Newcomposer require redberry/mailbox-for-laravel --devlink arrow

Mailbox for Laravel -
Test & Debug Emails Locally

A zero-configuration local email inbox for your Laravel app. Capture, inspect, and debug every outgoing email - no external services required.

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Mailbox for Laravel
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The Problem

You’re building email flows - welcome emails, password resets, invoices, notifications - but testing them is painful.

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    You get a wall of headers and encoded HTML in your log file. No way to see what the user actually receives.

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    External services add friction

    Mailtrap, Mailhog, and similar tools require accounts, API keys, Docker containers, or running separate processes. Every team member has to set them up.

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    Emails break silently

    A broken layout, a missing variable, a wrong recipient — you don’t catch it until someone reports it or you dig through logs.

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    Onboarding is slow

    New developers on the project need to configure an email testing tool before they can work on anything that sends mail.

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Why Mailbox?

Like Mailtrap - but it lives inside your app. No signups. No API keys. No extra processes. One composer require and you’re done.

1

For solo developers

You’re iterating on a transactional email. Instead of sending it to a real address, checking Mailtrap, or reading log files - just open "/mailbox" in your browser. Every email your app sends is right there, rendered exactly as the recipient would see it.

2

For teams

Everyone on the team gets the same email debugging experience out of the box. No shared Mailtrap accounts, no “did you configure your mail driver?” questions. It’s in the repo. It just works.

3

For CI and staging environments

Mailbox captures emails silently without sending them to real recipients. Use it in staging to verify email flows without accidentally emailing customers. Auto-enabled in non-production environments.

Mailbox forLaravel: Features

Mailbox intercepts all outgoing emails and displays them in a beautiful, self-contained dashboard.

Zero Configuration

Set MAIL_MAILER=mailbox and you’re done. No API keys, no external accounts, no setup.

Attachment Support

View, download, and preview email attachments including inline images.

Local Email Capture

Every email your application sends is intercepted and stored locally for inspection.

Modern Dashboard

A full-featured email client UI built with Vue 3 and Tailwind, served at /mailbox.

How It Works

Three steps. No accounts. No configuration files. No environment variables beyond the mailer.

Step 1 - Install

Add Mailbox to your Laravel project and install everything it needs.

/mailbox

composer require redberry/mailbox-for-laravel --dev
php artisan mailbox:install

Step 2 - Set your mailer

Point Laravel’s mailer to Mailbox with a single environment variable.

/mailbox

MAIL_MAILER=mailbox

Step 3 - Send an email

Every email is captured and displayed at /mailbox.

/mailbox

Mail::to('user@example.com')->send(new WelcomeMail());

code example

Dashboard

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    See Every Email at a Glance

    Browse all captured emails with subject, sender, recipients, and timestamps.

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    Inspect Emails Your Way

    Switch between HTML preview, plain text, and raw RFC 822 source.

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    Work with Attachments Easily

    View and download attachments directly from the dashboard.

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    Keep Your Inbox Clean

    Delete individual messages or clear the entire inbox

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    Find What You Need, Fast

    Paginated, searchable, and responsive

     

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Database

Default. Uses a dedicated SQLite connection out of the box. Supports MySQL and PostgreSQL.

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File

JSON files in storage/app/mailbox/. No database required.

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Custom

Implement the MessageStore contract for Redis, S3, or any backend you need.

Configuration

Sensible defaults. Full control when you need it.

  • Storage driver-

    database, file, or a custom implementation.

  • Retention period -How long to keep captured emails (default: 24 hours)

  • Polling interval-Real-time update frequency in milliseconds

  • Attachment limits-Max file size, total size, and allowed MIME types

  • Authorization gate-Custom gate for dashboard access control

  • Route prefix -Change the dashboard URL from /mailbox to anything

// config/mailbox.php
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'store' => [
'driver' => env('MAILBOX_STORE_DRIVER', 'database'),
],
 
'retention' => [
'seconds' => env('MAILBOX_RETENTION', 86400),
],
 
'polling' => [
'enabled' => env('MAILBOX_POLLING_ENABLED', true),
'interval' => env('MAILBOX_POLLING_INTERVAL', 5000),
],
 
'attachments' => [
'enabled' => env('MAILBOX_ATTACHMENTS_ENABLED', true),
'max_size' => 5 * 1024 * 1024, // 5MB
],

Artisan Commands

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Safe by Default

Auto-enabled only in non-production environments

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Control Access

Gate-based authorization via Laravel’s Gate facade

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Customize Redirects

Configurable redirect for unauthorized users

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Configure Middleware

Middleware stack is fully customizable

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Protect Attachments

MIME type whitelist prevents unsafe file storage

Stop sending emails into the void

Install Mailbox and see every email your Laravel app sends

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code snippetcode snippet

composer require redberry/mailbox-for-laravel