django-anymail/docs/esps/sendinblue.rst

.. _sendinblue-backend:

SendinBlue
==========

Anymail integrates with the `SendinBlue`_ email service, using their `API v3`_.
SendinBlue's transactional API does not support some basic email features, such as
inline images. Be sure to review the :ref:`limitations <sendinblue-limitations>` below.

.. important::

    **Troubleshooting:**
    If your SendinBlue messages aren't being delivered as expected, be sure to look for
    events in your SendinBlue `logs`_.

    SendinBlue detects certain types of errors only *after* the send API call reports
    the message as "queued." These errors appear in the logging dashboard.

.. _SendinBlue: https://www.sendinblue.com/
.. _API v3: https://developers.sendinblue.com/docs
.. _logs: https://app-smtp.sendinblue.com/log


Settings
--------

.. rubric:: EMAIL_BACKEND

To use Anymail's SendinBlue backend, set:

  .. code-block:: python

      EMAIL_BACKEND = "anymail.backends.sendinblue.EmailBackend"

in your settings.py.


.. setting:: ANYMAIL_SENDINBLUE_API_KEY

.. rubric:: SENDINBLUE_API_KEY

The API key can be retrieved from your SendinBlue `SMTP & API settings`_.
Make sure the version column indicates "v3." (v2 keys don't work with
Anymail. If you don't see a v3 key listed, use "Create a New API Key".)
Required.

  .. code-block:: python

      ANYMAIL = {
          ...
          "SENDINBLUE_API_KEY": "<your v3 API key>",
      }

Anymail will also look for ``SENDINBLUE_API_KEY`` at the
root of the settings file if neither ``ANYMAIL["SENDINBLUE_API_KEY"]``
nor ``ANYMAIL_SENDINBLUE_API_KEY`` is set.

.. _SMTP & API settings: https://account.sendinblue.com/advanced/api


.. setting:: ANYMAIL_SENDINBLUE_API_URL

.. rubric:: SENDINBLUE_API_URL

The base url for calling the SendinBlue API.

The default is ``SENDINBLUE_API_URL = "https://api.sendinblue.com/v3/"``
(It's unlikely you would need to change this.)


.. _sendinblue-esp-extra:

esp_extra support
-----------------

To use SendinBlue features not directly supported by Anymail, you can
set a message's :attr:`~anymail.message.AnymailMessage.esp_extra` to
a `dict` that will be merged into the json sent to SendinBlue's
`smtp/email API`_.

Example:

    .. code-block:: python

        message.esp_extra = {
            'hypotheticalFutureSendinBlueParam': '2022',  # merged into send params
        }


(You can also set `"esp_extra"` in Anymail's :ref:`global send defaults <send-defaults>`
to apply it to all messages.)

.. _smtp/email API: https://developers.sendinblue.com/v3.0/reference#sendtransacemail


.. _sendinblue-limitations:

Limitations and quirks
----------------------

SendinBlue's v3 API has several limitations. In most cases below,
Anymail will raise an :exc:`~anymail.exceptions.AnymailUnsupportedFeature`
error if you try to send a message using missing features. You can
override this by enabling the :setting:`ANYMAIL_IGNORE_UNSUPPORTED_FEATURES`
setting, and Anymail will try to limit the API request to features
SendinBlue can handle.

**HTML body required**
  SendinBlue's API returns an error if you attempt to send a message with
  only a plain-text body. Be sure to :ref:`include HTML <sending-html>`
  content for your messages.

  (SendinBlue *does* allow HTML without a plain-text body. This is generally
  not recommended, though, as some email systems treat HTML-only content as a
  spam signal.)

**Inline images**
  SendinBlue's v3 API doesn't support inline images, at all.
  (Confirmed with SendinBlue support Feb 2018.)

  If you are ignoring unsupported features, Anymail will try to send
  inline images as ordinary image attachments.

**Attachment names must be filenames with recognized extensions**
  SendinBlue determines attachment content type by assuming the attachment's
  name is a filename, and examining that filename's extension (e.g., ".jpg").

  Trying to send an attachment without a name, or where the name does not end
  in a supported filename extension, will result in a SendinBlue API error.
  Anymail has no way to communicate an attachment's desired content-type
  to the SendinBlue API if the name is not set correctly.

**Additional template limitations**
  If you are sending using a SendinBlue template, their API doesn't allow display
  names in recipient or reply-to emails, and doesn't support overriding the template's
  from_email, subject, or body. See the :ref:`templates <sendinblue-templates>`
  section below.

**Single Reply-To**
  SendinBlue's v3 API only supports a single Reply-To address.

  If you are ignoring unsupported features and have multiple reply addresses,
  Anymail will use only the first one.

