django-anymail/docs/installation.rst

Installation and configuration
==============================

.. _installation:

Installing Anymail
------------------

It's easiest to install Anymail from PyPI using pip.

    .. code-block:: console

        $ pip install django-anymail

If you don't want to use pip, you'll also need to install Anymail's
dependencies (requests and six).


.. _backend-configuration:

Configuring Django's email backend
----------------------------------

To use Anymail for sending email, edit your Django project's :file:`settings.py`:

1. Add :mod:`anymail` to your :setting:`INSTALLED_APPS`:

    .. code-block:: python

        INSTALLED_APPS = (
            ...
            "anymail",
        )

2. Add an :setting:`ANYMAIL` settings dict, substituting the appropriate settings for
   your ESP:

    .. code-block:: python

        ANYMAIL = {
            "MAILGUN_API_KEY" = "<your Mailgun key>",
        }

   The exact settings vary by ESP.
   See the :ref:`supported ESPs <supported-esps>` section for specifics.

3. Change your existing Django :setting:`EMAIL_BACKEND` to the Anymail backend
   for your ESP. For example, to send using Mailgun by default:

    .. code-block:: python

        EMAIL_BACKEND = "anymail.backends.mailgun.MailgunBackend"

   (:setting:`EMAIL_BACKEND` sets Django's default for sending emails; you can also
   use :ref:`multiple Anymail backends <multiple-backends>` to send particular
   messages through different ESPs.)

Finally, if you don't already have a :setting:`DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL` in your settings,
this is a good time to add one. (Django's default is "webmaster\@localhost",
which some ESPs will reject.)

With the settings above, you are ready to send outgoing email through your ESP.
If you also want to enable status tracking or inbound email, continue with the
optional settings below. Otherwise, skip ahead to :ref:`sending-email`.


.. _webhooks-configuration:

Configuring status tracking webhooks (optional)
-----------------------------------------------

Anymail can optionally connect to your ESP's event webhooks to notify your app
of status like bounced and rejected emails, successful delivery, message opens
and clicks, and other tracking.

If you aren't using Anymail's webhooks, skip this section.

.. warning::

    Webhooks are ordinary urls, and are wide open to the internet.
    You must use care to **avoid creating security vulnerabilities**
    that could expose your users' emails and other private information,
    or subject your app to malicious input data.

    At a minimum, your site should **use SSL** (https), and you should
    configure **webhook authorization** as described below.

    See :ref:`securing-webhooks` for additional information.


If you want to use Anymail's status tracking webhooks, follow the steps above
to :ref:`configure an Anymail backend <backend-configuration>`, and then:

1. In your :file:`settings.py`, add
   :setting:`WEBHOOK_AUTHORIZATION <ANYMAIL_WEBHOOK_AUTHORIZATION>`
   to the ``ANYMAIL`` block:

   .. code-block:: python

      ANYMAIL = {
          ...
          'WEBHOOK_AUTHORIZATION': '<a random string>:<another random string>',
      }

   This setting should be a string with two sequences of random characters,
   separated by a colon. It is used as a shared secret, known only to your ESP
   and your Django app, to ensure nobody else can call your webhooks.

   We suggest using 16 characters (or more) for each half of the
   secret. Always generate a new, random secret just for this purpose.
   (*Don't* use your Django secret key or ESP's API key.)

   An easy way to generate a random secret is to run this command in
   a shell:

   .. code-block:: console

      $ python -c "from django.utils import crypto; print(':'.join(crypto.get_random_string(16) for _ in range(2)))"

   (This setting is actually an HTTP basic auth string. You can also set it
   to a list of auth strings, to simplify credential rotation or use different auth
   with different ESPs. See :setting:`ANYMAIL_WEBHOOK_AUTHORIZATION` in the
   :ref:`securing-webhooks` docs for more details.)


2. In your project's :file:`urls.py`, add routing for the Anymail webhook urls:

   .. code-block:: python

      from django.conf.urls import include, url

      urlpatterns = [
          ...
          url(r'^anymail/', include('anymail.urls')),
      ]

   (You can change the "anymail" prefix in the first parameter to
   :func:`~django.conf.urls.url` if you'd like the webhooks to be served
   at some other URL. Just match whatever you use in the webhook URL you give
   your ESP in the next step.)


3. Enter the webhook URL(s) into your ESP's dashboard or control panel.
   In most cases, the URL will be:

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

     * "https" (rather than http) is *strongly recommended*
     * *random:random* is the WEBHOOK_AUTHORIZATION string you created in step 1
     * *yoursite.example.com* is your Django site
     * "anymail" is the url prefix (from step 2)
     * *esp* is the lowercase name of your ESP (e.g., "sendgrid" or "mailgun")
     * "tracking" is used for Anymail's sent-mail event tracking webhooks

   Some ESPs support different webhooks for different tracking events. You can
   usually enter the same Anymail webhook URL for all of them (or all that you
   want to receive). But be sure to check the specific details for your ESP
   under :ref:`supported-esps`.

