Laravel Mail & Mailtrap Setup

Configuring SMTP for local email testing using Mailtrap.

1. What is Mailtrap?

Mailtrap is an "Email Sandbox" that captures outgoing emails from your local Laravel app. It provides a fake SMTP server so you can view how your emails look without bothering real recipients.

2. Mailtrap Configuration (.env)

1. Sign up/Login at Mailtrap.io.
2. Go to Sandboxes > My Sandbox > Code Samples.
3. Select Laravel 9+ from the "Integrations"-PHP dropdown.
4. Copy the credentials into your .env file:

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=sandbox.smtp.mailtrap.io
MAIL_PORT=2525
MAIL_USERNAME=your_username_from_mailtrap
MAIL_PASSWORD=your_password_from_mailtrap
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS="noreply@gashadigital.com"
MAIL_FROM_NAME="${APP_NAME}"

3. Creating a Mailable

Generate a new email class using Artisan:

php artisan make:mail WelcomeMail

This creates a file in app/Mail/WelcomeMail.php.

Configuring the Content In WelcomeMail.php, define the view or markdown template:

public function content(): Content
{
    return new Content(
        view: 'emails.welcome',
    );
}

4. Sending the Email

You can trigger the email from a Controller or Route:

use App\Mail\WelcomeMail;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Mail;

Route::get('/test-mail', function () {
    Mail::to('user@example.com')->send(new WelcomeMail());
    return "Check your Mailtrap inbox!";
});

5. Troubleshooting

• Cache Issues: If you update .env and the mail still fails, run:

php artisan config:clear

• Connection Timeout: Ensure your firewall allows outgoing traffic on port 2525 or 587.
• Mail Driver: For local testing, ensure MAIL_MAILER is set to smtp. For logs only (no UI), you can use log.