Python - Getting Started

This guide will help you get up and running with the Mailblock Python SDK in just a few minutes.

Prerequisites

Python 3.8 or higher
A Mailblock API key from MailBlock

Installation

Install the SDK using pip:

pip install mailblock

For async support:

pip install mailblock[async]

For development with all tools:

pip install mailblock[dev]

Basic Setup

First follow the steps from: Basic Setup Import and initialize the SDK with your API key:

from mailblock import MailBlock

client = MailBlock('your-api-key-here')

Sending Your First Email

Here’s how to send a simple email using the fluent builder pattern:

response = client.email() \
    .to('recipient@example.com') \
    .from_email('sender@yourdomain.com') \
    .subject('Hello from Mailblock!') \
    .text('This is my first email using the Mailblock Python SDK.') \
    .send_sync()

if response.success:
    print('Email sent successfully!')
    print('Email ID:', response.data['id'])
else:
    print('Failed to send email:', response.error)

Alternatively, you can use the EmailData class directly:

from mailblock import EmailData

email_data = EmailData(
    to='recipient@example.com',
    from_email='sender@yourdomain.com',
    subject='Hello from Mailblock!',
    text='This is my first email using the Mailblock Python SDK.'
)

response = client.send_email_sync(email_data)

Using Method Chaining

The SDK also supports a fluent, chainable API:

response = client.email() \
    .to('recipient@example.com') \
    .from_email('sender@yourdomain.com') \
    .subject('Hello from Mailblock!') \
    .text('This email was sent using method chaining.') \
    .send_sync()

For async operations:

import asyncio

async def send_email():
    response = await client.email() \
        .to('recipient@example.com') \
        .from_email('sender@yourdomain.com') \
        .subject('Hello from Mailblock!') \
        .text('This email was sent using async method chaining.') \
        .send()
    return response

# Run async function
response = asyncio.run(send_email())

Sending HTML Emails

You can send rich HTML emails instead of plain text:

response = client.email() \
    .to('recipient@example.com') \
    .from_email('sender@yourdomain.com') \
    .subject('Welcome to Our Service') \
    .html('''
        <h1>Welcome!</h1>
        <p>Thanks for signing up. We're excited to have you on board.</p>
        <a href="https://yoursite.com/dashboard">Get Started</a>
    ''') \
    .send_sync()

Or using EmailData:

from mailblock import EmailData

email_data = EmailData(
    to='recipient@example.com',
    from_email='sender@yourdomain.com',
    subject='Welcome to Our Service',
    html='''
        <h1>Welcome!</h1>
        <p>Thanks for signing up. We're excited to have you on board.</p>
        <a href="https://yoursite.com/dashboard">Get Started</a>
    '''
)

response = client.send_email_sync(email_data)

Or with method chaining:

response = client.email() \
    .to('recipient@example.com') \
    .from_email('sender@yourdomain.com') \
    .subject('Welcome to Our Service') \
    .html('<h1>Welcome!</h1><p>Thanks for signing up!</p>') \
    .send_sync()

Sending to Multiple Recipients

Send emails to multiple people with CC and BCC support:

from mailblock import EmailData

# Using direct email data
email_data = EmailData(
    to=['user1@example.com', 'user2@example.com'],
    cc='manager@example.com',
    bcc=['audit@example.com', 'admin@example.com'],
    from_email='sender@yourdomain.com',
    subject='Team Update',
    text='This email goes to multiple recipients.'
)

response = client.send_email_sync(email_data)

You can also use method chaining with multiple recipients:

response = client.email() \
    .to(['primary@example.com', 'secondary@example.com']) \
    .cc('supervisor@example.com') \
    .bcc(['audit@example.com']) \
    .from_email('system@yourdomain.com') \
    .subject('System Notification') \
    .text('Multiple recipients via method chaining.') \
    .send_sync()

Scheduling Emails

Schedule emails to be sent at a future date and time:

from datetime import datetime, timedelta

# Schedule email for 1 hour from now
scheduled_time = datetime.now() + timedelta(hours=1)

response = client.email() \
    .to('recipient@example.com') \
    .from_email('sender@yourdomain.com') \
    .subject('Scheduled Email') \
    .text('This email was scheduled to be sent later.') \
    .schedule_at(scheduled_time) \
    .send_sync()

if response.success:
    print('Email scheduled successfully!')

