A new domain goes from zero to sending email in fifteen minutes

Standing up transactional email on a fresh domain takes three DNS records and one environment variable. Resend handles the infrastructure. You create an account, add the domain, and Resend returns three DNS records to configure — two TXT records for DKIM authentication and one MX record for bounce and complaint handling. The TXT records prove to receiving mail servers that the domain authorises Resend to send on its behalf. The MX record routes bounced messages back to Resend so delivery failures update the sender reputation automatically. You paste the records into the domain's DNS provider and wait. Propagation usually completes within five minutes. Resend's dashboard shows a green verification badge when all three records resolve correctly. After verification, the setup moves to code. The API key goes into the deployment environment variables. The Resend client initialises with one constructor call. Sending an email is a single function call with six fields — from, to, subject, replyTo, and the body as plain text. No HTML template engine, no MJML compiler, no inline CSS processor. Plain text for transactional messages because plain text renders identically in every email client on every device, never triggers promotional tab filtering, and weighs a fraction of a kilobyte. The from address uses noreply at the domain because the email is automated. The replyTo carries the real email address where human replies should land. The noreply convention tells the recipient not to reply to the automated address while the replyTo header gives them a path to a real person. The contact form API route validates the incoming fields, constructs the email payload, sends it through Resend, and returns a success response. If Resend is unreachable — network failure, rate limit, service outage — the catch block returns an error message without crashing the application. The form shows the error to the user so they can try again or use an alternative contact method. From creating the Resend account to receiving the first test email on the live domain takes under fifteen minutes. Most of that time is waiting for DNS.