--- layout: page title: "SMTP" description: "Instructions how to add e-mail notifications to Home Assistant." date: 2015-06-03 18:00 sidebar: true comments: false sharing: true footer: true logo: smtp.png ha_category: Notifications ha_release: pre 0.7 --- The `smtp` platform allows you to deliver notifications from Home Assistant to an e-mail recipient. To enable notification by e-mail in your installation, add the following to your `configuration.yaml` file: ```yaml # Example configuration.yaml entry notify: - name: NOTIFIER_NAME platform: smtp server: MAIL_SERVER recipient: YOUR_RECIPIENT ``` Configuration variables: - **name** (*Optional*): Setting the optional parameter `name` allows multiple notifiers to be created. The default value is `notify`. The notifier will bind to the service `notify.NOTIFIER_NAME`. - **server** (*Optional*): SMTP server which is used to end the notifications. Defaults to `localhost`. - **port** (*Optional*): The port that the SMTP server is using. Defaults to 25. - **timeout** (*Optional*): The timeout in seconds that the SMTP server is using. Defaults to 5. - **sender** (*Optional*): E-mail address of the sender. - **username** (*Optional*): Username for the SMTP account. - **password** (*Optional*): Password for the SMTP server that belongs to the given username. If the password contains a colon it need to be wrapped in apostrophes. - **recipient** (*Required*): E-mail address of the recipient of the notification. This can be a recipient address or a list of addresses for multiple recipients. - **starttls** (*Optional*): Enables STARTTLS, eg. True or False. Defaults to False. - **sender_name** (*Optional*): Sets a custom 'sender name' in the emails headers (*From*: Custom name ). - **debug** (*Optional*): Enables Debug, eg. True or False. Defaults to False. A sample configuration entry for Google Mail. ```yaml # Example configuration.yaml entry notify: - name: NOTIFIER_NAME platform: smtp server: smtp.gmail.com port: 587 timeout: 15 sender: john@gmail.com starttls: true username: john@gmail.com password: thePassword recipient: - james@gmail.com - bob@gmail.com sender_name: My Home Assistant ``` Keep in mind that Google has some extra layers of protection which need special attention (Hint: 'Less secure apps'). To use the SMTP notification, refer to it in an automation or script like in this example: ```yaml burglar: alias: Burglar Alarm sequence: - service: shell_command.snapshot - delay: seconds: 1 - service: notify.NOTIFIER_NAME data: title: 'Intruder alert' message: 'Intruder alert at apartment!!' data: images: - /home/pi/snapshot1.jpg - /home/pi/snapshot2.jpg ``` The optional `images` field adds in-line image attachments to the email. This sends a text/HTML multi-part message instead of the plain text default. The optional `html` field makes a custom text/HTML multi-part message, allowing total freedom for sending rich html emails. In them, if you need to attach images, you can pass both arguments (`html` and `images`), the attachments will be joined with the basename of the images, so they can be included in the html page with `src="cid:image_name.ext"`. ```yaml burglar: alias: Burglar Alarm sequence: - service: shell_command.snapshot - delay: seconds: 1 - service: notify.NOTIFIER_NAME data_template: message: 'Intruder alert at apartment!!' data: images: - /home/pi/snapshot1.jpg - /home/pi/snapshot2.jpg html: > Intruder alert

Intruder alert at apartment!!

``` Obviously, this kind of complex html email reporting is done much more conveniently using Jinja2 templating from an [AppDaemon app](https://home-assistant.io/docs/ecosystem/appdaemon/tutorial/), for example. This platform is fragile and not able to catch all exceptions in a smart way because of the large number of possible configuration combinations. A combination that will work properly is port 587 and STARTTLS. It's recommended to enable STARTTLS, if possible. Keep in mind that if the password contains a colon, it needs to be wrapped in apostrophes in the `configuration.yaml` file. For Google Mail (smtp.gmail.com) an additional step in the setup process is needed. Google has some extra layers of protection which need special attention. By default, the usage by external applications, especially scripts, is limited. Visit the [Less secure apps](https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps) page and enable it. To use notifications, please see the [getting started with automation page](/getting-started/automation/).