Setup MailHog to mock emails

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use MailHog, a fake SMTP server for development and testing email sending in local environments.

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1. Install MailHog

Option 1: Download binary

• Go to: https://github.com/mailhog/MailHog/releases
• Download the binary for your OS (e.g., MailHog_windows_amd64.exe for Windows)
• Rename it to mailhog.exe and move it somewhere like C:\mailhog\ or add it to your system PATH

Option 2: Go install (if using Go)

go install github.com/mailhog/MailHog@latest

Option 3: Docker

docker run -d -p 1025:1025 -p 8025:8025 mailhog/mailhog

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2. Run MailHog

If you used the binary:

./mailhog

If you're using Docker, it’s already running with:

• SMTP: localhost:1025
• Web UI: http://localhost:8025

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3. Configure your application to use MailHog

Use the following SMTP settings:

# N1netails example (application.yml)
n1netails:
  email:
    enabled: ${EMAIL_ENABLED:false}

spring:
  mail:
    host: ${EMAIL_HOST:localhost}
    port: ${EMAIL_PORT:1025}
    username: ${EMAIL_USERNAME:host-username}
    password: ${EMAIL_PASSWORD:host-password}
    from: ${EMAIL_SENDER:support@n1netails.com}
    properties:
      mail:
        smtp:
          auth: ${EMAIL_PROPERTIES_AUTH:false}
          starttls.enable: ${EMAIL_PROPERTIES_STARTTLS_ENABLE:false}
          connectiontimeout: 10000
          timeout: 10000
          writetimeout: 10000

4. Send a test email

You can now trigger an email from N1netails — it will be captured by MailHog, not actually sent.

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5. View the email

1. Open browser → http://localhost:8025
2. You’ll see a simple web UI
3. Click on the email to view its content (HTML/plaintext/headers/etc.)

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6. Optional: Clean up or script it

• You can use MailHog’s API to clean the inbox, script testing, etc.
• API Docs: https://github.com/mailhog/MailHog/blob/master/docs/APIv1.md