---
title: Email routing
description: Test Email Service routing Workers locally using wrangler dev with simulated incoming emails.
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) 

# Email routing

Test email routing Workers locally using wrangler dev with simulated incoming emails

Test email routing behavior locally using `wrangler dev` to simulate incoming emails and verify your routing logic before deploying.

## Prerequisites

1. Sign up for a [Cloudflare account ↗](https://dash.cloudflare.com/sign-up/workers-and-pages).
2. Install [Node.js ↗](https://docs.npmjs.com/downloading-and-installing-node-js-and-npm).

Node.js version manager

Use a Node version manager like [Volta ↗](https://volta.sh/) or [nvm ↗](https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm) to avoid permission issues and change Node.js versions. [Wrangler](https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/wrangler/install-and-update/), discussed later in this guide, requires a Node version of `16.17.0` or later.

## Configuration

Configure your Wrangler file:

* [  wrangler.jsonc ](#tab-panel-8872)
* [  wrangler.toml ](#tab-panel-8873)

JSONC

```
{  "name": "email-routing-worker",  // Set this to today's date  "compatibility_date": "2026-06-30",}
```

TOML

```
name = "email-routing-worker"# Set this to today's datecompatibility_date = "2026-06-30"
```

## Basic routing worker

JavaScript

```
import * as PostalMime from "postal-mime";
export default {  async email(message, env, ctx) {    // Parse the raw email message    const parser = new PostalMime.default();    const rawEmail = new Response(message.raw);    const email = await parser.parse(await rawEmail.arrayBuffer());
    console.log("Received email:", {      from: message.from,      to: message.to,      subject: email.subject,      text: email.text,      html: email.html,    });
    // Route based on recipient    if (message.to.includes("support@")) {      await message.forward("support-team@example.com");    } else {      await message.forward("general@example.com");    }  },};
```

## Testing

Start your development server:

Terminal window

```
npx wrangler dev
```

Send a test email using the local endpoint. The request body must be a raw email message in [RFC 5322 ↗](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc5322) format, and the message must include a `Message-ID` header:

Terminal window

```
curl --request POST 'http://localhost:8787/cdn-cgi/handler/email' \  --url-query 'from=sender@example.com' \  --url-query 'to=recipient@example.com' \  --data-raw 'Received: from smtp.example.com (127.0.0.1)        by cloudflare-email.com (unknown) id 4fwwffRXOpyR        for <recipient@example.com>; Tue, 27 Aug 2024 15:50:20 +0000From: "John" <sender@example.com>Reply-To: sender@example.comTo: recipient@example.comSubject: Testing Email Workers Local DevContent-Type: text/html; charset="windows-1252"X-Mailer: CurlDate: Tue, 27 Aug 2024 08:49:44 -0700Message-ID: <6114391943504294873000@ZSH-GHOSTTY>
Hi there'
```

This will output the parsed email structure in the console:

```
{  "headers": [    {      "key": "received",      "value": "from smtp.example.com (127.0.0.1) by cloudflare-email.com (unknown) id 4fwwffRXOpyR for <recipient@example.com>; Tue, 27 Aug 2024 15:50:20 +0000"    },    { "key": "from", "value": "\"John\" <sender@example.com>" },    { "key": "reply-to", "value": "sender@example.com" },    { "key": "to", "value": "recipient@example.com" },    { "key": "subject", "value": "Testing Email Workers Local Dev" },    { "key": "content-type", "value": "text/html; charset=\"windows-1252\"" },    { "key": "x-mailer", "value": "Curl" },    { "key": "date", "value": "Tue, 27 Aug 2024 08:49:44 -0700" },    {      "key": "message-id",      "value": "<6114391943504294873000@ZSH-GHOSTTY>"    }  ],  "from": { "address": "sender@example.com", "name": "John" },  "to": [{ "address": "recipient@example.com", "name": "" }],  "replyTo": [{ "address": "sender@example.com", "name": "" }],  "subject": "Testing Email Workers Local Dev",  "messageId": "<6114391943504294873000@ZSH-GHOSTTY>",  "date": "2024-08-27T15:49:44.000Z",  "html": "Hi there\n",  "attachments": []}
```

## Next steps

* Deploy your routing worker: [Route emails get started](https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-service/get-started/route-emails/)
* See advanced patterns: [Email routing examples](https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-service/examples/email-routing/)

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","@id":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-service/local-development/routing/#page","headline":"Email routing · Cloudflare Email Service docs","description":"Test Email Service routing Workers locally using wrangler dev with simulated incoming emails.","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-service/local-development/routing/","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/local-development/","name":"Local development"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@id":"/email-service/local-development/routing/","name":"Email routing"}}]}
```