---
title: Email routing
description: Test Email Service routing Workers locally using wrangler dev with simulated incoming emails.
image: https://edgetunnel-b2h.pages.dev/dev-products-preview.png
---

> Documentation Index  
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://edgetunnel-b2h.pages.dev/email-service/llms.txt  
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. 

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# Email routing

Test email routing Workers locally using wrangler dev with simulated incoming emails

Test email routing behavior locally using `wrangler dev` to simulate incoming emails and verify your routing logic before deploying.

## Prerequisites

1. Sign up for a [Cloudflare account ↗](https://dash.cloudflare.com/sign-up/workers-and-pages).
2. Install [Node.js ↗](https://docs.npmjs.com/downloading-and-installing-node-js-and-npm).

Node.js version manager

Use a Node version manager like [Volta ↗](https://volta.sh/) or [nvm ↗](https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm) to avoid permission issues and change Node.js versions. [Wrangler](https://edgetunnel-b2h.pages.dev/workers/wrangler/install-and-update/), discussed later in this guide, requires a Node version of `16.17.0` or later.

## Configuration

Configure your Wrangler file:

* [  wrangler.jsonc ](#tab-panel-9264)
* [  wrangler.toml ](#tab-panel-9265)

**JSONC**

```jsonc
{
  "name": "email-routing-worker",
  // Set this to today's date
  "compatibility_date": "2026-07-20",
}
```

**TOML**

```toml
name = "email-routing-worker"
# Set this to today's date
compatibility_date = "2026-07-20"
```

## Basic routing worker

**JavaScript**

```javascript
import * as PostalMime from "postal-mime";


export default {
  async email(message, env, ctx) {
    // Parse the raw email message
    const parser = new PostalMime.default();
    const rawEmail = new Response(message.raw);
    const email = await parser.parse(await rawEmail.arrayBuffer());


    console.log("Received email:", {
      from: message.from,
      to: message.to,
      subject: email.subject,
      text: email.text,
      html: email.html,
    });


    // Route based on recipient
    if (message.to.includes("support@")) {
      await message.forward("support-team@example.com");
    } else {
      await message.forward("general@example.com");
    }
  },
};
```

## Testing

Start your development server:

```bash
npx wrangler dev
```

Send a test email using the local endpoint. The request body must be a raw email message in [RFC 5322 ↗](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc5322) format, and the message must include a `Message-ID` header:

```bash
curl --request POST 'http://localhost:8787/cdn-cgi/handler/email' \
  --url-query 'from=sender@example.com' \
  --url-query 'to=recipient@example.com' \
  --data-raw 'Received: from smtp.example.com (127.0.0.1)
        by cloudflare-email.com (unknown) id 4fwwffRXOpyR
        for <recipient@example.com>; Tue, 27 Aug 2024 15:50:20 +0000
From: "John" <sender@example.com>
Reply-To: sender@example.com
To: recipient@example.com
Subject: Testing Email Workers Local Dev
Content-Type: text/html; charset="windows-1252"
X-Mailer: Curl
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2024 08:49:44 -0700
Message-ID: <6114391943504294873000@ZSH-GHOSTTY>


Hi there'
```

This will output the parsed email structure in the console:

```json
{
  "headers": [
    {
      "key": "received",
      "value": "from smtp.example.com (127.0.0.1) by cloudflare-email.com (unknown) id 4fwwffRXOpyR for <recipient@example.com>; Tue, 27 Aug 2024 15:50:20 +0000"
    },
    { "key": "from", "value": "\"John\" <sender@example.com>" },
    { "key": "reply-to", "value": "sender@example.com" },
    { "key": "to", "value": "recipient@example.com" },
    { "key": "subject", "value": "Testing Email Workers Local Dev" },
    { "key": "content-type", "value": "text/html; charset=\"windows-1252\"" },
    { "key": "x-mailer", "value": "Curl" },
    { "key": "date", "value": "Tue, 27 Aug 2024 08:49:44 -0700" },
    {
      "key": "message-id",
      "value": "<6114391943504294873000@ZSH-GHOSTTY>"
    }
  ],
  "from": { "address": "sender@example.com", "name": "John" },
  "to": [{ "address": "recipient@example.com", "name": "" }],
  "replyTo": [{ "address": "sender@example.com", "name": "" }],
  "subject": "Testing Email Workers Local Dev",
  "messageId": "<6114391943504294873000@ZSH-GHOSTTY>",
  "date": "2024-08-27T15:49:44.000Z",
  "html": "Hi there\n",
  "attachments": []
}
```

## Next steps

* Deploy your routing worker: [Route emails get started](https://edgetunnel-b2h.pages.dev/email-service/get-started/route-emails/)
* See advanced patterns: [Email routing examples](https://edgetunnel-b2h.pages.dev/email-service/examples/email-routing/)

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```