Configuration - PayloadCMS Email Adapter

PayloadCMS useSend Email Adapter reads configuration from environment variables at runtime. These values are required for authentication and API routing.

Variable	Description
USESEND_API_KEY	API key generated in useSend
USESEND_URL	Base URL of the useSend REST API (cloud or self-hosted)

Values must be available to the Payload process and must not be committed to source control.

Separate API keys are recommended for development, staging, and production environments.

Adapter

Configuration options are passed to sendAdapter when registering the adapter in Payload.

Required

Option	Type	Description
apiKey	string	useSend API key
useSendUrl	string	Base URL of the useSend API
defaultFromAddress	string	Fallback sender email address
defaultFromName	string	Fallback sender display name

These values apply to all email sent through Payload unless overridden by provider-side logic.

Optional

Option	Type	Description
scheduledAt	string	ISO 8601 datetime for scheduled delivery
templateId	string	useSend template identifier
variables	object	Template variables passed to useSend

Optional fields are evaluated per email send and mapped directly into the useSend API payload.

Templates

When a templateId is provided, useSend renders the email using its templating engine. Variables supplied through variables are injected at render time.

Template creation, editing, and previewing are managed in useSend. Payload does not process template content.

Scheduling

When scheduledAt is set, the message is queued for future delivery by useSend. Scheduling is handled externally and does not require background jobs or task queues in Payload.

The timestamp must be provided in valid ISO 8601 format.

Once configured, calls to payload.sendEmail() continue to operate as normal within PayloadCMS. The adapter translates Payload’s email payload into useSend REST API requests.

Delivery, analytics, suppression handling, and retries are managed by useSend.