   Also, some ESPs try to validate the webhook URL immediately when you enter it.
   If so, you'll need to deploy your Django project to your live server before you
   can complete this step.

See :ref:`event-tracking` for information on creating signal handlers and the
status tracking events you can receive.


.. _inbound-configuration:

Configuring inbound email (optional)
------------------------------------

(Coming soon -- not yet implemented)

.. Anymail can optionally connect to your ESP's inbound webhook to notify your app
.. of incoming messages.
..
.. If you aren't using your EPS's inbound email, skip this section.
..
.. If you want to use inbound email with Anymail, follow the steps above
.. for setting up :ref:`status tracking webhooks <webhooks-configuration>`,
.. but enter the webhook URL in your ESP's "inbound email" settings,
.. substituting "inbound" for "tracking" at the end of the url:
..
..    :samp:`https://{random}:{random}@{yoursite.example.com}/anymail/{esp}/inbound/`
..
.. Then see :ref:`inbound` for information on creating a signal handler
.. for receiving inbound email notifications in your code.
..
.. (Note: if you are only using your ESP for inbound email, not sending messages,
.. there's no need to change your project's EMAIL_BACKEND.)


.. setting:: ANYMAIL

Anymail settings reference
--------------------------

You can add Anymail settings to your project's :file:`settings.py` either as
a single ``ANYMAIL`` dict, or by breaking out individual settings prefixed with
``ANYMAIL_``. So this settings dict:

    .. code-block:: python

        ANYMAIL = {
            "MAILGUN_API_KEY": "12345",
            "SEND_DEFAULTS": {
                "tags": ["myapp"]
            },
        }

...is equivalent to these individual settings:

    .. code-block:: python

        ANYMAIL_MAILGUN_API_KEY = "12345"
        ANYMAIL_SEND_DEFAULTS = {"tags": ["myapp"]}

In addition, for some ESP settings like API keys, Anymail will look for a setting
without the ``ANYMAIL_`` prefix if it can't find the Anymail one. (This can be helpful
if you are using other Django apps that work with the same ESP.)

    .. code-block:: python

        MAILGUN_API_KEY = "12345"  # used only if neither ANYMAIL["MAILGUN_API_KEY"]
                                   # nor ANYMAIL_MAILGUN_API_KEY have been set


Finally, for complex use cases, you can override most settings on a per-instance
basis by providing keyword args where the instance is initialized (e.g., in a
:func:`~django.core.mail.get_connection` call to create an email backend instance,
or in `View.as_view()` call to set up webhooks in a custom urls.py). To get the kwargs
parameter for a setting, drop "ANYMAIL" and the ESP name, and lowercase the rest:
e.g., you can override ANYMAIL_MAILGUN_API_KEY by passing `api_key="abc"` to
:func:`~django.core.mail.get_connection`. See :ref:`multiple-backends` for an example.

There are specific Anymail settings for each ESP (like API keys and urls).
See the :ref:`supported ESPs <supported-esps>` section for details.
Here are the other settings Anymail supports:


.. setting:: ANYMAIL_IGNORE_RECIPIENT_STATUS

.. rubric:: IGNORE_RECIPIENT_STATUS

Set to `True` to disable :exc:`AnymailRecipientsRefused` exceptions
on invalid or rejected recipients. (Default `False`.)
See :ref:`recipients-refused`.

  .. code-block:: python

      ANYMAIL = {
          ...
          "IGNORE_RECIPIENT_STATUS": True,
      }


.. rubric:: SEND_DEFAULTS and *ESP*\ _SEND_DEFAULTS`

A `dict` of default options to apply to all messages sent through Anymail.
See :ref:`send-defaults`.


.. rubric:: IGNORE_UNSUPPORTED_FEATURES

Whether Anymail should raise :exc:`~anymail.exceptions.AnymailUnsupportedFeature`
errors for email with features that can't be accurately communicated to the ESP.
Set to `True` to ignore these problems and send the email anyway. See
:ref:`unsupported-features`. (Default `False`.)


.. rubric:: WEBHOOK_AUTHORIZATION

A `'random:random'` shared secret string. Anymail will reject incoming webhook calls
from your ESP that don't include this authorization. You can also give a list of
shared secret strings, and Anymail will allow ESP webhook calls that match any of them
(to facilitate credential rotation). See :ref:`securing-webhooks`.

Default is unset, which leaves your webhooks insecure. Anymail
will warn if you try to use webhooks with setting up authorization.

This is actually implemented using HTTP basic authorization, and the string is
technically a "username:password" format. But you should *not* use any real
username or password for this shared secret.