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Dillion Huston
Dillion Huston

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Adding SMTP Email Notifications to FastAPI Using smtplib and Environment Variables

#webdev #programming #fastapi #smtp

In my Task Automation API, I added email notification support using Python’s smtplib. The setup is minimal, uses no extra packages, and leverages environment variables to securely manage SMTP credentials.

Here’s a breakdown of the implementation, inspired by this commit:

View commit on GitHub

Email Sending Function with smtplib 

import smtplib from email.mime.text import MIMEText from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart import os def send_email(recipient: str, subject: str, body: str): sender = os.getenv("SMTP_SENDER") password = os.getenv("SMTP_PASSWORD") smtp_server = os.getenv("SMTP_SERVER") smtp_port = int(os.getenv("SMTP_PORT", 587)) msg = MIMEMultipart() msg["From"] = sender msg["To"] = recipient msg["Subject"] = subject msg.attach(MIMEText(body, "plain")) with smtplib.SMTP(smtp_server, smtp_port) as server: server.starttls() server.login(sender, password) server.sendmail(sender, recipient, msg.as_string())
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Environment Variables Setup

To keep secrets out of the codebase, define these in your .env file or server environment:

  • SMTP_SENDER: Your email address
  • SMTP_PASSWORD: SMTP password or app-specific password
  • SMTP_SERVER: SMTP host, e.g., smtp.gmail.com
  • SMTP_PORT: Port number, usually 587

How I Use It

After a user schedules a task, once and it’s validated, I call send_email to notify them:

send_email( recipient=current_user.email, subject="File Upload Successful", body=f"Your file {file.filename} was uploaded and verified." )
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Why This Approach?

  • No external dependencies
  • Secure configuration with environment variables
  • Easy to extend for HTML emails or attachments later

Wrap Up

Adding SMTP email with smtplib is a lightweight, effective way to send notifications in your FastAPI app. This pattern fits nicely in automation workflows like mine.

Check out the full commit for details:

GitHub link

If you need help integrating emailing or environment management in your project, let me know.

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