January 2024 Summaries

We shipped six new features last week, expanding Resend from an email API to a no-code tool that can be used by both technical and non-technical team members. We also launched our first region in Asia, Tokyo, Japan, which provides multi-region benefits like faster delivery and increased resilience. Additionally, we released a batch API to send up to 100 emails in one request, and made changes to react.email with the release of its major version. These updates aim to improve the developer experience for email and provide users with more flexibility and customizability options.

The Resend team has introduced a new feature called "Resend light mode" to the Resend Dashboard, allowing users to customize their experience with a lighter color palette. This change was made in response to user feedback about dark mode being difficult for some users to use, particularly those who need to collaborate on emails across different organizations. The new light mode is designed to be more accessible and inclusive, while still maintaining the brand's predominantly dark color identity. To implement this feature, the team used Radix Colors and Tailwind, conducting experiments in Figma to ensure legibility and contrast ratios were considered. The transition was made possible by the tech stack, which allowed for a significant portion of needs to be accommodated through importing Radix colors as CSS variables and incorporating these values into the Tailwind configuration.

React Email 2.0 has been released with several major updates, including a revamped preview server that allows for faster feedback and development experience. The new version features improved error handling, better user feedback, and faster boot up times. It also includes new components such as Code Block and Inline Code to make it easier to display code in emails. Additionally, the deployment process has been streamlined, allowing users to deploy their React Email apps directly to Vercel with ease. The update is compatible with various package managers and workspaces, providing a more predictable and hassle-free experience for developers.

The new bulk endpoint allows users to send up to 100 emails in a single API call, simplifying the process of sending multiple emails to multiple recipients without requiring custom code or third-party services. This feature is designed to handle infrastructure and orchestration complexity, enabling developers to focus on their product. The Resend SDKs can be used to send batch emails, and users can check the Resend OpenAPI spec or Postman collection for all parameters. However, note that attachments and tags are not yet supported, and the number of emails per batch is customizable with support contact options available.

We are excited to announce the launch of our new Tokyo region, bringing faster and more reliable time to inbox for customers in Asia. This addition complements our existing regions in Europe, South America, and North America, enabling users to choose the nearest server location for optimized email sending. The new Tokyo region is particularly beneficial for transactional emails like magic links, password resets, and welcome messages, which require timely delivery to avoid missed opportunities. To start using this feature, customers can specify a region upon domain creation in our Resend dashboard, with data residency remaining unchanged in the United States.

Managing subscribers and unsubscribers is crucial in email implementation to respect users' preferences and ensure they receive relevant emails at the right time. Resend Audiences, a new feature, allows for easy management of contacts without worrying about the entire unsubscribe flow. It offers 9 new endpoints to the Resend API, enabling control over audiences and contacts programmatically. Users can add contacts manually or import them via CSV, map fields, and leverage SDKs to add contacts programmatically. Audiences are designed to be used with Broadcasts, allowing for automatic handling of the unsubscribe flow when sending emails. The feature includes proper unsubscribe headers according to Gmail and Yahoo's bulk sending requirements for 2024.

The company Resend aims to provide a tool that allows users to send both transactional and marketing emails in the same place, enabling a single source of truth for all emails. This solution includes a no-code editor called Broadcasts, which uses slash commands similar to Notion to make it easy for anyone to write, format, and send emails without needing code or developer help. The editor also supports Markdown formatting and allows users to customize the look and feel of their emails with various styles and properties. Once sent, broadcast emails can be tracked in real-time to understand how the audience is interacting with each email, providing valuable insights. Resend offers a free plan with 1,000 contacts and paid plans starting at $40/mo for 5,000 contacts.

The Resend company recently disclosed a security incident where attackers gained access to customer data, including emails sent, domains, API keys (encrypted), logs, and contacts, due to an exposed database API key. The attack occurred on December 30th, when the attackers discovered the exposed API key as an environment variable on the client-side of the Resend Dashboard. The incident was not immediately detected during the holiday weekend, but an alarm was put in place to prevent similar incidents from happening to other users. The attackers accessed customer data, including recipient addresses, sender addresses, sent dates, subjects, and bcc/cc information, without accessing email content or unencrypted private keys. To mitigate the incident, Resend has taken preventative measures such as removing database API environment variables, rotating database access keys, enforcing MFA across systems touching the database, conducting org-wide password resets, and partnering with a third-party cybersecurity company to conduct an exhaustive investigation.

Gmail and Yahoo will start enforcing new bulk sending requirements in February 2024, targeting senders of over 5,000 emails per day. These updates aim to reduce user spam, emphasizing sender responsibility for brand integrity and user protection. The guidelines include a one-click unsubscribe mechanism, which must be implemented by using specific headers and handling POST requests to return a blank page with a 200 or 202 status code. Additionally, Gmail and Yahoo now require DMARC alongside SPF and DKIM for email security and authenticity, with a focus on improving list management and monitoring spam complaints. Senders are advised to track spam rates under 0.3% and implement one-click unsubscribe functionality to maintain email integrity and trust.