FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Straight answers about how mailsocket receives, parses and deletes mail.
How long is mail kept?
Messages are purged from the live database after 1 day on the Free plan and 7 days on the Paid plan. A scheduled purge permanently deletes committed messages after the applicable window. Database backups may retain deleted messages for up to 14 days, and undelivered mail may sit in the mail queue for up to 5 days before final deletion.
What OTP formats are detected, and with what confidence?
We extract candidate codes of 4–8 digits (or groups like 123-456) and score each with a confidence value between 0 and 1. A candidate near a verification keyword (such as code, OTP, verification, passcode, PIN) scores 0.95; an unlabelled numeric candidate scores 0.35. Order numbers, invoice totals, ZIP codes, phone numbers and years are rejected. Pass min_confidence to the wait endpoint to only accept codes above a threshold.
Do you follow magic links?
No. We extract the most likely magic link from the message body and return it in the magic_link field — we never click or follow it. Your test (or user) is responsible for opening the link.
What are the rate limits?
API requests are rate-limited per key; every response carries X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining and X-RateLimit-Reset headers. There are also two distinct 429 responses on the wait endpoint: too_many_wait_requests (the per-account concurrent-wait cap — 2 free / 3 paid) and wait_capacity (the global cap across all accounts). See the error reference for both.
Is mail ever lost?
No. Inbound mail is accepted at SMTP only after it is durably stored. If the parser or API is down, Postfix defers the message (a temporary failure, exit 75) and redelivers it later — it is never bounced as lost. This no-loss path is verified in production infrastructure.
How do I erase my data (GDPR)?
Self-serve account deletion is available from Settings — it permanently erases your account, inboxes and messages. Database backups may retain erased data for up to 14 days before rolling off. For access or correction requests instead, contact [email protected].
Do you support SMS?
No. mailsocket receives email only — we do not receive or forward SMS.
Do you return attachments?
Not yet. We extract the subject, From/To/Cc, the plain-text and HTML bodies, the OTP and the magic link. Attachment bodies are skipped (never treated as message text) but are not returned as files.