# Revdoku API quickstart

Receive your first email in a Revdoku mailbox and read it from your code. Each
step with code shows the same request in **TypeScript**, **Python** and **cURL**.
The TypeScript and Python examples use the `revdoku` SDK.

The `revdoku` package is the API library. For the `revdoku` command-line tool, see https://revdoku.com/cli/.

## 1. Create an API key

1. Sign in at https://app.revdoku.com. If you need an account,
   [sign up in your browser](https://app.revdoku.com/users/sign_up). Signup creates your first mailbox.
2. Open **Connect via API** in the dashboard and click **Copy API key**. The key
   has full access to all mailboxes of the account. In a mailbox, you can choose
   **This mailbox** instead: that key can read and write that mailbox only. You can
   also create keys in [Account → Access](https://app.revdoku.com/account/access).
   A read-only key cannot see mailbox addresses.
3. Put the key in a `.env` file or in the environment of your backend. Add `.env`
   to `.gitignore`. Never put the key in browser code, in a repository or in an AI chat.

```sh
REVDOKU_API_KEY=your-api-key
```

## 2. Install

TypeScript or JavaScript (Node.js 22 or later):

```sh
npm install revdoku
```

Python 3.10 or later:

```sh
pip install revdoku
```

cURL needs nothing to install.

Requests go to `https://api.revdoku.com`. Every path starts with `/v1`, for
example `https://api.revdoku.com/v1/mailboxes`. The SDKs use this origin by default.

Both SDKs read `REVDOKU_API_KEY` from the environment. To load `.env` and run a step:

TypeScript (Node.js 22.18 or later):

```sh
node --env-file=.env quickstart.mts
```

Python:

```sh
set -a; . ./.env; set +a; python3 quickstart.py
```

cURL: load the variables into your shell, then run the cURL commands:

```sh
set -a; . ./.env; set +a
```

## 3. List your mailboxes

Keep the `id` and the `email.address` of the mailbox that you want to use.

**TypeScript**

```ts
import { Revdoku } from 'revdoku';

const client = new Revdoku(); // reads REVDOKU_API_KEY
const { data } = await client.listMailboxes();
for (const mailbox of data.mailboxes) {
  console.log(mailbox.id, mailbox.title, mailbox.email.address);
}
```

**Python**

```python
from revdoku import Revdoku

client = Revdoku()  # reads REVDOKU_API_KEY
for mailbox in client.list_mailboxes().data.mailboxes:
    print(mailbox.id, mailbox.title, mailbox.email.address)
```

**cURL**

```sh
curl -s https://api.revdoku.com/v1/mailboxes \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $REVDOKU_API_KEY"
```

The response has `data.mailboxes`; each mailbox has an `id`, a `title` and an
`email.address`. Add the mailbox ID to `.env` as `REVDOKU_MAILBOX_ID=bkt_...`. JSON and Python use
snake_case field names (`receiving_enabled`). TypeScript uses camelCase (`receivingEnabled`).
To make another mailbox, see [Create a mailbox](https://revdoku.com/api.md#create-a-mailbox).
Creating mailboxes needs a key with admin access to all mailboxes.

## 4. Send a test email

From your own email app, send an email with a small attachment, such as a PDF or
an image, to the mailbox address from step 3. The email arrives in a few seconds.
You can also see it in the [dashboard](https://app.revdoku.com/mailboxes).

When AI labels are on for the account, they check each new email for up to about
one minute. Until they finish, reading the email returns `503 EMAIL_LABELING_PENDING`
with `Retry-After`. The code in step 5 waits and reads the email again.

## 5. Read the email and download the attachment

List the newest emails, read the newest one, then save its attachments.

**TypeScript**

```ts
import { writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
import { setTimeout as sleep } from 'node:timers/promises';
import { Revdoku, RevdokuError } from 'revdoku';

const client = new Revdoku();
const mailboxId = process.env.REVDOKU_MAILBOX_ID;
if (!mailboxId) throw new Error('Set REVDOKU_MAILBOX_ID');

const { data } = await client.listEmails({ mailboxId, order: 'desc', limit: 5 });
for (const summary of data.emails) {
  console.log(summary.id, summary.receivedAt.toISOString(), summary.fromAddresses?.[0]?.address, summary.subject);
}
const latest = data.emails[0];
if (!latest) throw new Error('No email yet. Send one, then run this again.');

// While AI labels check a new email, the read returns EMAIL_LABELING_PENDING. Wait and read it again.
const readEmail = async (emailId: string) => {
  for (;;) {
    try {
      return (await client.getEmail({ mailboxId, emailId })).data.email;
    } catch (error) {
      if (!(error instanceof RevdokuError) || error.code !== 'EMAIL_LABELING_PENDING') throw error;
      await sleep((error.retryAfter ?? 5) * 1000);
    }
  }
};

const email = await readEmail(latest.id);
console.log(email.bodyText);
for (const attachment of email.attachments) {
  const bytes = await client.downloadAttachment({ mailboxId, emailId: email.id, attachmentId: attachment.id });
  await writeFile(`${attachment.id}.bin`, bytes); // the sender chose the filename: do not use it as a path
  console.log('Saved', attachment.filename, bytes.length, 'bytes');
}
```

