Mailpit: Simple Local Email Testing for Laravel

What is Mailpit?

Mailpit is a lightweight tool that runs a local SMTP server and catches any emails your app sends. Instead of delivering emails to real inboxes, it stores them and gives you a clean browser interface to preview them.

Why Use It in Laravel?

• Prevents sending test emails to real users
• Lets you preview subject lines, content, headers, and attachments
• No config for third-party services like Mailgun or SMTP providers
• Perfect for developing and debugging Mailable classes

Quick .env Setup

To get started, download and install Mailpit directly from its official website. Once it’s up and running, update your Laravel project’s environment variables to point your mail configuration toward Mailpit.

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=127.0.0.1
MAIL_PORT=1025
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=null
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS="test@example.com"

Once configured, open http://localhost:8025 to view sent emails.

That's it—Mailpit helps you test emails safely and instantly while working on your Laravel project.