Authentication

Secure your API requests with Bearer token authentication.

Creating API Keys

You can create API keys in two ways:

From the API Keys dashboard
Programmatically via POST /v1/api-keys

Keys are shown once at creation. Store them securely. If you lose a key, revoke it and create a new one.

Bearer Token Format

Include your API key in the Authorization header of every request:

Header

Authorization: Bearer sf_live_your_api_key

All keys start with sf_live_ for production or sf_test_ for test mode.

Example Request

bash

curl https://smtpfa.st/api/v1/emails \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sf_live_your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"from":"[email protected]","to":["[email protected]"],"subject":"Test","html":"<p>Hello</p>"}'

const res = await fetch("https://smtpfa.st/api/v1/emails", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: "Bearer sf_live_your_api_key",
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    from: "[email protected]",
    to: ["[email protected]"],
    subject: "Test",
    html: "<p>Hello</p>",
  }),
});

import requests

res = requests.post(
    "https://smtpfa.st/api/v1/emails",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer sf_live_your_api_key"},
    json={
        "from": "[email protected]",
        "to": ["[email protected]"],
        "subject": "Test",
        "html": "<p>Hello</p>",
    },
)

API Key Scopes

Scopes control what each key can access. When creating a key, select only the permissions you need.

Parameter	Type	Description
email:send	scope	Emails: POST /v1/emails and batch sends
email:read	scope	Emails: Look up sent emails and analytics
domain:read	scope	Domains: List domains and verification status
domain:write	scope	Domains: Add, verify and delete domains
contact:read	scope	Contacts: List and export contacts
contact:write	scope	Contacts: Create, update, import, suppress
form:read	scope	Signup forms: List forms and pending signups
form:write	scope	Signup forms: Create and edit forms
webhook:read	scope	Webhooks: List webhooks
webhook:write	scope	Webhooks: Create, edit, test and delete webhooks
logs:read	scope	Logs: GET /v1/logs with filters by type, time, recipient, domain and tag
inbound:read	scope	Inbound email: List messages, download raw mail and attachments; in inboxes, mark read, label, archive, assign, add notes and write drafts (sending them needs email:send)
inbound:delete	scope	Inbound email: Delete received messages and their files, and move inbox threads to trash
team:read	scope	Team: List members, and pending invitations for owners and admins
team:manage	scope	Team: Invite people, revoke invitations, change roles, remove members
billing:read	scope	Billing: The plan, usage against its limits, and invoices
billing:manage	scope	Billing: Checkout and billing portal links for a person to open; nothing is charged through the API
apikey:manage	scope	API keys: List, create and revoke API keys

A key with no scopes chosen gets a default set, whether it is created in the dashboard or through the API. Pass scopes to narrow it.

Rate Limit Headers

Every response includes rate limit headers so you can track your usage:

Response Headers

X-RateLimit-Limit: 100
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 97
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1712345678

See the Rate Limits page for details on limits per tier and how to handle 429 responses.

Authentication Errors

Status	Meaning
401	Missing or invalid API key
403	Key does not have the required scope

Check what a key can do

Before this endpoint the only way to discover a key's scopes was to call each one and see which returned 403. This returns them directly, along with the team it belongs to and where it stands against the rate limit. It needs no scope of its own, so any valid key can call it.

GET/v1/me

The scopes, team, account tier and rate limit position of the key making the request, and the user who created it. user_id matches user_id on GET /v1/team/members, so you can tell which member the key acts as. account.tier is the plan: free, starter, growth or scale.

Response

json

{
  "api_key_id": "key_01j9x3p2q7",
  "user_id": "user_01j9x3m4k2",
  "scopes": ["email:send", "email:read", "domain:read"],
  "team_id": "team_01j9x3n8r1",
  "team_sending_status": "active",
  "account": { "tier": "growth", "status": "active" },
  "send_checks": { "display_name_enforced": false, "link_scan_enforced": false },
  "rate_limit": { "per_second": 10, "remaining": 9, "reset": 1758374400000 }
}

Check usage against your plan

Emails in the last 24 hours and this month against your limit, prepaid credits, and contacts, segments, broadcasts and domains against their limits. Check it before a large send or an import instead of finding out from a refusal. The response has the same shape as Resend's GET /usage, so the Resend SDKs' usage call works against SMTPfast. A null limit means no cap. Emails count recipients, the unit the quota charges in, and received mail does not count against the limit. AI credits and automation runs are not offered: they are in the response only to match Resend's shape, and their limit is 0. On a team, the email quota and broadcast cap follow the team owner's plan and the domain limit the team's plan. Like /v1/me, it needs no scope.

GET/v1/usage

Usage and limits for the account the key belongs to.

Response

json

{
  "object": "usage",
  "emails": {
    "daily": { "used": 37, "limit": null, "sent": 37, "received": 3, "resets_at": null },
    "monthly": { "used": 1200, "limit": 100000, "sent": 1200, "received": 40, "resets_at": "2026-11-01T00:00:00.000Z" },
    "credits": { "balance": 500 },
    "effective_remaining": 99300
  },
  "contacts": { "used": 205, "limit": 50000 },
  "segments": { "used": 1, "limit": 50 },
  "broadcasts": { "used": 4, "limit": 50 },
  "ai_credits": { "used": 0, "limit": 0, "next_increase_at": null },
  "automation_runs": { "used": 0, "limit": 0, "resets_at": "2026-11-01T00:00:00.000Z" },
  "domains": { "used": 2, "limit": null },
  "rate_limit": { "limit": 10, "duration": "1000ms" }
}