---
last_review: ""
last_reviewer: ""
documented_code: [ ]
metadata:
  target_user: "Administrator"
---

```{tags} howto, administrator, email
```

# Configure Email for Server-Side Scripts

This guide shows how to configure LinkAhead to send emails from
[server-side scripts](/tutorial/scripting/server_side_scripting/server_side_scripting.md).
Email sending is handled by the pylinkahead `send_email` function, which reads its settings
from the `[Email]` section of `caosdb-server/scripting/home/pylinkahead.ini`.

## Prerequisites

- Server-side scripting is configured and working. See the
  [server-side scripting documentation](/tutorial/scripting/server_side_scripting/server_side_scripting.md).
- Your institution's SMTP server is reachable from the LinkAhead host, and you have the
  hostname, port, and credentials for it.

## Steps

Add an `[Email]` section to `caosdb-server/scripting/home/pylinkahead.ini`. Port 587 with
STARTTLS is the most common setup for institutional SMTP servers:

```ini
[Email]
smtp_server=smtp.example.com
smtp_port=587
smtp_starttls=yes
smtp_username=your_username
smtp_password=your_password
from_address=LinkAhead <linkahead@example.com>
bcc_append=admin@example.com
```

If your server requires implicit TLS (port 465) instead of STARTTLS, replace
`smtp_starttls=yes` with `smtp_tls=yes` and set `smtp_port=465`.

For the full list of supported options, see the
[`send_email` API documentation](/reference/pylib/api/linkahead.utils.email.rst).