Or using EmailData:

from mailblock import EmailData
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

email_data = EmailData(
    to='recipient@example.com',
    from_email='sender@yourdomain.com',
    subject='Scheduled Email',
    text='This email was scheduled to be sent later.',
    scheduled_at=datetime.now() + timedelta(hours=1)
)

response = client.send_email_sync(email_data)

You can also use ISO date strings:

response = client.email() \
    .to('recipient@example.com') \
    .from_email('sender@yourdomain.com') \
    .subject('Scheduled Email') \
    .text('This email was scheduled using an ISO string.') \
    .schedule_at('2024-12-25T09:00:00.000Z') \
    .send_sync()

Managing Scheduled Emails

Canceling Scheduled Emails

Cancel scheduled emails before they’re sent:

# Cancel a single email
cancel_response = client.cancel_email_sync('email-id-123')

if cancel_response.success:
    print('Email cancelled successfully!')
    print('Previous status:', cancel_response.data['previous_status'])
    print('Current status:', cancel_response.data['current_status'])

# Cancel multiple emails at once
email_ids = ['id-1', 'id-2', 'id-3']
bulk_response = client.cancel_emails_sync(email_ids)

if bulk_response.success:
    print(f"Cancelled {bulk_response.data['success_count']} emails")
    print(f"Failed to cancel {bulk_response.data['error_count']} emails")

For async operations:

import asyncio

async def cancel_emails():
    # Cancel single email
    response = await client.cancel_email('email-id-123')
    
    # Cancel multiple emails
    bulk_response = await client.cancel_emails(['id-1', 'id-2', 'id-3'])
    
    return response, bulk_response

responses = asyncio.run(cancel_emails())

Updating Scheduled Emails

Modify scheduled emails before they’re sent:

from mailblock import UpdateEmailData
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

# Update email content
updates = UpdateEmailData(
    subject='Updated: Meeting Postponed',
    body_text='The meeting has been moved to next week.',
    body_html='<p><strong>Updated:</strong> The meeting has been moved to next week.</p>'
)

update_response = client.update_scheduled_email_sync('email-id-123', updates)

# Reschedule an email
reschedule_updates = UpdateEmailData(
    scheduled_at=datetime.now() + timedelta(hours=2)  # Send in 2 hours instead
)

await client.update_scheduled_email_sync('email-id-456', reschedule_updates)

# Convert scheduled email to immediate send
immediate_updates = UpdateEmailData(
    scheduled_at=None,  # Send immediately
    subject='Urgent: Sending Now!'
)

client.update_scheduled_email_sync('email-id-789', immediate_updates)

Environment Configuration

For production applications, use environment variables for your API key:

# .env file
MAILBLOCK_API_KEY=your-api-key-here

import os
from mailblock import MailBlock

# Your application
client = MailBlock(os.environ['MAILBLOCK_API_KEY'])

Debug Mode

Enable debug mode during development to see detailed logs:

from mailblock import MailBlock

client = MailBlock('your-api-key', debug=True)

# Now you'll see detailed logs for all API calls
response = client.email() \
    .to('test@example.com') \
    .from_email('sender@yourdomain.com') \
    .subject('Debug Test') \
    .text('Testing with debug mode enabled') \
    .send_sync()

Debug logs include:

Request details and timing
API responses
Error information
Performance metrics

Custom Logger

You can also provide your own logger:

import logging
from mailblock import MailBlock

# Set up custom logger
logger = logging.getLogger("my_app.mailblock")
logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)

handler = logging.FileHandler("email.log")
formatter = logging.Formatter('%(asctime)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s')
handler.setFormatter(formatter)
logger.addHandler(handler)

# Use custom logger
client = MailBlock('your-api-key', debug=True, logger=logger)

Type Safety Support

The SDK includes full type hints and works great with mypy:

from mailblock import (
    MailBlock, 
    EmailData, 
    APIResponse, 
    UpdateEmailData,
    ValidationError
)
from typing import List

client: MailBlock = MailBlock('your-api-key')

# Send email with full type safety
email_data: EmailData = EmailData(
    to=['recipient@example.com', 'user2@example.com'],
    cc='manager@example.com', 
    bcc=['audit@example.com'],
    from_email='sender@yourdomain.com',
    subject='Python Email with Type Safety',
    text='This email was sent with full type safety!'
)

response: APIResponse = client.send_email_sync(email_data)

