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re-enable deployments of legacy runtimes. Your existing Python
2.7 applications will continue to run and receive traffic after their
deprecation date. We recommend that
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Email messages sent to your app are implemented as HTTP requests containing MIME
data. To process incoming email messages, you associate email addresses with
script handlers in your app configuration, then include the handlers in your
app's code.
Incoming email generates HTTP requests, which are passed to the appropriate
scripts. The scripts that handle the incoming email must reside in your default
service.
For more information on the Mail service, see the
Mail API Overview.
Configuring your application to receive email
When you create a new app, incoming email is disabled by default. To enable the
incoming email, you must modify your app.yaml file in your default service.
Add an inbound_services section that enables the incoming email service.
For example:
inbound_services:-mail
If you don't enable incoming email by including this section in your
configuration file, then incoming email is disabled, and email messages sent
to the app are ignored.
Add mappings that associate URL-mapped email addresses with script handlers.
For the default service, the email address for receiving email has the following format:
[STRING]@[Google Cloud projectID].appspotmail.com
For non-default services, the email address has the following format:
In the above example, /_ah/mail/.+ matches all email addressed to the app.
If you prefer, you can set up multiple handlers for different email
addresses, as in the following example:
URLs of incoming email messages are matched to this list from first to last,
so if an email message URL matches more than one pattern, the first matching
handler will be the one executed. This allows you to include a "catchall"
handler as the last mapping. The handlers run in the default module (or
application version).
Handling incoming email
The Python SDK defines InboundMailHandler, a webapp class for handling
incoming email. InboundMailHandler is in the
google.appengine.ext.webapp.mail_handlers
package.
To use InboundMailHandler:
Create a subclass for InboundMailHandler and override the receive()
method.
Call the receive() method with an argument of class InboundEmailMessage,
defined by the Python SDK.
For example, you can create an instance of InboundEmailMessage like this:
importloggingfromgoogle.appengine.ext.webapp.mail_handlersimportInboundMailHandlerimportwebapp2classLogSenderHandler(InboundMailHandler):defreceive(self,mail_message):logging.info("Received a message from: "+mail_message.sender)
InboundMailHandler contains a mapping() convenience class method that
returns a pair matching all incoming email addresses to the mail handler and of
course you can call it on any subclass of InboundMailHandler you code:
The InboundEmailMessage object (mail_message in this example) contains the
email message. Its bodies() method returns the bodies within the message. If
you call bodies() without arguments, it returns an iterator that yields HTML
bodies first, then plain text bodies. If you want just HTML or just plain text,
you can pass an argument to bodies():
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-29 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eIncoming emails to the app are processed as HTTP requests with MIME data, requiring configuration to associate email addresses with specific script handlers.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eTo enable incoming email, the \u003ccode\u003einbound_services\u003c/code\u003e section with the \u003ccode\u003e- mail\u003c/code\u003e parameter must be added to the \u003ccode\u003eapp.yaml\u003c/code\u003e file in the default service.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eEmail URLs, formatted as \u003ccode\u003e/_ah/mail/[ADDRESS]\u003c/code\u003e, must be mapped to handlers in the \u003ccode\u003eapp.yaml\u003c/code\u003e file to route incoming emails to the correct script.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ccode\u003eInboundMailHandler\u003c/code\u003e class, which must be subclassed, should be used to manage incoming emails, and its \u003ccode\u003ereceive()\u003c/code\u003e method should be overridden to process email messages.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe development server allows simulating incoming emails for testing purposes through its console, which can be used to test the email handlers.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["# Receiving Email\n\nEmail messages sent to your app are implemented as HTTP requests containing MIME\ndata. To process incoming email messages, you associate email addresses with\nscript handlers in your app configuration, then include the handlers in your\napp's code.\n| This page describes how to use the legacy bundled services and APIs. This API can only run in first-generation runtimes in the App Engine standard environment. If you are updating to the App Engine Python 3 runtime, refer to the [migration guide](/appengine/migration-center/standard/migrate-to-second-gen/python-differences) to learn about your migration options for legacy bundled services.\n\nIncoming email generates HTTP requests, which are passed to the appropriate\nscripts. The scripts that handle the incoming email must reside in your default\nservice.\n\nFor more information on the Mail service, see the\n[Mail API Overview](/appengine/docs/legacy/standard/python/mail).\n\nConfiguring your application to receive email\n---------------------------------------------\n\nWhen you create a new app, incoming email is disabled by default. To enable the\nincoming email, you must modify your `app.yaml` file in your default service.