**Single tag**
  SendinBlue supports a single message tag, which can be used for filtering in their
  dashboard statistics and logs panels, and is available in tracking webhooks.
  Anymail will pass the first of a message's :attr:`~anymail.message.AnymailMessage.tags`
  to SendinBlue, using their :mailheader:`X-Mailin-tag` email header.

  Trying to send a message with more than one tag will result in an error unless you
  are ignoring unsupported features.

**Metadata**
  Anymail passes :attr:`~anymail.message.AnymailMessage.metadata` to SendinBlue
  as a JSON-encoded string using their :mailheader:`X-Mailin-custom` email header.
  The metadata is available in tracking webhooks.

**No delayed sending**
  SendinBlue does not support :attr:`~anymail.message.AnymailMessage.send_at`.

**No click-tracking or open-tracking options**
  SendinBlue does not provide a way to control open or click tracking for individual
  messages. Anymail's :attr:`~anymail.message.AnymailMessage.track_clicks` and
  :attr:`~anymail.message.AnymailMessage.track_opens` settings are unsupported.

**No envelope sender overrides**
  SendinBlue does not support overriding :attr:`~anymail.message.AnymailMessage.envelope_sender`
  on individual messages.


.. _sendinblue-templates:

Batch sending/merge and ESP templates
-------------------------------------

SendinBlue supports :ref:`ESP stored templates <esp-stored-templates>`
populated with global merge data for all recipients, but does not
offer :ref:`batch sending <batch-send>` with per-recipient merge data.
Anymail's :attr:`~anymail.message.AnymailMessage.merge_data`
and :attr:`~anymail.message.AnymailMessage.merge_metadata`
message attributes are not supported with the SendinBlue backend.

To use a SendinBlue template, set the message's
:attr:`~anymail.message.AnymailMessage.template_id` to the numeric
SendinBlue template ID, and supply substitution attributes using
the messages's :attr:`~anymail.message.AnymailMessage.merge_global_data`:

  .. code-block:: python

      message = EmailMessage(
          subject=None,  # required for SendinBlue templates
          body=None,  # required for SendinBlue templates
          to=["alice@example.com"]  # single recipient...
          # ...multiple to emails would all get the same message
          # (and would all see each other's emails in the "to" header)
      )
      message.from_email = None  # required for SendinBlue templates
      message.template_id = 3  # use this SendinBlue template
      message.merge_global_data = {
          'name': "Alice",
          'order_no': "12345",
          'ship_date': "May 15",
      }

Within your SendinBlue template body and subject, you can refer to merge
variables using %-delimited names, e.g., `%order_no%` or `%ship_date%`
from the example above.

Note that SendinBlue's API does not permit overriding a template's
subject, body, or from_email. You *must* set them to `None` as shown above,
or Anymail will raise an :exc:`~anymail.exceptions.AnymailUnsupportedFeature`
error (if you are not ignoring unsupported features).

Also, SendinBlue's API does not permit display names in recipient or reply-to
emails when sending with a template. Code like `to=["Alice <alice@example.com>"]`
will result in an unsupported feature error. (SendinBlue supports display names
only in *non*-template sends.)


.. _sendinblue-webhooks:

Status tracking webhooks
------------------------

If you are using Anymail's normalized :ref:`status tracking <event-tracking>`, add
the url at SendinBlue's site under  `Transactional > Settings > Webhook`_.

The "URL to call" is:

   :samp:`https://{random}:{random}@{yoursite.example.com}/anymail/sendinblue/tracking/`

     * *random:random* is an :setting:`ANYMAIL_WEBHOOK_SECRET` shared secret
     * *yoursite.example.com* is your Django site

Be sure to select the checkboxes for all the event types you want to receive. (Also make
sure you are in the "Transactional" section of their site; SendinBlue has a separate set
of "Campaign" webhooks, which don't apply to messages sent through Anymail.)

If you are interested in tracking opens, note that SendinBlue has both a "First opening"
and an "Opened" event type, and will generate both the first time a message is opened.
Anymail normalizes both of these events to "opened." To avoid double counting, you should
only enable one of the two.

SendinBlue will report these Anymail :attr:`~anymail.signals.AnymailTrackingEvent.event_type`\s:
queued, rejected, bounced, deferred, delivered, opened (see note above), clicked, complained,
unsubscribed, subscribed (though this should never occur for transactional email).

For events that occur in rapid succession, SendinBlue frequently delivers them out of order.
For example, it's not uncommon to receive a "delivered" event before the corresponding "queued."

The event's :attr:`~anymail.signals.AnymailTrackingEvent.esp_event` field will be
a `dict` of raw webhook data received from SendinBlue.


.. _Transactional > Settings > Webhook: https://app-smtp.sendinblue.com/webhook


.. _sendinblue-inbound:

Inbound webhook
---------------

SendinBlue does not support inbound email handling.