OpenCount sends these emails: invites, sign-up verification codes, password reset links, the code that confirms a new address and the notice to the old one, sign-in links and codes, and a test message. It sends them through an SMTP server you configure in Admin, Email; there is no built-in mail service and no third party.
Email is optional. Without it, invites still work as links you send yourself, but sign-ups stay closed: they confirm each address with a code sent by email. Password reset and changing your own email need it too: without it, an admin changes an address, and someone who forgot their password asks an admin.
#Settings
| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| Host | The SMTP server's host name, like smtp.example.com |
| Port | Usually 465 for TLS, 587 for STARTTLS |
| Encryption | TLS (port 465), STARTTLS (port 587), or None |
| Username | Optional; leave empty for a server that doesn't authenticate |
| Password | Stored encrypted; leave empty when editing to keep the current one |
| From address | The sender address recipients see |
| From name | The sender name recipients see |
STARTTLS is required when picked: a server that doesn't offer it is refused, rather than falling back to plain text. None sends in clear, which only makes sense to a relay on the same machine or network.
The password is encrypted with a key derived from AUTH_SECRET before it is
stored, and never sent back to the browser. Change AUTH_SECRET and you have to
enter it again.
#Testing
Send me a test email queues a message to your own address. Check your inbox; if nothing arrives within a minute, the error is on Admin, Overview under the failed jobs.
#How it is sent
A request never waits on the SMTP server. Each email is a background job: the page answers straight away and the worker delivers the message, trying up to five times with growing delays when the server refuses or times out. A message that still fails shows up on Admin, Overview with the server's error.
Connections time out after 15 seconds, and a stalled transfer after 30.
#Removing it
Remove email settings deletes the SMTP settings and closes sign-ups in the same step, since they can't work without email. Pending invites keep working as links.
This guide lives in the project repo: edit it there, and this page follows within a day.