Detour provides the ability to easily test email deliverability using simple-to-use assertions against a real SMTP server.
Add detour to your list of dependencies in mix.exs:
def deps do
[{:detour, "~> 0.2", only: :test}]
endEnsure detour is started before running any tests.
ExUnit.start()
Application.ensure_all_started(:detour)Detour.open/1 can be used to start a Detour server. A Detour server is an
in-memory SMTP server that can be used to receive SMTP traffic and perform
assertions to verify behavior.
Detour.open/1 returns a %Detour{} struct with fields pid and port. pid
is the address of the Detour server and port is the port number used when
sending traffic to Detour. The relay used by your SMTP client should always be
localhost when sending traffic to a Detour server.
By default, Detour.open/1 will choose an open port. This is preferable over
specifying a static port as it makes working with Detour more flexible. You can
specify a port by passing the :port option to Detour.open/1.
When allowing Detour to provide a port Detour will take take care of releasing
the port after a test finishes. If you specify a port you will need to perform
this clean up yourself. You can do this by calling Detour.shutdown/2 after a
test has run.
When allowing Detour to provide a port.
test "automatic port assignment" do
detour = Detour.open()
from = "[email protected]"
to = ["[email protected]"]
body = "To: [email protected]\r\nSubject: Hello, world!\r\nFrom: [email protected]\r\nContent-Type: text/plain\r\nContent-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable\r\n\r\nNice to meet you"
message = {from, to, body}
:gen_smtp_client.send_blocking(message, [address: "localhost", port: detour.port])
assert_message_delivered message
endWhen providing a port to Detour.
test "specifying a port" do
detour = Detour.open([port: 2525])
from = "[email protected]"
to = ["[email protected]"]
body = "To: [email protected]\r\nSubject: Hello, world!\r\nFrom: [email protected]\r\nContent-Type: text/plain\r\nContent-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable\r\n\r\nNice to meet you"
message = {from, to, body}
:gen_smtp_client.send_blocking(message, [address: "localhost", port: detour.port])
assert_message_delivered message
Detour.shutdown(detour)
endMessages are expected to be in the format {from, [to], body}. from, to and
body are all string values. body will be the raw text your SMTP client sends
to Detour. This will typically be an RFC2822 encoded string. If your email
library doesn't provide facilities to parse a message body you can use the
mail package.
def test "rfc2822 messages" do
detour = Detour.open()
from = "[email protected]"
to = ["[email protected]"]
message =
Mail.build()
|> Mail.put_from(from)
|> Mail.put_to(to)
|> Mail.put_subject("Hello, world!")
|> Mail.put_text("Nice to meet you")
body = Mail.render(message)
message = {from, to, body}
:gen_smtp_client.send_blocking(message, [address: "localhost", port: detour.port])
assert_message_delivered message
endEnsure a message has successfully been sent.
test "a message has been delivered" do
detour = Detour.open()
from = "[email protected]"
to = ["[email protected]"]
body = "To: [email protected]\r\nSubject: Hello, world!\r\nFrom: [email protected]\r\nContent-Type: text/plain\r\nContent-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable\r\n\r\nNice to meet you"
message = {from, to, body}
:gen_smtp_client.send_blocking(message, [address: "localhost", port: detour.port])
assert_message_delivered message
endEnsure a message has not been sent.
test "a message has not been delivered" do
detour = Detour.open()
from = "[email protected]"
to = ["[email protected]"]
body = "To: [email protected]\r\nSubject: Hello, world!\r\nFrom: [email protected]\r\nContent-Type: text/plain\r\nContent-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable\r\n\r\nNice to meet you"
message = {from, to, body}
:gen_smtp_client.send_blocking({"[email protected]", to, body}, [address: "localhost", port: detour.port])
refute_message_delivered message
endEnsure the expected number of messages has been delivered.
test "the expected number of messages have been delivered" do
detour = Detour.open()
from = "[email protected]"
to = ["[email protected]"]
body = "To: [email protected]\r\nSubject: Hello, world!\r\nFrom: [email protected]\r\nContent-Type: text/plain\r\nContent-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable\r\n\r\nNice to meet you"
message = {from, to, body}
:gen_smtp_client.send_blocking(message, [address: "localhost", port: detour.port])
:gen_smtp_client.send_blocking(message, [address: "localhost", port: detour.port])
assert_number_of_messages_delivered 2
end