header 'Subject: Sandbox Bounce Test' \ --add-header "AhaSend-Sandbox: true" \ --add-header "AhaSend-Sandbox-Result: bounce" \ --body "This email simulates a bounce for webhook testing." ``` ```bash Sandbox with Verbose Output theme={null} swaks \ --from hello@yourdomain.com \ --to test@example.com \ --server send.ahasend.com \ --port 587 \ --auth plain \ --tls \ --auth-user 'YOUR_SMTP_USERNAME' \ --auth-password 'YOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD' \ --header 'Subject: Verbose Sandbox Test' \ --add-header "AhaSend-Sandbox: true" \ --add-header "AhaSend-Sandbox-Result: deliver" \ --body "Testing with verbose output enabled." \ --show-data \ --show-raw-text ``` **Sandbox Benefits:** Emails sent in sandbox mode are free, trigger webhooks normally, and never actually deliver to recipients - perfect for development and testing. ## Scripting and Automation ### Shell Script Example ```bash Email Script Example theme={null} #!/bin/bash # Configuration SMTP_SERVER="send.ahasend.com" SMTP_PORT="587" SMTP_USERNAME="YOUR_SMTP_USERNAME" SMTP_PASSWORD="YOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD" FROM_EMAIL="hello@yourdomain.com" # 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 "admin@yourdomain.com" "System Alert" "The backup process has completed successfully." # Send welcome email send_email "newuser@example.com" "Welcome!" "Thanks for joining our platform." ``` ### Environment Variables For security, use environment variables for credentials: ```bash Environment Setup theme={null} # Set environment variables export AHASEND_SMTP_USERNAME="your_smtp_username" export AHASEND_SMTP_PASSWORD="your_smtp_password" export AHASEND_FROM_EMAIL="hello@yourdomain.com" # Use in swaks command swaks \ --from "$AHASEND_FROM_EMAIL" \ --to user@example.com \ --server send.ahasend.com \ --port 587 \ --auth plain \ --tls \ --auth-user "$AHASEND_SMTP_USERNAME" \ --auth-password "$AHASEND_SMTP_PASSWORD" \ --header 'Subject: Secure Email' \ --body "This email uses environment variables for credentials." ``` ## Resources Official Swaks documentation and manual Complete guide to testing email delivery SMTP server configuration and credentials 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.