---
title: Route emails
description: Forward incoming emails to existing mailboxes or process them with Workers using Email Service.
image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/dev-products-preview.png
---

> Documentation Index  
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-service/llms.txt  
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. 

[Skip to content](#%5Ftop) 

# Route emails

Set up email routing to forward incoming emails to existing mailboxes or process them with Workers.

Route incoming emails sent to your domain to existing mailboxes, Workers for processing, or other destinations.

Note

You must be using Cloudflare DNS to use Email Service.

## Set up your domain

Before using Email Routing, configure your domain.

1. In the Cloudflare dashboard, go to **Compute** \> **Email Service** \> **Email Routing**.  
[ Go to **Email Routing** ](https://dash.cloudflare.com/?to=/:account/email-service/routing)
2. Select **Onboard Domain**.
3. Choose a domain from your Cloudflare account. Optionally review the DNS records that Cloudflare will add to your root domain:

  * MX records to route incoming emails to Cloudflare.
  * TXT record for SPF to authorize email routing.
  * TXT record for DKIM to provide authentication for routed emails.
4. Select **Done**.

Note

DNS changes can take up to 24 hours to propagate globally, but usually complete within 5-15 minutes for domains using Cloudflare DNS.

Once your domain is onboarded, you can start routing emails.

## Route your first email

You can route your first email by setting up routing rules in the dashboard, or by processing emails with Workers.

* [ Route to email ](#tab-panel-8865)
* [ Route to Workers ](#tab-panel-8866)

The simplest way to route emails is forwarding them to existing email addresses.

### Add a destination address

Before you can create a routing rule, add and verify the destination address that will receive the forwarded emails. Destination addresses are managed at the account level and can be reused across domains.

1. In the Cloudflare dashboard, go to **Compute** \> **Email Service** \> **Email Routing** \> **Destination Addresses**.  
[ Go to **Email Routing** ](https://dash.cloudflare.com/?to=/:account/email-service/routing)
2. Under **Destination addresses**, enter the email address you want to use as a destination in the inline form and submit it.
3. Open the verification email Cloudflare sends to that address and select **Verify email address**.

For full details, refer to [Add a destination address](https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-service/configuration/email-routing-addresses/#add-a-destination-address).

### Create a routing rule

1. In the Cloudflare dashboard, go to **Compute** \> **Email Service** \> **Email Routing**.  
[ Go to **Email Routing** ](https://dash.cloudflare.com/?to=/:account/email-service/routing)
2. Select the domain you want to create an email address for.
3. Select the **Routing Rules** tab.
4. Select **Create routing rule**.
5. Configure your first rule (for instance, forwarding emails to `support@yourdomain.com` to your personal email address):

  * **Email pattern**: Enter the local part of the email (for example, `support` for `support@yourdomain.com`), and select your domain
  * **Action**: Send to an email
  * **Destination**: Your personal email address (for example, `your-email@gmail.com`)
6. Select **Save**.

### Test your routing rule

Verify that your routing rule is working:

1. Send an email from another email account to your newly created address (for example, `support@yourdomain.com`). Send from an account that is different from the destination address. Some providers discard messages that appear to come from the same account they are being delivered to.
2. Check the destination inbox for the forwarded email.
3. If you do not see the email right away, check your spam folder.

Use Workers to process emails with custom logic before forwarding or responding.

### Create an email processing Worker

1. Create a new Worker project:  
Terminal window  
```  
npm create cloudflare@latest email-processor  
```  
When prompted, select **"Hello World" Worker** as the template. Then navigate to the project directory:  
Terminal window  
```  
cd email-processor  
```
2. Install the required package for creating email replies:  
Terminal window  
```  
npm install mimetext  
```
3. Add the `nodejs_compat` compatibility flag to your Wrangler configuration file. This is required for the `mimetext` package:

