Email forwarding

Email forwarding lets you receive emails at your domain and automatically forward them to existing mailboxes — without running a mail server. Common use cases include:

• Professional email — use info@yourdomain.com instead of a personal Gmail
• Team distribution — forward support@yourdomain.com to multiple team members
• Department routing — separate aliases for sales, billing, and support
• Domain parking — catch emails on domains you own but don't actively host

OpusDNS automatically manages the MX and TXT DNS records needed for email forwarding. These records are marked as protected so they cannot be accidentally modified.

Prerequisites

Set up email forwarding

This example creates email forwarding for example.com with two aliases: info@example.com forwards to a personal mailbox, and support@example.com forwards to two team members.

curl "$OPUSDNS_API_BASE/v1/email-forwards" \
  --request POST \
  --header "X-Api-Key: $OPUSDNS_API_KEY" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "hostname": "example.com",
    "enabled": true,
    "aliases": [
      {
        "alias": "info",
        "forward_to": ["john@gmail.com"]
      },
      {
        "alias": "support",
        "forward_to": ["alice@company.com", "bob@company.com"]
      }
    ]
  }'

Setting enabled: true activates forwarding immediately and creates the required MX records. Emails sent to info@example.com will start arriving at john@gmail.com as soon as DNS propagates.

How aliases work

Each alias maps a local address to one or more destination mailboxes:

An alias can forward to multiple addresses — every destination receives a copy of the email.

Common scenarios

Add a new alias to an existing forward

After the initial setup, add more aliases as your team grows. You need the email forward ID from the create response:

curl "$OPUSDNS_API_BASE/v1/email-forwards/email_forward_01h45ytscbebyvny4gc8cr8ma2/aliases" \
  --request POST \
  --header "X-Api-Key: $OPUSDNS_API_KEY" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "alias": "sales",
    "forward_to": ["sales-team@company.com"]
  }'

Change where an alias forwards to

Update the destination addresses for an existing alias:

curl "$OPUSDNS_API_BASE/v1/email-forwards/email_forward_01h45ytscbebyvny4gc8cr8ma2/aliases/email_forward_alias_01h45ytscbebyvny4gc8cr8ma2" \
  --request PUT \
  --header "X-Api-Key: $OPUSDNS_API_KEY" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "forward_to": ["new-hire@company.com", "manager@company.com"]
  }'

Remove an alias

curl "$OPUSDNS_API_BASE/v1/email-forwards/email_forward_01h45ytscbebyvny4gc8cr8ma2/aliases/email_forward_alias_01h45ytscbebyvny4gc8cr8ma2" \
  --request DELETE \
  --header "X-Api-Key: $OPUSDNS_API_KEY"

Pause and resume forwarding

Disabling removes the MX records but keeps your alias configuration intact. This is useful if you temporarily need to stop forwarding without losing your setup:

curl "$OPUSDNS_API_BASE/v1/email-forwards/email_forward_01h45ytscbebyvny4gc8cr8ma2/disable" \
  --request PATCH \
  --header "X-Api-Key: $OPUSDNS_API_KEY"

Re-enable when ready:

curl "$OPUSDNS_API_BASE/v1/email-forwards/email_forward_01h45ytscbebyvny4gc8cr8ma2/enable" \
  --request PATCH \
  --header "X-Api-Key: $OPUSDNS_API_KEY"

Remove email forwarding

Delete the entire configuration and all aliases:

curl "$OPUSDNS_API_BASE/v1/email-forwards/email_forward_01h45ytscbebyvny4gc8cr8ma2" \
  --request DELETE \
  --header "X-Api-Key: $OPUSDNS_API_KEY"

Monitoring delivery

OpusDNS tracks every forwarded email. See Metrics & logs for a full guide on delivery rates, per-alias breakdowns, troubleshooting bounces, and forwarding logs.

Related API Reference

• POST /v1/email-forwards
• GET /v1/email-forwards
• GET /v1/email-forwards/{email_forward_id}
• GET /v1/email-forwards/{email_forward_id}/metrics