saasmail-onboarding

name	saasmail-onboarding
description	Interactive setup wizard for deploying your own saasmail instance to Cloudflare. Use this skill when the user wants to set up saasmail, deploy it, configure Cloudflare resources, or get started with the project. Also trigger when the user says "onboarding", "setup", "deploy saasmail", "get started", or asks how to install/configure saasmail.

saasmail Onboarding Wizard

Guide the user through deploying a production saasmail instance to their Cloudflare account. This wizard is deployment-only — it does not set up local development. Every step targets the user's live Cloudflare environment.

Before You Start

Read wrangler.jsonc.example in the project root so you know the exact shape of the config that will be filled in. It is your source of truth for which resources and bindings are required.

What the user is signing up for

Set expectations up front, so the user knows what they're committing to:

• ~30–40 minutes total; most of the wait is DNS propagation, not typing.
• Two decisions: which domains will be used, and which outbound email provider (Cloudflare Email Sending, Resend, Bavimail, or Postmark).
• Three manual Cloudflare-dashboard steps (Email Routing per inbound domain, Email Service per send-from domain, and checking the deployed worker).
• Cost: a Cloudflare Workers Paid plan (~$5/mo) is required. saasmail uses Queues, which aren't on the free plan. Email Routing is free; Cloudflare Email Sending is usage-based.

Tell the user all of this before touching anything, so they can back out cheaply.

Preflight Checkpoints (hard gates)

Confirm each of these explicitly with the user — ask, don't assume. If any answer is "no", stop and help them resolve it before continuing. These exist because every later step assumes them, and a half-configured Cloudflare account is annoying to clean up.

Checkpoint 1 — Do you own a domain?

Ask: "Do you already own a domain you want to use for saasmail?"

• No → Stop. Tell them to buy one (Cloudflare Registrar, Namecheap, etc.) and come back. A single domain can cover all three roles; split domains are also fine.

Checkpoint 2 — Is that domain on Cloudflare?

Ask: "Are the domain's nameservers pointing to Cloudflare (the domain is an active Cloudflare zone)?"

• No → Stop. Instruct them to open the Cloudflare dashboard → Add a Site, then switch nameservers at their registrar to the ones Cloudflare provides. Propagation can take up to a few hours. Both Email Routing and custom_domain worker routes require the zone to live on Cloudflare.

Checkpoint 3 — Workers Paid plan?

Ask: "Is your Cloudflare account on the Workers Paid plan (~$5/month)?"

• No → Stop. Send them to https://dash.cloudflare.com/?to=/:account/workers/plans to upgrade, and wait for them to come back. Without it, wrangler queues create will fail and the deploy will not succeed.

Checkpoint 4 — Tooling

Run (the user has cloned the repo):

node --version    # v18+
yarn --version
wrangler --version

If wrangler is missing: npm install -g wrangler.

Final confirmation

Before creating a single resource, restate to the user what they've confirmed:

You've told me: you own <domain>, it's on Cloudflare, your account is on Workers Paid, and tooling is installed. I'm about to create a D1 database, an R2 bucket, and a Queue in your Cloudflare account, and deploy a worker. Ready?

Wait for an explicit yes. This is the last low-cost checkpoint.

Decisions

Decision 1: Domain roles

saasmail distinguishes three roles. They can be the same domain, or split across several:

1. UI / API host — where the web app is served (e.g. mail.example.com). Becomes BASE_URL.
2. Inbound domain(s) — domains whose incoming mail should land in saasmail. If you want [e-mail] to show up in the app, example.com is an inbound domain.
3. Send-from domain(s) — domains saasmail will send from. If outgoing mail should come from [e-mail], example.com is a send-from domain.

Most single-domain setups use the same domain for all three, with the UI on a subdomain (mail.example.com). Ask the user to assign each role, and record the answers — you'll reuse them below.

Decision 2: Outbound email provider

• Option A — Cloudflare Email Sending (default; recommended for a pure-Cloudflare setup). Uses the send_email binding. Each send-from domain must be onboarded in Cloudflare Email Service (Step 8 below).
• Option B — Resend. Set RESEND_API_KEY as a secret. Each send-from domain must be verified in the Resend dashboard instead.
• Option C — Bavimail. Set both BAVIMAIL_API_KEY and BAVIMAIL_ALIAS_ID as secrets. The alias ID identifies the sending alias configured in the Bavimail dashboard, which is also where each send-from domain is verified.
• Option D — Postmark. Set POSTMARK_API_KEY (your Postmark server's API token) as a secret. Each send-from domain must be verified in the Postmark dashboard.

Runtime precedence: Bavimail wins when both BAVIMAIL_API_KEY and BAVIMAIL_ALIAS_ID are set; otherwise Postmark wins when POSTMARK_API_KEY is set; otherwise Resend wins when RESEND_API_KEY is set; otherwise the send_email binding is used. Default the user to Option A unless they already have a Resend, Bavimail, or Postmark account and prefer it.

