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Before you install.
Have these essentials ready before setting up Newsletter Sender. Check these off first, and the rest of the installation takes less than five minutes.
1Checklist: what you'll need
You will need five core prerequisites:
- A Cloudflare account to host and run Newsletter Sender.
- A custom domain (e.g.
yourdomain.com) to send from. - A sender email address on your domain (e.g.
news@yourdomain.com). - A sending provider: an Amazon AWS account for Amazon SES (recommended), or an account with Postmark, Mailgun, Brevo or Resend.
- A free GitHub account, so the Deploy to Cloudflare button can make your own copy.
2Cloudflare account
Newsletter Sender runs entirely on your own Cloudflare account as a Worker paired with a database, queue and file storage. Your subscribers, drafts and stats stay in your hands.
- Sign up or log in at dash.cloudflare.com. Any standard Cloudflare account works, including one currently hosting your website.
- Upgrade to the Workers Paid plan ($5 a month under Workers & Pages → Plans). Sending needs this plan: the free tier stops each run after a few milliseconds, which isn't enough to send batches of email. The paid tier comfortably covers millions of requests a month.
3Custom domain and sender address
Newsletters are sent from your own authenticated domain. Sending providers check you own the domain, using DNS records, before they send anything.
- Choose your sender address: pick your campaign From address (e.g.
news@yourdomain.comorhello@yourdomain.com). - Make sure you have DNS access: you'll need to edit DNS records at your domain registrar or DNS host.
- Set up replies: make sure your chosen address (or a separate Reply to address) goes to an inbox you read, so you can handle subscriber replies.
bounce. subdomain, so your normal day to day inbox isn't affected.4Sending provider
Newsletter Sender doesn't deliver emails directly. It sends them through the provider you choose. You pay the provider directly at cost, with no markup and no per subscriber pricing.
| Provider | What you'll need | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon SES (recommended) | An active AWS account (needs a payment card on file) | Set up Amazon SES → |
| Postmark | A Postmark account and server token | Set up Postmark → |
| Mailgun | A Mailgun account with your domain added | Set up Mailgun → |
| Brevo | A Brevo account with your domain authenticated | Set up Brevo → |
| Resend | A Resend account with your domain verified | Set up Resend → |
5How you'll install it
Click the button and Cloudflare does the rest. It copies Newsletter Sender into your own GitHub account, creates the database, send queue and file storage in your Cloudflare account, and puts it live. After that, updates are one click under Settings → Account.
- Click Deploy to Cloudflare and sign in to Cloudflare.
- Connect your GitHub account when asked. Cloudflare makes your own copy there, so you own the code too.
- Make an admin secret key for SETUP_TOKEN: at least 20 random letters and numbers. You'll need it to set up your admin account and to reset your password if you ever need to. Store it in your password manager.
- Choose your Git account, then click Deploy and wait a minute or two. Leave the other names Cloudflare suggests as they are.
- Open
https://<your Newsletter Sender address>/setup?code=<your key>to create your admin account. Cloudflare shows your address (endingworkers.dev) when it's finished. You can add your own domain later.
6Nice to have (optional)
- Cloudflare Email Sending: sends sign up confirmations and welcome emails separately from your newsletters. Set up your domain under Email, Email Sending in Cloudflare.
- Cloudflare Turnstile: free bot protection for your sign up forms and admin sign in.
- Your subscribers as a CSV file, if you're moving from Mailchimp, Sendy, Substack or Kit. Unsubscribed, bounced and complained contacts are left out automatically when you import.