# Update email with typed options
updates: UpdateEmailData = UpdateEmailData(
    subject='Updated Subject',
    body_text='New content',
    scheduled_at=datetime.now() + timedelta(hours=1)
)

update_response: APIResponse = client.update_scheduled_email_sync('email-id', updates)

Context Manager Support

Use the SDK with context managers for proper resource cleanup:

from mailblock import MailBlock

# Ensures proper cleanup of resources
with MailBlock('your-api-key') as client:
    response = client.email() \
        .to('recipient@example.com') \
        .from_email('sender@example.com') \
        .subject('Context Manager Test') \
        .text('This uses proper resource management.') \
        .send_sync()

Error Handling

The SDK uses a consistent response format and exception hierarchy:

from mailblock import ValidationError, AuthenticationError, RateLimitError

try:
    response = client.email() \
        .to('invalid-email') \
        .from_email('sender@example.com') \
        .subject('Test') \
        .text('Test content') \
        .send_sync()

except ValidationError as e:
    print(f"Validation error: {e}")
    print(f"Error type: {e.error_type}")
    print(f"Suggestion: {e.suggestion}")
    print(f"Request ID: {e.request_id}")

except AuthenticationError as e:
    print(f"Authentication failed: {e}")
    print(f"Request ID: {e.request_id}")

except RateLimitError as e:
    print(f"Rate limited: {e}")
    print(f"Suggestion: {e.suggestion}")

except Exception as e:
    print(f"Unexpected error: {e}")

You can also check response objects:

response = client.email() \
    .to('test@example.com') \
    .from_email('sender@example.com') \
    .subject('Test') \
    .text('Test message') \
    .send_sync()

if not response.success:
    print('Error Type:', response.error_type)
    print('Error Message:', response.error)
    print('Suggestion:', response.suggestion)
    print('Request ID:', response.request_id)
    print('Status Code:', response.status_code)

Advanced Usage

Bulk Email Sending

Send multiple emails efficiently with async:

import asyncio

async def send_bulk_emails():
    recipients = [
        "user1@example.com",
        "user2@example.com", 
        "user3@example.com"
    ]
    
    # Send emails concurrently
    tasks = []
    for recipient in recipients:
        task = client.email() \
            .to(recipient) \
            .from_email("bulk@example.com") \
            .subject("Bulk Email") \
            .text(f"Personal email for {recipient}") \
            .send()
        tasks.append(task)
    
    responses = await asyncio.gather(*tasks, return_exceptions=True)
    
    for i, response in enumerate(responses):
        if isinstance(response, Exception):
            print(f"Email {i+1} failed: {response}")
        elif response.success:
            print(f"Email {i+1} sent successfully")
        else:
            print(f"Email {i+1} failed: {response.error}")

asyncio.run(send_bulk_emails())

Installation Options

Install specific extras based on your needs:

# Basic installation
pip install mailblock

# With async support  
pip install mailblock[async]

# Development installation with all tools
pip install mailblock[dev]

# All extras
pip install mailblock[async,dev]

Next Steps

Now that you’ve sent your first email with Python, you might want to:

Explore the full API reference
See more examples
Learn about advanced error handling
Check out async/await patterns
Set up proper logging for production

Need Help?

Key Differences from Node.js

Use from_email instead of from (Python keyword conflict)
Use send_sync() for synchronous operations, send() for async
Import specific classes: from mailblock import MailBlock, EmailData
Exception handling with try/catch using Python exception classes
Context managers supported with with statement
Full type hints support for IDEs and mypy

Getting Started

SDKs

​Python - Getting Started

​Prerequisites

​Installation

​Basic Setup

​Sending Your First Email

​Using Method Chaining

​Sending HTML Emails

​Sending to Multiple Recipients

​Scheduling Emails

​Managing Scheduled Emails

​Canceling Scheduled Emails

​Updating Scheduled Emails

​Environment Configuration

​Debug Mode

​Custom Logger

​Type Safety Support

​Context Manager Support

​Error Handling

​Advanced Usage

​Bulk Email Sending

​Installation Options

​Next Steps

​Need Help?

​Key Differences from Node.js