Deployment Steps

Run these in order, straight through. Don't pause between steps unless the user must make a decision or input a credential.

Step 1: Authenticate with Cloudflare

wrangler whoami

If not authenticated, the user runs it themselves (it opens a browser):

Type ! wrangler login in the prompt.

Wait for their confirmation before continuing.

Step 2: Install Dependencies

yarn install

Step 3: Create Cloudflare Resources

wrangler d1 create saasmail-db
wrangler r2 bucket create saasmail-attachments
wrangler queues create saasmail-sequence-emails

Capture the database_id printed by wrangler d1 create — you'll paste it into wrangler.jsonc next.

If any resource already exists, note it and move on. If the queue command fails with a plan error, Checkpoint 3 was not actually satisfied — stop and have the user upgrade.

Step 4: Configure wrangler.jsonc

cp wrangler.jsonc.example wrangler.jsonc

Edit wrangler.jsonc and fill in:

• account_id — from wrangler whoami.
• d1_databases[0].database_id — the ID captured in Step 3.
• routes — uncomment the block and set pattern to the UI host from Decision 1. Keep custom_domain: true.
• BASE_URL — https://<UI host>.
• TRUSTED_ORIGINS — <BASE_URL> (production-only; do not add localhost).
• If Decision 2 is Option A, uncomment the send_email block.
• Optional: override COOKIE_PREFIX if you want to run multiple saasmail deployments on sibling subdomains without cookie collisions.

Do not rename bindings. The worker code looks them up by exact name — renaming any of these will break the app:

Key in wrangler.jsonc	Required value
d1_databases[].binding	"DB"
r2_buckets[].binding	"R2"
queues.producers[].binding	"EMAIL_QUEUE"
send_email[].name	"EMAIL"

database_name, bucket_name, queue, account_id, and all IDs can be freely changed. Only the binding / name values above are load-bearing.

Step 4.5: Optional — Replace the logo

saasmail ships with its own logo at public/saasmail-logo.png. That file is used as both the favicon and the in-app logo (sidebar, login, invite, onboarding pages). Vite serves it at /saasmail-logo.png.

Ask the user:

Want to use your own logo instead of the default saasmail logo? Drag a PNG into this chat, or just say "skip".

If they drag a file in, you'll receive a path like /Users/<them>/Downloads/<name>.png. Overwrite the repo's copy:

cp <their-file> public/saasmail-logo.png

Accept any PNG. Wide horizontal logos (roughly 3:1 to 4:1, matching the default) display best because the sidebar uses the full image when expanded and crops to the left edge when collapsed — so an icon + wordmark with the icon on the left is the sweet spot. If they give you something square or tall, it'll still work but the collapsed sidebar will show the top-left corner, which may look off.

If they say skip, leave the file alone and move on.

No config to change — the reference is hardcoded to /saasmail-logo.png.

Step 5: Set Production Secrets

wrangler secret put BETTER_AUTH_SECRET

Generate the value to paste when wrangler prompts:

openssl rand -hex 32

If Decision 2 is Option B (Resend), also run:

wrangler secret put RESEND_API_KEY

Paste the Resend API key (from https://resend.com/api-keys) when prompted.

If Decision 2 is Option C (Bavimail), run both of these:

wrangler secret put BAVIMAIL_API_KEY
wrangler secret put BAVIMAIL_ALIAS_ID

Paste the Bavimail API bearer token and alias UUID (from the Bavimail dashboard) when prompted. Both must be set — if only one is present, saasmail falls through to Postmark, Resend, or the send_email binding.

If Decision 2 is Option D (Postmark), run:

wrangler secret put POSTMARK_API_KEY

Paste the Postmark server API token (from the Postmark dashboard → your server → API Tokens) when prompted.

Set the secret(s) for only the provider you chose. A provider's secrets being present is what selects it, in precedence order Bavimail > Postmark > Resend > the send_email binding — so a stray RESEND_API_KEY or POSTMARK_API_KEY will override the send_email binding for Option A.

Step 6: Apply Database Migrations

yarn db:migrate:prod

This applies schema migrations to the remote D1 database directly via wrangler; the worker does not need to be deployed yet.

Step 6.5: Configure VAPID Keys (Browser Push Notifications)

Check whether VAPID keys are already configured:

# Check wrangler.jsonc for the public key
grep -q "VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY" wrangler.jsonc && echo "public key present" || echo "public key missing"

# Check Cloudflare secrets for the private key
wrangler secret list

If VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY appears in wrangler.jsonc and VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY appears in wrangler secret list, say:

VAPID keys already configured, skipping.

Otherwise, ask the user:

saasmail supports browser push notifications via the Web Push API. Would you like to generate VAPID keys now? (Recommended — push notifications won't work without them.)

If yes:

1. Generate the keypair:

   yarn vapid:generate
   

   The script prints a VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY and a VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY. Copy both values.

2. Store the private key as a Cloudflare secret:

   wrangler secret put VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY
   

   Paste the VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY value when wrangler prompts.

