Fetch Email Messages and Attachments in Code

This guide explains how to read inbound email content and attachments once messages have reached a MailSlurp inbox.

For advanced receive orchestration (waitFor, webhook strategy, and CI patterns), see receive emails in code.

Step 1: capture inbound email

Create or select an inbox, then send a message to its address. MailSlurp stores inbound messages under that inbox ID.

• Inbox creation: create inboxes
• Delivery diagnostics: inbox not receiving emails

Step 2: list messages

Use inbox listing methods to retrieve message previews, then fetch full content by email ID.

Message previews are good for selecting candidates; full message fetch is required for complete body/header analysis.

Step 3: inspect content

In dashboard and API workflows, you can inspect:

• Envelope and headers (to, from, subject)
• Plain text body
• HTML body
• Raw source for low-level analysis

Dashboard examples:

Step 4: retrieve attachments

Attachments are stored separately and retrieved by attachment ID.

// download binary attachment content
downloadAttachment(emailId: string, attachmentId: string): Promise<Response>

interface AttachmentMetaData {
  contentLength: number;
  contentType: string;
  name: string;
}

Dashboard attachment view:

Step 5: verify deliverability quality

Use spam and authentication diagnostics when message quality is part of the test objective:

• Email spam checker
• SPF checker
• DKIM checker
• DMARC checker

Dashboard analysis example:

Practical receive checklist

• Use a dedicated inbox per test or environment.
• Add timeout-aware receive assertions.
• Validate links/codes and key headers.
• Download and verify attachment MIME types.
• Track failures via webhooks for async systems.

Next step

Continue with send emails in code or build end-to-end assertions in Cypress.