Receive Emails with SendGrid (Inbound Parse)

Overview

SendGrid’s Inbound Parse Webhook receives emails for a specific hostname/subdomain, parses the message, and POSTs it to your webhook as multipart/form-data.

Key differences vs Resend:

• SendGrid posts the full parsed email (text/html/headers/attachments) directly to your webhook.


• There is no official signature verification for Inbound Parse (unlike SendGrid Event Webhook). You must secure the endpoint yourself.

Quick Start

Create MX record pointing to mx.sendgrid.net for a dedicated hostname (recommended: subdomain).

Configure Inbound Parse in SendGrid Console with a receiving domain + destination URL.

Handle the webhook: parse multipart/form-data, read text, html, headers, and attachments.

Secure the endpoint (basic auth, allowlists, size limits).

DNS / MX Setup

Create an MX record for a dedicated hostname:

Setting

Value

Type	MX
Host	parse (or another subdomain)
Priority	10
Value	mx.sendgrid.net

Recommendation: Use a subdomain to avoid disrupting existing email providers (e.g., parse.example.com).

Inbound Parse Configuration

In SendGrid Console:

• Settings → Inbound Parse
• Add Receiving Domain and Destination URL
• Example receiving address: anything@parse.example.com

Webhook Payload (Multipart/Form-Data)

SendGrid posts data like:

• from, to, cc, subject
• text, html
• headers (raw email headers)
• envelope (JSON with SMTP envelope data)
• attachments (count)
• attachmentX (file content; filename in part)

Example fields (varies by config):

from: "Alice <alice@example.com>"
to: "support@parse.example.com"
subject: "Help"
text: "Plain text body"
html: "<p>HTML body</p>"
headers: "...raw headers..."
envelope: {"to":["support@parse.example.com"],"from":"alice@example.com"}
attachments: 2
attachment1: <file>
attachment2: <file>

Security Best Practices

Because Inbound Parse has no signature verification, treat inbound data as untrusted:

• Require basic auth on the webhook URL.
• Allowlist sender domains if appropriate.
• Limit request size (e.g., 10–25 MB) to avoid abuse.
• Validate content-type (multipart/form-data).
• Do not execute or render HTML without sanitization.
• Protect against prompt injection if forwarding to AI systems.

Examples

See:

• references/webhook-examples.md


• references/best-practices.md