3. Add the public key and subject to wrangler.jsonc under [vars] (or the top-level vars object, matching the existing style):

   "VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY": "<paste VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY here>",
   "VAPID_SUBJECT": "mailto:admin@<host-of-BASE_URL>"
   

   Replace <host-of-BASE_URL> with the hostname from BASE_URL (e.g. mail.example.com).

If no:

Push notifications will remain disabled until you run yarn vapid:generate and configure the keys.

Proceed to the next step either way.

Step 7: Deploy

yarn deploy

Once this succeeds, the worker exists in the user's account and can be referenced by Email Routing rules. (The next step needs the worker to be deployable-from-dashboard-dropdown, which is why deploy happens before routing.)

Verify the custom domain is attached: open https://<BASE_URL> in a browser — you should see the saasmail sign-in page. If it's the Cloudflare "not found" page, routes wasn't uncommented in Step 4.

Step 8: Configure Email Routing (inbound)

Manual dashboard step, repeated for each inbound domain from Decision 1:

1. Cloudflare dashboard → select the inbound domain → Email → Email Routing.
2. If Email Routing isn't enabled, click Enable Email Routing. Cloudflare will show MX + TXT (SPF) records to add; since the zone is on Cloudflare (Checkpoint 2), one-click install works.
3. Under Routing Rules, add a catch-all rule with action Send to a Worker and pick the worker (saasmail by default, or whatever name was kept in wrangler.jsonc). Save.

If the worker isn't in the dropdown, Step 7 didn't actually succeed — go back and check wrangler deployments list.

Step 9: Verify Send-From Domains

Option B (Resend): verify each send-from domain in the Resend dashboard → Domains → Add Domain, and add the DKIM/SPF records Resend provides. Then skip the rest of this step.

Option C (Bavimail): verify each send-from domain in the Bavimail dashboard, add the DKIM/SPF records it provides, and confirm the sending alias (whose ID you set as BAVIMAIL_ALIAS_ID) is attached to the verified domain. Then skip the rest of this step.

Option D (Postmark): verify each send-from domain in the Postmark dashboard → Sender Signatures / Domains, and add the DKIM/SPF (Return-Path) records Postmark provides. Then skip the rest of this step.

Option A (Cloudflare Email Sending): repeat for each send-from domain from Decision 1:

1. Open Email Service — account-level, not a per-zone setting.
2. Add a domain → enter the send-from domain.
3. Add the DKIM / SPF / DMARC records Cloudflare shows (one-click if the zone is on Cloudflare).
4. Wait for the status to flip to Verified. Until then, sends from that domain will fail at the provider.

Email Routing (Step 8) and Email Service (Step 9) are independent systems — enabling one does not enable the other. A domain can do inbound only, outbound only, both, or neither.

Step 10: Verify End-to-End

1. Visit https://<BASE_URL> and sign up. The first account registered becomes the admin — do this before sharing the URL with anyone else.
2. Complete passkey enrollment on the prompt. saasmail enforces passkey auth for /api/* in production; without it, you'll be locked out of admin actions.
3. Inbound test: send an email from an external account (e.g. Gmail) to any address at each inbound domain. It should appear in the UI within seconds. If not: recheck Step 8 and confirm dig MX <inbound domain> returns Cloudflare's MX hosts.
4. Outbound test: reply to that email from the UI using a send-from address on a verified domain. If it never arrives, the send-from domain is almost certainly unverified (Step 9).

Completion Summary

Show the user exactly what was set up, substituting their real values:

• Worker deployed at <BASE_URL>
• Inbound: Cloudflare Email Routing → worker, on <inbound domain(s)>
• Outbound: <Cloudflare Email Sending | Resend | Bavimail | Postmark>, from <send-from domain(s)>
• D1 database saasmail-db (binding DB)
• R2 bucket saasmail-attachments (binding R2)
• Queue saasmail-sequence-emails (binding EMAIL_QUEUE)
• Hourly cron for sequence email delivery

Common Issues

• wrangler queues create fails with a plan error — Workers Paid plan isn't actually active. Recheck at https://dash.cloudflare.com/?to=/:account/workers/plans.
• Worker missing from Email Routing "Send to a Worker" dropdown — Step 7 didn't succeed, or the dashboard is cached. Run wrangler deployments list to confirm, then refresh the dashboard.
• Inbound test email never arrives — MX records haven't propagated, or the catch-all isn't saved. Email Routing Overview should say status Active; dig MX <inbound domain> should return *.mx.cloudflare.net hosts.
• Outbound email looks sent but never arrives — the send-from domain isn't verified. Check Email Service (Option A), Resend → Domains (Option B), the Bavimail dashboard (Option C), or the Postmark dashboard (Option D); status must read Verified.
• Locked out after sign-up — passkey enrollment wasn't completed. Sign in again and finish the prompt; the server requires a passkey for /api/* in production.
• BASE_URL serves a blank Cloudflare page instead of saasmail — the routes block in wrangler.jsonc wasn't uncommented, or custom_domain: true is missing. Fix and redeploy.