Connect any mailbox (SMTP and IMAP)

Google and Microsoft mailboxes connect with their own sign-in (see Connect a Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365 in the app under Mailboxes). Every other provider connects with two sets of server settings. The sending server (SMTP) lets campaigns send from the mailbox. The server for reading replies (IMAP) brings the answers into your inbox in Argorant, so a reply stops the sequence for that person.

Argorant signs in to both before it saves anything. A mailbox connects only when sending and reading replies both work. The password is stored encrypted and is never shown again, in the app, the API, the CLI or the connector.

In the app

Open Mailboxes, click Add accounts, then Connect existing and Any other provider.

1. Pick your provider from the list. It fills in the server names, ports and security for you. Pick Other provider when yours is not listed and copy the settings from your provider's help pages.
2. Enter the email address, the sender name people see and the password.
3. Click Test connection. You see one line for sending and one for reading replies, each with what worked or what to fix.
4. Click Connect mailbox. It shows up in the list right away with its daily limit and health.

To connect many mailboxes at once, switch to Many from a CSV file, upload the file and check the result for each row.

App passwords

Many providers do not accept your normal password from other apps when two-step sign-in is on. Make an app password at the provider and use it instead.

Provider settings

Pick a provider and these are filled in. The list in the app and GET /api/v1/inboxes/smtp/presets is always the current one.

Use port 587 for sending. If you enter 465, Argorant tries 587 for you and saves 587 when it works, and the test result then shows port 587 and STARTTLS for sending. The username for both servers is the email address unless you set another one. Reading replies uses the same username and password as sending unless you set others. Without a preset, security follows the port, so STARTTLS on 587 and 143 and SSL on 993.

What the test result means

Many mailboxes from a CSV file

One row per mailbox. Each row needs email, smtp_password (or password) and either a preset or smtp_host, smtp_port and imap_host. Empty columns take the defaults above, and 25 emails a day.

email,sender_name,preset,smtp_password
anna@yourcompany.com,Anna Weber,zoho,app-password-1
ben@yourcompany.com,Ben Hill,zoho,app-password-2
cara@othercompany.com,Cara Lane,,app-password-3

The third row has no preset, so it also needs smtp_host, smtp_port and imap_host filled in, or it comes back as a row to fix. Every row gets its own result. Rows that connected stay connected when others fail, so fix the failed rows and upload only those again.

Reconnect after a password change

When the provider refuses the password, the mailbox shows Sign in again in the Mailboxes list. If reading replies is refused three times in a row, the mailbox is marked disconnected and stays that way until you reconnect it.

To reconnect, connect the same address again with the new password. In the app, click Reconnect on the mailbox, enter the new password and connect; the other settings are kept. With the API, the CLI or your AI assistant, connect the same address again, and it replaces the saved settings and password of that mailbox.

From the API

# Test first: nothing is saved
curl -X POST "https://app.argorant.com/api/v1/inboxes/smtp/test" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ARGORANT_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email":"anna@yourcompany.com","preset":"zoho","smtp_password":"app-password"}'

# Connect one mailbox
curl -X POST "https://app.argorant.com/api/v1/inboxes/smtp" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ARGORANT_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email":"anna@yourcompany.com","display_name":"Anna Weber","preset":"zoho","smtp_password":"app-password"}'

# Connect up to 25 at once
curl -X POST "https://app.argorant.com/api/v1/inboxes/smtp/bulk" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ARGORANT_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"mailboxes":[{"email":"anna@yourcompany.com","preset":"zoho","smtp_password":"app-password-1"},{"email":"ben@yourcompany.com","preset":"zoho","smtp_password":"app-password-2"}]}'

A refused sign-in on connect answers 422 with the code sign_in_failed and the test result in error.details.test. The bulk route answers 200 with a result per row. A free trial connects up to 2 mailboxes. You can test 30 times and connect 30 times an hour, and connect up to 500 mailboxes an hour through the bulk route.

From the terminal

argorant inboxes presets
argorant inboxes test-smtp --email anna@yourcompany.com --preset zoho
argorant inboxes connect-smtp --email anna@yourcompany.com --preset zoho --name "Anna Weber"
argorant inboxes connect-smtp --csv mailboxes.csv

The CLI never takes the password on the command line. It asks for it, or reads it from an environment variable you name with --password-env NAME, or from ARGORANT_MAILBOX_PASSWORD. See CLI.

From your AI assistant

With the Argorant connector, ask in plain words, for example "connect anna@yourcompany.com, it is a Zoho mailbox". The assistant uses argorant_test_smtp_mailbox to check the sign-in and argorant_connect_smtp_mailbox to connect one mailbox or up to 25. See Tools.

After connecting

The mailbox sends like any other. Set its daily limit and warm-up under Mailboxes or with PATCH /api/v1/inboxes/{email}, and pick it as a sender in any campaign. Follow-ups go out in the same thread, replies land in your inbox in Argorant, and you answer them from there in the same thread. Replies that land in the junk or spam folder are read too, but only from people you emailed, so spam is ignored.