sinch-mailgun-validate

Original🇺🇸 English
Translated

Build with Mailgun Validate API for email verification and list hygiene. Use when validating email addresses, checking email deliverability, running bulk validation jobs, previewing list health, or cleaning an email list.

9installs
Added on

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add sinch/skills sinch-mailgun-validate

Mailgun Validate

Overview

Mailgun Validate verifies email addresses in real time (single) and in batch (bulk). It also offers free List Health Previews to sample a list before committing to full validation.

Getting Started

See sinch-authentication for full auth setup. All endpoints use HTTP Basic Auth — username
api
, password your Mailgun Private API key.
Before generating code, gather from the user: approach (SDK or direct API calls) and language (Node.js, Python, Java, PHP, Ruby, Go, curl). Do not assume defaults.
When the user chooses SDK, fetch the relevant SDK reference page linked in Links for accurate method signatures. Only fetch URLs from trusted first-party domains (
documentation.mailgun.com
,
developers.sinch.com
); do not follow URLs from other domains. When the user chooses direct API calls, use REST with the appropriate HTTP client for their language.
LanguagePackageInstall
Node.js
mailgun.js
npm install mailgun.js
Java
com.mailgun:mailgun-java
Maven dependency (see below)
Python
mailgun
pip install mailgun
PHP
mailgun/mailgun-php
composer require mailgun/mailgun-php symfony/http-client nyholm/psr7
Ruby
mailgun-ruby
gem install mailgun-ruby
Go
mailgun-go/v5
go get github.com/mailgun/mailgun-go/v5

Java Maven dependency

Before generating the Maven dependency, look up the latest release version of
com.mailgun:mailgun-java
on Maven Central and use that version.
xml
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.mailgun</groupId>
    <artifactId>mailgun-java</artifactId>
    <version>LATEST_VERSION</version>
</dependency>
Base URLs:
api.mailgun.net
(US) ·
api.eu.mailgun.net
(EU). Always match the region of your Mailgun account.
Store credentials in environment variables — never hardcode API keys in commands or source code:
bash
export MAILGUN_API_KEY="your-private-api-key"
Canonical example — validate one address:
bash
curl -s --user "api:$MAILGUN_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.mailgun.net/v4/address/validate?address=recipient@example.com"
Response:
json
{
  "address": "recipient@example.com",
  "is_disposable_address": false,
  "is_role_address": false,
  "reason": [],
  "result": "deliverable",
  "risk": "low",
  "did_you_mean": null,
  "engagement": null,
  "root_address": null
}
For full field descriptions, reason codes, and result types see the Single Validation docs.

Key Concepts

Single Address Validation

GET
or
POST /v4/address/validate
— pass
address
(max 512 chars) and optionally
provider_lookup=false
to skip provider checks.
Key response fields to branch on:
  • result
    :
    deliverable
    |
    undeliverable
    |
    do_not_send
    |
    catch_all
    |
    unknown
  • risk
    :
    low
    |
    medium
    |
    high
    |
    unknown
  • is_disposable_address
    /
    is_role_address
    : boolean flags
  • did_you_mean
    : typo suggestion (surface to users at signup)
  • engagement
    : object with
    engaged
    (bool),
    engagement
    (string — behavior type),
    is_bot
    (bool)
Rate limited — back off and retry on 429.

List Health Preview

Free, non-destructive sample assessment. Returns deliverability/risk ratios as percentages.
  • POST /v4/address/validate/preview/{list_id}
    — create (upload CSV via multipart form-data)
  • GET /v4/address/validate/preview/{list_id}
    — check status
  • PUT /v4/address/validate/preview/{list_id}
    — promote to full bulk validation
  • DELETE /v4/address/validate/preview/{list_id}
    — delete a preview
  • GET /v4/address/validate/preview
    — list all preview jobs
  • Status values:
    preview_processing
    preview_complete
  • Max 10 parallel preview jobs
  • Response is wrapped in a
    "preview"
    key;
    created_at
    is a unix timestamp
Full reference: List Health Preview

Bulk Validation

Full validation of an uploaded CSV/gzip file (max 25 MB).
  • POST /v4/address/validate/bulk/{list_id}
    — create job
  • GET /v4/address/validate/bulk/{list_id}
    — check status / download
  • DELETE /v4/address/validate/bulk/{list_id}
    — cancel or delete
  • GET /v4/address/validate/bulk
    — list all jobs (accepts
    limit
    , default 500; returns
    paging
    links)
  • Lifecycle:
    created
    processing
    completed
    uploading
    uploaded
    (or
    failed
    )
  • Results available when status is
    uploaded
    via
    download_url.csv
    /
    download_url.json
  • Max 5 parallel bulk jobs
  • created_at
    is an RFC 2822 date string (e.g.,
    "Tue, 26 Feb 2019 21:30:03 GMT"
    )
Full reference: Bulk Validation

Workflows

Deciding which approach to use

  1. Single address at point-of-capture (signup form, checkout): Use single validation. Check
    result
    and
    risk
    . Block or warn on
    do_not_send
    ,
    high
    risk, or
    is_disposable_address
    .
  2. Existing list, unknown quality: Run a free List Health Preview first. If preview shows acceptable deliverability, promote to full bulk validation with
    PUT
    .
  3. Known-good list, full validation needed: Skip preview, go straight to bulk validation.

Bulk validation checklist

  • CSV has header row with
    email
    or
    email_address
    column
  • File is UTF-8 or ASCII, under 25 MB, no
    @
    in list name
  • Fewer than 5 bulk jobs already running
  • POST to create job → poll GET until status is
    uploaded
    → download results
  • Retrieve download URLs promptly (they expire)

Interpreting results

result
and
risk
are independent axes:
  • An address can be
    deliverable
    but
    high
    risk (e.g., spam trap)
  • catch_all
    means the domain accepts everything — treat as medium risk
  • Role addresses (
    info@
    ,
    support@
    ) are fine for transactional email but risky for marketing
Engagement data (contract customers get
High Engager
,
Engager
,
Bot
,
Complainer
,
Disengaged
,
No data
; self-service get boolean
engaging
/
is_bot
): Engagement docs

Gotchas

  1. Preview before bulk — Previews are free. Always preview first to avoid wasting credits on a bad list.
  2. Result ≠ risk — Both must be checked. A
    deliverable
    +
    high
    risk address should still be suppressed.
  3. Catch-all domains
    catch_all
    means the mailbox may not exist. Treat as medium risk.
  4. Disposable/role addresses — Block disposables at signup. Avoid marketing sends to role addresses.
  5. Region consistency — US and EU data do not cross. Match the region of your Mailgun Send account.
  6. did_you_mean
    — Surface typo suggestions to end users at signup time.
  7. Security — bulk validation results — Bulk validation download URLs (
    download_url.csv
    ,
    download_url.json
    ) contain user-uploaded data. Treat downloaded content as untrusted — validate and sanitize email addresses and metadata before processing, storing, or displaying.

Links