\n\n1. Add an `inbound_services` section that enables the incoming email service.\n For example:\n\n inbound_services:\n - mail\n\n If you don't enable incoming email by including this section in your\n configuration file, then incoming email is disabled, and email messages sent\n to the app are ignored.\n2. Add mappings that associate URL-mapped email addresses with script handlers.\n\n For the [default service](/appengine/docs/legacy/standard/python/configuration-files#the_default_service), the email address for receiving email has the following format: \n\n [STRING]@[Google Cloud project ID].appspotmail.com\n\n For non-default services, the email address has the following format: \n\n [STRING]@[servicename]-dot-[Google Cloud project ID].appspotmail.com\n\n Email messages are sent to your app as HTTP POST requests using the\n following URL, where \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003e[ADDRESS]\u003c/var\u003e is a full email address, including\n domain name: \n\n /_ah/mail/[ADDRESS]\n\n To handle incoming email in your app, map email URLs to handlers in the\n `app.yaml` file: \n\n - url: /_ah/mail/.+\n script: handle_incoming_email.app\n login: admin\n\n In the above example, `/_ah/mail/.+` matches all email addressed to the app.\n If you prefer, you can set up multiple handlers for different email\n addresses, as in the following example: \n\n - url: /_ah/mail/owner@.*your_app_id\\.appspotmail\\.com\n script: handle_owner.app\n login: admin\n - url: /_ah/mail/support@.*your_app_id\\.appspotmail\\.com\n script: handle_support.app\n login: admin\n - url: /_ah/mail/.+\n script: handle_catchall.app\n login: admin\n\n URLs of incoming email messages are matched to this list from first to last,\n so if an email message URL matches more than one pattern, the first matching\n handler will be the one executed. This allows you to include a \"catchall\"\n handler as the last mapping. The handlers run in the default module (or\n application version).\n\nHandling incoming email\n-----------------------\n\nThe Python SDK defines `InboundMailHandler`, a webapp class for handling\nincoming email. `InboundMailHandler` is in the\n[`google.appengine.ext.webapp.mail_handlers`](/appengine/docs/legacy/standard/python/refdocs/google.appengine.ext.webapp.mail_handlers)\npackage.\n\nTo use `InboundMailHandler`:\n\n1. Create a subclass for `InboundMailHandler` and override the `receive()` method.\n2. Call the `receive()` method with an argument of class `InboundEmailMessage`, defined by the Python SDK.\n\nFor example, you can create an instance of `InboundEmailMessage` like this: \n\n import logging\n\n from google.appengine.ext.webapp.mail_handlers import InboundMailHandler\n import webapp2\n\n\n class LogSenderHandler(InboundMailHandler):\n def receive(self, mail_message):\n logging.info(\"Received a message from: \" + mail_message.sender)\n\n| **Note:** Even if you are using the [webapp2](/appengine/docs/legacy/standard/python/tools/webapp2) framework, you still need to use the `InboundMailHandler` class provided by the old `webapp` framework. This handler is specific to the App Engine mail service, whereas webapp2 is provided by a third party.\n\n`InboundMailHandler` contains a `mapping()` convenience class method that\nreturns a pair matching all incoming email addresses to the mail handler and of\ncourse you can call it on any subclass of `InboundMailHandler` you code: \n\n app = webapp2.WSGIApplication([LogSenderHandler.mapping()], debug=True)\n\nThe `InboundEmailMessage` object (`mail_message` in this example) contains the\nemail message. Its `bodies()` method returns the bodies within the message. If\nyou call `bodies()` without arguments, it returns an iterator that yields HTML\nbodies first, then plain text bodies. If you want just HTML or just plain text,\nyou can pass an argument to `bodies()`: \n\n plaintext_bodies = mail_message.bodies('text/plain')\n html_bodies = mail_message.bodies('text/html')\n\n for content_type, body in html_bodies:\n decoded_html = body.decode()\n # ...\n\nThe `InboundEmailMessage` object includes attributes to access other message\nfields:\n\n- `subject` contains the message subject.\n- `sender` is the sender's address e.g. `\"Nobody \u003cnobody@example.com\u003e\"`.\n- `to` is a comma-separated list of the message's primary recipients e.g. `\"Joe \u003cjoe@example.com\u003e, Bill \u003cbill@example.com\u003e\"`.\n- `cc` contains a comma-separated list of the cc recipients e.g. `\"Joe \u003cjoe@example.com\u003e, Bill \u003cbill@example.com\u003e\"`.\n- `date` returns the message date.\n- `attachments` is a list of [`Attachment`](/appengine/docs/legacy/standard/python/refdocs/google.appengine.api.mail#google.appengine.api.mail.Attachment) objects, possibly empty.\n- `original` is the complete message, including data not exposed by the other fields such as email headers, as a Python [`email.message.Message`](http://docs.python.org/library/email.message.html).\n\nSimulating incoming messages with the local development server\n--------------------------------------------------------------\n\nOnce you set up your app to handle incoming email, you can use the\ndevelopment server console to simulate incoming email messages:\n\n1. Access the development server as an administrator by going to \u003chttp://localhost:8080/console\u003e and selecting **Sign in as administrator**.\n2. In the development server, click **Inbound Mail** in the navigation.\n3. Fill out the form that appears, and click **Send Email**.\n\n To learn more, including how to get the development server running, see\n [the Python Development Server](/appengine/docs/legacy/standard/python/tools/using-local-server)."]]