Channels

Channels are the delivery infrastructure for your emails. Each channel connects CeramicCRM to an email provider (Amazon SES, SMTP, or MTA-API) and defines the sender identity, rate limits, and tracking settings.

Creating a Channel

1. Log in to CeramicCRM
2. Navigate to Channels in the left sidebar
3. Click Create Channel
4. Fill in the configuration sections described below
5. Click Create
6. Click Activate to enable the channel for sending

Channel Configuration

Basic Information

Provider Configuration

Select your email provider and enter the credentials. Each provider requires different fields.

Amazon SES

The recommended provider for production use. See Amazon SES Setup for the full setup tutorial including IAM user creation and domain verification.

Provider Config JSON (for API usage):

{
  "region": "eu-north-1",
  "access_key_id": "AKIA...",
  "secret_access_key": "wJalr...",
  "configuration_set_name": "ceramiccrm-tracking"
}

SMTP

Connect to any standard SMTP server (Mailgun, SendGrid, Postmark, your own mail server, etc.).

Provider Config JSON (for API usage):

{
  "host": "smtp.mailgun.org",
  "port": 587,
  "username": "postmaster@yourdomain.com",
  "password": "your-smtp-password",
  "start_tls": true,
  "auth_method": "PLAIN"
}

MTA-API

Connect to an HTTP-based mail transfer agent API.

Provider Config JSON (for API usage):

{
  "base_url": "https://mta.yourdomain.com",
  "api_token": "your-api-token"
}

Sender Configuration

These fields define the sender identity that recipients see.

Throttling (Rate Limits)

Control how fast emails are sent through this channel. This prevents overwhelming your email provider and helps maintain sender reputation.

Note: Currently, only Messages Per Second is fully enforced during campaign execution via the token bucket rate limiter. Messages Per Hour, Daily Limit, and Burst Size are stored and validated but not yet enforced as sliding windows. Full enforcement is planned for a future release.

Tracking Settings

Fallback Channel

Channel Lifecycle

Status Management

Channels go through these statuses:

• Activate: Changes status from Setup → Active or Inactive → Active
• Deactivate: Changes status from Active → Inactive

Only Active channels can send emails. Campaigns will fail if their assigned channel is not active.

DNS Verification

When you set a Sending Domain, CeramicCRM checks several DNS records:

Click Verify on the channel detail page to check all DNS records. See the in-app instructions panel for the exact records to add.

Health Check

Click Health Check on the channel detail page to verify provider connectivity. The health check shows:

• Provider status — green checkmark if healthy, red X if unreachable
• Sending quota — daily limit, sent today, and remaining (for SES)
• Latency — response time to the provider in milliseconds
• Circuit breaker state — whether the provider failover circuit is open or closed

You can also check health via the API:

curl http://localhost:8080/api/v1/channels/{id}/health \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <accessToken>" \
  -H "X-Workspace-ID: 1"

Creating a Channel via API

You can also create channels programmatically:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/v1/channels \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <accessToken>" \
  -H "X-Workspace-ID: 1" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Production Email",
    "channelType": "email",
    "providerType": "ses",
    "useCaseType": "marketing",
    "providerConfig": {
      "region": "eu-north-1",
      "access_key_id": "AKIA...",
      "secret_access_key": "..."
    },
    "fromEmail": "noreply@yourdomain.com",
    "fromName": "Your Company",
    "replyToEmail": "support@yourdomain.com",
    "sendingDomain": "yourdomain.com",
    "messagesPerSecond": 50,
    "trackOpens": true,
    "trackClicks": true
  }'

After creation, activate the channel:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/v1/channels/{id}/activate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <accessToken>" \
  -H "X-Workspace-ID: 1"

Security

• Provider credentials are encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM with key rotation support
• Credentials are never returned in API responses — the providerConfig field is excluded from all GET endpoints
• SSRF protection prevents using private/internal IP addresses in provider URLs

Related Documentation

• Amazon SES Setup — detailed AWS setup tutorial
• Campaigns — how to send email campaigns using channels
• Channel API Reference — API endpoint documentation