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SMTP_SETUP.md

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SMTP setup (Contact + Leave a Reply)

The “Contact Me” and “Leave a Reply” forms send email using SMTP via these environment variables (read in homeViews.py).

Required environment variables

  • SMTP_HOST — SMTP server hostname (example: smtp.office365.com, smtp.gmail.com, etc)
  • SMTP_PORT — usually 587 (STARTTLS) or 465 (SSL)
  • SMTP_USER — SMTP username (usually frank@fcjamison.com)
  • SMTP_PASSWORD — SMTP/app password

If you only have IMAP settings: those are for receiving mail, not sending. You still need the SMTP host/port for sending.

Optional environment variables

  • SMTP_FROM — defaults to frank@fcjamison.com
  • SMTP_TO — defaults to frank@fcjamison.com
  • SMTP_USE_TLS — defaults to 1 (STARTTLS). Set to 0 to disable.
  • SMTP_USE_SSL — defaults to 0. Set to 1 if your provider requires SSL on connect (usually port 465).
  • SMTP_CA_FILE — path to a CA bundle file to trust (use this if your mail server uses a private/self-signed CA).
  • SMTP_ALLOW_INVALID_CERT — dev-only escape hatch to disable certificate verification (1 to enable). Do not use in production.

Local dev on Windows

Option A: PowerShell (current terminal session only)

$env:SMTP_HOST = "mail.fcjamison.com"
$env:SMTP_PORT = "465"
$env:SMTP_USER = "frank@fcjamison.com"
$env:SMTP_PASSWORD = "YOUR_PASSWORD_OR_APP_PASSWORD"
$env:SMTP_FROM = "frank@fcjamison.com"
$env:SMTP_TO = "frank@fcjamison.com"
$env:SMTP_USE_TLS = "0"
$env:SMTP_USE_SSL = "1"

Restart the Flask app after setting these.

Option B: System/User environment variables

Set the same variables in Windows “Environment Variables”, then restart VS Code and Flask.

Notes

  • “From frank@fcjamison.com” requires the SMTP account/provider to allow sending as that address.
  • The code sets Reply-To to the visitor’s email so you can reply easily.
  • If you get TLS verification errors mentioning Avast Web/Mail Shield or “SSL/TLS scanning”, your local antivirus is intercepting the SMTP connection. Disable SSL/TLS scanning for SMTP (preferred) or set SMTP_ALLOW_INVALID_CERT=1 for local development only.

Common settings for mail.fcjamison.com

If your provider says “IMAP with SSL”, that often pairs with SMTP over SSL:

  • SMTP_HOST=mail.fcjamison.com
  • SMTP_PORT=465
  • SMTP_USE_SSL=1
  • SMTP_USE_TLS=0

If that doesn’t work, the other common option is STARTTLS:

  • SMTP_PORT=587
  • SMTP_USE_TLS=1
  • SMTP_USE_SSL=0