Testing Emails and Capturing Locale

Mailpit offers a plethora of features tailored for developers keen on testing SMTP functionality and email systems. Serving as an SMTP server, it furnishes a contemporary web interface for easy viewing and testing of intercepted emails. Additionally, Mailpit boasts an API designed for seamless integration into automated testing workflows. While Mailpit stands out as a reliable option, it's worth noting that there are other alternatives like Mailhog, which appears to be an abandoned project, and Mailtrap, which offers a good service but comes with limitations on its free tier. Among other alternatives, it's crucial for developers to weigh factors such as ease of setup, feature set, ongoing support, and pricing. After careful consideration of these aspects, Mailpit emerges as my top recommendation for email testing.

To install Mailpit using Docker, you can utilize the axllent/mailpit Docker image. Open a terminal or command prompt and execute the following command to pull the Mailpit Docker image from Docker Hub:

$ docker pull axllent/mailpit

This command downloads the Mailpit image to your local machine. Once the image is downloaded, you can run a Mailpit container by executing the following command:

$ docker run -p 1025:1025 -p 8025:8025 axllent/mailpit

This command starts a Mailpit container and exposes ports 1025 and 8025 for SMTP and HTTP interfaces, respectively. Port 1025 is used for SMTP, while port 8025 provides access to the Mailpit web interface.

Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost:8025 to access the Mailpit web interface. From there, you can view and test intercepted emails, as well as utilize other features provided by Mailpit.

Open the .env file and update the mail settings.  Your .env file should look similar to the following:

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=127.0.0.1
MAIL_PORT=1025
MAIL_USERNAME=null
MAIL_PASSWORD=null
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=null
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=your@example.com
MAIL_FROM_NAME="${APP_NAME}"

You can now start testing email functionality in your Laravel application. Whenever your application sends an email, Mailpit will intercept it and display it in its web interface.