Installation

Requirements

Django 4.2+
Python 3.8+
ForwardEmail account and API key

Installing the Package

Install django-forwardemail using pip:

pip install django-forwardemail

Or using uv (recommended):

uv add django-forwardemail

Django Configuration

Add django_forwardemail to your INSTALLED_APPS in your Django settings:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ... other apps
    'django_forwardemail',
]

Optional: Configure as Default Email Backend

You can configure django-forwardemail as your default Django email backend:

EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django_forwardemail.backends.ForwardEmailBackend'

This allows you to use Django’s standard email functions while leveraging ForwardEmail’s service.

Database Migration

Run Django migrations to create the necessary database tables:

python manage.py migrate

This will create the EmailConfiguration model table for storing site-specific email settings.

ForwardEmail Account Setup

Sign up for a ForwardEmail account at https://forwardemail.net
Generate an API key from your account dashboard
Configure your domain and email addresses in ForwardEmail
Note your API key for configuration in Django

Environment Variables

It’s recommended to store sensitive configuration in environment variables:

# .env file
FORWARDEMAIL_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
FORWARDEMAIL_FROM_EMAIL=noreply@yourdomain.com
FORWARDEMAIL_FROM_NAME="Your App Name"

Then in your Django settings:

import os

FORWARDEMAIL_API_KEY = os.getenv('FORWARDEMAIL_API_KEY')
FORWARDEMAIL_FROM_EMAIL = os.getenv('FORWARDEMAIL_FROM_EMAIL')
FORWARDEMAIL_FROM_NAME = os.getenv('FORWARDEMAIL_FROM_NAME')

Verification

To verify your installation is working correctly, you can test sending an email:

from django_forwardemail.services import EmailService

try:
    EmailService.send_email(
        to='test@example.com',
        subject='Test Email',
        text='This is a test email from django-forwardemail',
    )
    print("Email sent successfully!")
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Error sending email: {e}")

Next Steps

Configure your Configuration settings
Learn about Usage patterns
Set up multi-site support if needed