  * [  wrangler.jsonc ](#tab-panel-8863)
  * [  wrangler.toml ](#tab-panel-8864)  
JSONC  
```  
{  "compatibility_flags": ["nodejs_compat"],}  
```  
TOML  
```  
compatibility_flags = [ "nodejs_compat" ]  
```
4. Create your email handler in `src/index.ts`:  
TypeScript  
```  
import { EmailMessage } from "cloudflare:email";import { createMimeMessage } from "mimetext";  
// ============================================// Configuration - Update these values// ============================================const YOUR_DOMAIN = "yourdomain.com"; // Replace with your verified domainconst FORWARD_TO_EMAIL = "your-team@example.com"; // Replace with where you want emails forwarded  
export default {  async email(message, env, ctx): Promise<void> {    const sender = message.from;    const recipient = message.to;    const subject = message.headers.get("subject") || "";  
    console.log(      `Processing email from ${sender} to ${recipient} with subject ${subject}`,    );  
    // Route based on recipient    if (recipient.includes("support@")) {      // Send auto-reply      const msg = createMimeMessage();      const messageId = message.headers.get("Message-ID");      if (messageId) {        msg.setHeader("In-Reply-To", messageId);        msg.setHeader("References", messageId);      }      msg.setSender({        name: "Support Team",        addr: `support@${YOUR_DOMAIN}`,      });      msg.setRecipient(message.from);      msg.setSubject(`Re: ${subject}`);  
      // Add plain text version      msg.addMessage({        contentType: "text/plain",        data: "Thank you for contacting support. Your ticket number is 123.\n\nA member of our support team will get back to you shortly.",      });  
      // Add HTML version      msg.addMessage({        contentType: "text/html",        data: "<p>Thank you for contacting support. Your ticket number is <strong>123</strong>.</p><p>A member of our support team will get back to you shortly.</p>",      });  
      const replyMessage = new EmailMessage(        `support@${YOUR_DOMAIN}`,        message.from,        msg.asRaw(),      );  
      await message.reply(replyMessage);  
      // Forward to support team      await message.forward(FORWARD_TO_EMAIL);    } else {      // Default: forward to admin      await message.forward(FORWARD_TO_EMAIL);    }  },} satisfies ExportedHandler<Env>;  
```  
Update configuration  
Before deploying, update the constants at the top of the file:

  * `YOUR_DOMAIN`: Your verified domain from the Cloudflare dashboard
  * `FORWARD_TO_EMAIL`: The email address where you want to receive forwarded emails
5. Deploy your Worker:  
Terminal window  
```  
npm run deploy  
```

### Configure routing to Worker

1. In the Cloudflare dashboard, go to **Compute** \> **Email Service** \> **Email Routing**.  
[ Go to **Email Routing** ](https://dash.cloudflare.com/?to=/:account/email-service/routing)
2. Select the domain you want to configure routing for.
3. Select the **Routing Rules** tab.
4. Select **Create routing rule**.
5. Configure Worker routing:

  * **Email pattern**: Enter the local part of the email (for example, `support` for `support@yourdomain.com`), and select your domain
  * **Action**: Send to a Worker
  * **Worker**: Select your `email-processor` Worker
6. Select **Save**.

### Test your email routing

After configuring the routing rule, test that it works:

1. Send an email from your personal email account to the address you configured (for example, `support@yourdomain.com`).
2. Check your `FORWARD_TO_EMAIL` inbox for the forwarded email.
3. If the recipient email was `support@`, you should also receive an auto-reply at your personal email address.

## Next steps

Now that you can route emails, explore advanced features:

* **[Send outbound emails](https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-service/get-started/send-emails/)** \- Send emails from your applications
* **[API reference](https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-service/api/route-emails/)** \- Complete routing API documentation
* **[Examples](https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-service/examples/)** \- Real-world routing patterns

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","@id":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-service/get-started/route-emails/#page","headline":"Route emails · Cloudflare Email Service docs","description":"Forward incoming emails to existing mailboxes or process them with Workers using Email Service.","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-service/get-started/route-emails/","inLanguage":"en","image":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/dev-products-preview.png","dateModified":"2026-06-09","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Cloudflare","url":"https://www.cloudflare.com/"},"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/#website","name":"Cloudflare Docs","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/"}}
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/directory/","name":"Directory"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/email-service/","name":"Email Service"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"/email-service/get-started/","name":"Getting started"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@id":"/email-service/get-started/route-emails/","name":"Route emails"}}]}
```