DNS setup

Four records make your domain a mail domain: MX to receive, SPF and DKIM to prove your outbound mail is yours, DMARC to say what happens when it isn't.

Your domain page in the dashboard shows these same records with your domain and your DKIM selector filled in — copy from there, not from this page. The values below use yourco.com as a stand-in.

The records

TypeHost / NameValueTTL
MX@10 mx1.mail.atrix.dev3600
TXT@v=spf1 include:mail.atrix.dev ~all3600
CNAMEam1._domainkeyam1.dkim.mail.atrix.dev3600
TXT_dmarcv=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@mail.atrix.dev3600

What each record does

MX tells the world where mail for @yourco.com should be delivered — our edge, mx1.mail.atrix.dev. Priority 10 is conventional; the number only matters relative to other MX records, and you should remove any existing ones from a previous provider.

SPF (a TXT record on the apex) lists the servers allowed to send mail claiming to be from your domain. The include:mail.atrix.dev mechanism delegates that list to us. A domain may have only one SPF record — if you already have one, merge our include into it rather than adding a second:

dns
# merging with an existing Google Workspace SPF record:
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:mail.atrix.dev ~all

DKIM lets receiving servers verify a cryptographic signature we add to every outbound message. The CNAME delegates the selector am1._domainkey to us, which means we can rotate your keys automatically — you never touch DNS again for key hygiene.

DMARC tells receivers what to do with mail that fails SPF and DKIM: p=quarantine sends impostor mail to spam. Start there; move to p=reject once the reports (sent to the rua address, summarized in your dashboard) show only legitimate mail for a couple of weeks.

Registrar notes

  • Cloudflare: set the DKIM CNAME to DNS only (grey cloud) — proxying breaks lookups.
  • Namecheap / GoDaddy: use @ for the apex host field; some UIs call it "blank" or the domain itself.
  • Route 53: TXT values must be quoted; the console adds quotes for you, the API does not.
  • Some registrars append your domain to host names automatically — if verification stalls, check you haven't created _dmarc.yourco.com.yourco.com.

Checking propagation

shell
dig MX yourco.com +short
dig TXT yourco.com +short
dig CNAME am1._domainkey.yourco.com +short
dig TXT _dmarc.yourco.com +short

The dashboard re-verifies automatically every few minutes and keeps watching after the initial setup — if a record drifts or is deleted later, the domain flips to attention and you get a domain.failed webhook and an email to your fallback address.