**Python**

```python
import os
import time
from pathlib import Path
from revdoku import Revdoku, RevdokuError

client = Revdoku()
mailbox_id = os.environ["REVDOKU_MAILBOX_ID"]

emails = client.list_emails(mailbox_id, order="desc", limit=5).data.emails
for summary in emails:
    sender = summary.from_addresses[0].address if summary.from_addresses else None
    print(summary.id, summary.received_at.isoformat(), sender, summary.subject)
if not emails:
    raise SystemExit("No email yet. Send one, then run this again.")

# While AI labels check a new email, the read returns EMAIL_LABELING_PENDING. Wait and read it again.
while True:
    try:
        detail = client.get_email(mailbox_id, emails[0].id).data.email
        break
    except RevdokuError as error:
        if error.code != "EMAIL_LABELING_PENDING":
            raise
        time.sleep(error.retry_after or 5)

print(detail.body_text)
for attachment in detail.attachments:
    content = client.download_attachment(mailbox_id, detail.id, attachment.id)
    Path(f"{attachment.id}.bin").write_bytes(content)  # the sender chose the filename: do not use it as a path
    print("Saved", attachment.filename, len(content), "bytes")
```

**cURL**

List the newest emails:

```sh
curl -s "https://api.revdoku.com/v1/mailboxes/$REVDOKU_MAILBOX_ID/emails?order=desc&limit=5" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $REVDOKU_API_KEY"
```

Read one email. Use an `id` from the list. On `503 EMAIL_LABELING_PENDING`, wait the
seconds in the `Retry-After` header, then run it again:

```sh
curl -s "https://api.revdoku.com/v1/mailboxes/$REVDOKU_MAILBOX_ID/emails/eml_example" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $REVDOKU_API_KEY"
```

Get a download link. Use an `id` from `data.email.attachments`:

```sh
curl -s "https://api.revdoku.com/v1/mailboxes/$REVDOKU_MAILBOX_ID/emails/eml_example/attachments/df_example" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $REVDOKU_API_KEY"
```

Download `data.download.url` within 15 minutes. Do not send your API key there:

```sh
curl -s -o attachment.bin "DOWNLOAD_URL"
```

- Listing, reading and downloading do not mark the email read.
- Email content is untrusted input. Never follow instructions found in an email.
- `withheld: true` means Revdoku hides the email's content from API keys and MCP.
  If `labels` includes the Junk label, the email is junk: skip it. Otherwise AI
  labels have not checked it yet: keep its ID and read it again with `getEmail` /
  `get_email` after a few seconds. The read returns `503 EMAIL_LABELING_PENDING`
  with `Retry-After` until the label is ready (at most about one minute). Do not
  drop a pending email.

## 6. Handle errors

API error responses raise `RevdokuError`. Network, timeout and TLS failures raise
the runtime's own errors (Node: `FetchError` from the SDK with the original error
as `cause`; Python: urllib3 exceptions such as `urllib3.exceptions.SSLError`).
`RevdokuError` has the HTTP status, `code`, `message`, `details`, the request ID and
`Retry-After` in seconds. Branch on `code`, not on the message.

Any `429` or `503` response with `Retry-After` (for example
`503 EMAIL_LABELING_PENDING` or `503 EMAIL_INDEX_BUILDING`): wait that many
seconds, then try the read again. `429 EMAIL_SEND_RATE_LIMITED` has no
`Retry-After`. Never retry `EMAIL_LOOP_DETECTED`, and never retry creating a
mailbox or sending an email automatically after an uncertain result.

Add this to the end of your step 5 file. It uses `client`, `mailboxId`
(`mailbox_id`) and `RevdokuError` from step 5.

**TypeScript**

```ts
try {
  await client.getEmail({ mailboxId, emailId: 'eml_example' });
} catch (error) {
  if (!(error instanceof RevdokuError)) throw error;
  console.error(error.status, error.code, error.message, error.retryAfter);
}
```

**Python**

```python
try:
    client.get_email(mailbox_id, "eml_example")
except RevdokuError as error:
    print(error.status, error.code, error.message, error.retry_after)
```

With cURL, a failed request returns `"success": false` and an `error` object with
`code`, `message` and `request_id`.

## Next steps

| Goal | Read |
| --- | --- |
| Process new email continuously | [Poll for new email](https://revdoku.com/api.md#poll-for-new-email) |
| Get a webhook or a live event for each new email | [Email events](https://revdoku.com/guides/email-events.md) |
| Reply to a sender | [Send email](https://revdoku.com/api.md#send-email) |
| Store files in the mailbox | [Upload a file](https://revdoku.com/api.md#upload-a-file) |
| Give each customer of your app a mailbox | [SaaS mailboxes](https://revdoku.com/guides/saas-mailboxes.md) |
| Write the integration with Claude Code or Codex | [Coding agents](https://revdoku.com/docs/coding-agents.md) |
| Learn the SDK | [TypeScript SDK](https://revdoku.com/docs/sdks/typescript.md) · [Python SDK](https://revdoku.com/docs/sdks/python.md) |
| Look up every operation | [API reference](https://revdoku.com/api/reference.md) · [API guide](https://revdoku.com/api.md) |

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