This guide walks you through every step — from adding your first inbox to sending a reply from your own domain address. You only need to do this once. After that, adding more domains or addresses takes seconds.
OhRelay uses Cloudflare to manage your domain's email routing and outbound sending automatically. Depending on where your domain is currently registered, please ensure one of the following is met:
OhRelay needs a Cloudflare API token to configure email routing and DNS for your domain automatically. You create this token in Cloudflare and paste it once — it works for all your domains.
On the Working Inboxes or Domains tab, you'll see a Cloudflare panel on the right side with a Connect Cloudflare button. Click it — a drawer slides in from the right showing all the steps and a permissions reference table.
Click the Open Cloudflare Token Page ↗ button in the drawer.
This takes you directly to
dash.cloudflare.com/profile/api-tokens.
On the User API Tokens page, click the blue + Create Token button in the top right. On the next page, find "Create Custom Token" at the top and click Get started.
On the token creation form, the name is pre-filled as
OhRelay Cloudflare — you can leave it as is.
Then add exactly these 6 permissions:
| Type | Permission | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Email Routing Addresses | Edit |
| Account | Workers Scripts | Edit |
| Zone | Email Routing Rules | Edit |
| Zone | Zone Settings | Edit |
| Zone | Zone | Read |
| Zone | DNS | Edit |
Then set the resource scopes:
| Resource | Scope |
|---|---|
| Account Resources | Include → All accounts |
| Zone Resources | Include → All zones |
Scroll to the bottom of the form and click Continue to summary. Review the permissions, then click Create Token. Cloudflare will show you the token — copy it now (it is only shown once).
Switch back to the OhRelay tab. Paste the token into the Cloudflare API Token field in the drawer, then click Save Token.
If successful, the Cloudflare panel on the right will show a "Cloudflare Connected" badge, and the Add Domain button will appear at the top right. You're ready to add your domain.
A working inbox is the real mailbox where emails land — normally your Gmail, iCloud, or any other address where you actually read mail. OhRelay will forward everything here.
In the OhRelay control panel, click the Working Inboxes tab at the top. Then click Add Working Inbox.
Type in the email address where you want emails to be delivered — for example, your Gmail address. Click Save Working Inbox.
After saving, the inbox shows "Awaiting Activation" with the hint: "Check [your email] for a verification link to activate this inbox."
Open your real mailbox, find the email from OhRelay, and click the verification link. The status will change to "Ready" once confirmed. If the email hasn't arrived, use the Resend email button shown below the inbox.
Once the inbox is Ready, you'll see a collapsed SMTP Credentials section. Click Setup Gateway on the right side. Read the two authorization statements, check both boxes, then click Enable Sending Capability.
OhRelay will show you your gateway credentials — copy them somewhere safe:
smtp.ohrelay.comxxxxxxxx@send.ohrelay.com — this is what you add to Gmail or Apple Mail as the sender account⚠ The password is only shown once at first setup. Copy it immediately. You can rotate it later, but you'll need to update your email client settings too.
Now add the domain you want to use. OhRelay will configure the Cloudflare pieces it needs automatically, including routing and delivery-related DNS records.
On the Domains page, click the Add Domain button at the top right. An Add Domain form will appear. The Cloudflare Connected status is shown in the top right of the form — confirming the connection is ready.
Type your domain name (e.g. yourdomain.com). In the
Authorization & Delegation section, check both boxes:
Then click Save Domain.
After saving, the domain appears as Pending with a Configure button. Click it — OhRelay will automatically set up DNS records, email routing rules, and a catch-all worker through Cloudflare. This takes a few seconds.
Once done, the status changes to Configured and you'll see View details and Delete buttons. No manual DNS editing required.
⚠ If you see "This domain is not in the connected Cloudflare account yet" — the domain hasn't been added to your Cloudflare account. Go to Cloudflare, add the domain as a site, then come back and click Configure.
Now you can create any address you want on your domain — things like hello@, support@, or anything else. Each one gets routed to the working inbox you set up.
On the Domains page, find your configured domain. Click View details to expand it — you'll see an Addresses section with an Add Addresses button in the top right. Click it — a drawer slides in from the right.
In the Address Prefixes field, type a prefix (e.g.
hello) and press Space, Enter, or
Comma to confirm it. The full address
(e.g. hello@yourdomain.com) appears as a tag immediately.
You can add as many prefixes as you want at once.
In the Target Working Inbox dropdown, select which working inbox should receive emails for these addresses. The save button shows the count — e.g. Save 2 Addresses. Click it — the addresses are live immediately and appear in the Addresses table under your domain, showing each address and its assigned working inbox.
After the initial setup, adding more domains or addresses is instant. You don't need to touch your email client settings again — OhRelay handles new addresses automatically. Every new address you create immediately starts forwarding to the right inbox.
Receiving is already working. Now add OhRelay's sending gateway to your email client so you can reply from your domain addresses.
Add OhRelay as a "Send mail as" sender in Gmail settings. Takes about 3 minutes. When replying, select your address from the From dropdown.
Set up Gmail → Option BAdd OhRelay as your outgoing SMTP server. Works with Apple Mail, Spark, Thunderbird, and most desktop clients. Select the gateway from the From field when sending — same one gateway for all your addresses.
Set up Apple Mail →It only takes one domain and one inbox to get started. You can always add more later.