How to Set Up SendGrid: Step-by-Step Guide for 2026

Claude Code suggested SendGrid for your project’s emails, and now you’re looking at a dashboard full of settings. This guide shows how to set up SendGrid step by step, in the order that works, so you can get your first email out and get back to building.

It’s for people building SaaS products, sites and tools with Claude Code who don’t write the code themselves. You do the account and domain steps in SendGrid; Claude Code adds the key and sending code.

SendGrid sends transactional emails: automatic, one-to-one messages such as a welcome email, a password reset or a receipt.

How do I create a SendGrid account?

Go to SendGrid’s sign-up page, choose Start for free, and fill in your name, email address and password. No credit card is needed for the free trial.

1. Enter your first name, last name, email address and password, tick the captcha and terms boxes, and choose Continue.
2. SendGrid emails you a code. Paste it into the “Let’s get your email verified” box.
3. Verify your phone number by text or voice call. SendGrid uses it for two-factor authentication, an extra login check.
4. Copy the recovery code it shows you and keep it somewhere safe. It appears once, and you’ll need it if you lose access to your phone.
5. Fill in “Tell Us About Yourself” (company name, website and phone number).
6. SendGrid then offers to authenticate a domain. You can do it now or choose Skip to dashboard and follow the next section.

If you can’t get into your account after signing up, wait 30 minutes and check your inbox. SendGrid sometimes reviews new accounts and emails you if it needs more information.

Here’s what you’re signing up for:

Prices checked October 2026 on SendGrid’s pricing page.

How do I verify my sender and authenticate my domain?

SendGrid won’t send from an address until you prove it’s yours. You can verify one address (a single sender) or your whole domain (domain authentication). For a live project, authenticate your domain.

Both options live in the same place: Settings, then Sender Authentication.

Option 1: Verify a single sender

1. Under Single Sender Verification, choose Verify a Single Sender.
2. Fill in the form: from name, from email address, reply-to address, your company’s postal address and a nickname only you can see.
3. Choose Create, then open the email SendGrid sends to that address and click the link.

If you enter an address from a large inbox provider such as Gmail, SendGrid shows a warning. Use an address on your own domain, such as hello@yourcompany.com.

Option 2: Authenticate your domain

This lets you send from any address on your domain. It means adding a few DNS records. DNS (the domain name system) is the internet’s address book, and its records are settings kept wherever your domain is managed, such as your registrar or Cloudflare.

1. In the Domain Authentication section, choose Get Started.
2. Pick your DNS host from the list, or choose I’m not sure.
3. When asked whether to brand your links, choose No for now. You can add it later.
4. Type your domain on its own, such as yourcompany.com, with no “www”.
5. Open Advanced Settings and leave Use automated security turned on.
6. Choose Next. SendGrid shows the records to add.

With the recommended settings, you’ll usually see four records:

A CNAME record points one name to another. A TXT record stores a short piece of text. Add each one in your DNS host’s settings, then return to SendGrid and choose Verify. Changes can take up to 48 hours to show up.

Two common snags:

• The domain gets added twice. Many DNS hosts add your domain to the record name automatically. If SendGrid shows em1234.yourcompany.com, type only em1234.
• Automatic setup isn’t offered. SendGrid can add the records for you only if your domain is with GoDaddy and link branding is off. Otherwise, you add them by hand.

Our guide on how to verify a domain for email covers the DNS step in more detail.

How do I create an API key with the right permissions?

Go to Settings, then API Keys, and choose Create API Key. Give it a name, choose Custom Access, and turn on only the permission to send mail.

An API key is a long secret password that lets your project use SendGrid without your login details. Anyone who has it can send email as you, so keep it private.

1. Type a name you’ll recognize, such as “My SaaS – sending”.
2. Choose Custom Access (older guides call this “Restricted Access”).
3. Find Mail Send in the list and set it to Full Access. Leave everything else off.
4. Choose Create & View, then click the key to copy it.

SendGrid shows the key once. If you lose it, it can’t be recovered: delete it and create a new one.

A key that can only send mail does less harm if it ever leaks: it can’t change your account or see your billing.

How do I add the API key to my project with Claude Code?

Hand the key to Claude Code and ask it to store it safely and add the sending code. You don’t write any code.

I’ve set up SendGrid for my transactional emails. My domain yourcompany.com is authenticated, and I want emails to come from hello@yourcompany.com with the name “Your Company”. I’ve created an API key that can only send mail. Please store it safely in my project, keep it out of anything public, and add what’s needed to send email through SendGrid. Ask me for the key when you’re ready.

Expect Claude Code to put the key in an environment variable, a setting your project reads when it runs, kept outside the code. On your computer that’s usually a .env file, a small private settings file that shouldn’t be shared. It will also add a small piece of sending code.

Your live project needs the key too. Add the same key in your hosting provider’s environment variable settings. On Vercel, changes only apply to new deployments, so redeploy afterward.

My project is hosted on Vercel. Tell me exactly what to name the SendGrid key in my hosting settings, and remind me to redeploy afterward.

For more on keeping keys safe, see where to put API keys.

How do I send a test email?

Ask Claude Code to send one test email to your own address, then check your inbox and SendGrid’s Activity page.

Please send a test email through SendGrid to me at hello@yourcompany.com with the subject “SendGrid test”. Tell me whether SendGrid accepted it, and if it didn’t, tell me what the error means in plain English.

If it arrives, you’re set up. If not, open Activity in SendGrid and search for your address to see what happened, such as delivered, deferred or bounced. On the free trial and Essentials plan, it keeps 3 days of history.

Our guide to testing your emails before users see them has a fuller checklist.

How is SimpleSends different for people who don’t code?

SimpleSends is a transactional email service like SendGrid, built for people who build with Claude Code but don’t write code. You still set up the same building blocks: an account, a verified sending domain, a secret key and sending code in your project. The difference is what working with it is like after that.

SendGrid suits people who write code or want to edit code themselves, and teams sending very high volumes. Its console and docs are written for developers.

With SimpleSends:

• The sign-up, the connect steps and the help are written in plain English, without developer jargon.
• Everything after sign-up happens in the chat. You don’t need a dashboard for day-to-day work. You brief Claude Code the way you’d brief a person.
• Claude Code handles every email. It designs, writes, builds and changes every transactional email, so “set up all my transactional emails” is a reasonable brief.
• Problems get sorted in plain English. Claude Code can read your send logs and delivery status through SimpleSends, so it can tell you whether an email went out and help work out why one didn’t.

Claude Code talks to SimpleSends through a connector that uses MCP, a standard way for AI tools to connect to other services. The connector is for building and testing; once live, your project sends real emails directly through SimpleSends.

To connect SimpleSends:

1. Sign up on the SimpleSends website and follow the steps there to set up the email address you’ll send from. To send from your own domain, this includes adding a few DNS records where your domain is registered.
2. In Claude Code, open Customize, then Connectors, choose Add, then Add custom connector. Name: SimpleSends. MCP server URL: https://mcp.simplesends.com/mcp
3. When Claude prompts you to connect, log in to SimpleSends.
4. Back in the Claude Code chat, tell Claude Code:

I’ve connected SimpleSends for all transactional email.

It takes it from there, including adding what your project needs to send email.

Want to see how working with SendGrid inside Claude Code looks day to day? Read our guide to using SendGrid with Claude Code.