Mailpit + ColdFusion Local Email Testing

Overview

This article documents how to configure Adobe ColdFusion to use Mailpit for local email testing.

Mailpit captures outbound email locally so messages can be reviewed in a browser without sending real email.

Export Existing Mail Settings (Optional)

Before making changes, export the current ColdFusion mail configuration so it can be restored later if needed.

cfconfig export from=server.local to=mailSettings.json includeList=mailservers**

Example exported configuration:

{
    "mailServers": [
        {
            "tls": true,
            "password": "SUPERSECRET",
            "port": 587,
            "username": "USERNAME",
            "ssl": false,
            "smtp": "smtp.mailgun.org"
        }
    ]
}

Install Mailpit

Install Mailpit using Homebrew.

brew install mailpit

Start Mailpit

Start the Mailpit service.

brew services start mailpit

Configure ColdFusion to Use Mailpit

Method 1: Configure with CommandBox

Create a file named mailSettingsMailpit.json.

{
    "mailServers": [
        {
            "tls": false,
            "password": "",
            "port": 1025,
            "username": "",
            "ssl": false,
            "smtp": "127.0.0.1"
        }
    ]
}

Import the Mailpit configuration into ColdFusion.

cfconfig import from=mailSettingsMailpit.json to=server.local

Method 2: Configure in ColdFusion Administrator

Navigate to:

ColdFusion Administrator → Server Settings → Mail

Configure the following values:

Mail Server: 127.0.0.1
Server Port: 1025
Username: blank
Password: blank
Use TLS: unchecked
Use SSL: unchecked

Test Email Delivery

Create a .cfm test page.

<cfscript>
    recipientCount = 5;

    for (i = 1; i <= recipientCount; i++) {

        recipient = "foo#i#@bar.com";

        cfmail(
            to = recipient,
            from = "[email protected]",
            subject = "Mailpit Test",
            type = "html"
        ) {

            writeOutput("
                <h1>Hello from ColdFusion</h1>
                <p>
                    It is #dateFormat(now(), 'mm/dd/yyyy')# at
                    #dateTimeFormat(now(), 'hh:mm:ss tt')#.
                    This should show up in Mailpit.
                </p>
            ");
        }

        sleep(3000);

        writeOutput("<p>Mail sent.</p>");
    }

    writeOutput('<p><a href="#cgi.script_name#">Run again</a></p>');
</cfscript>

Verify Email Delivery

Open the Mailpit web interface:

http://localhost:8025

The test emails should appear in the Mailpit inbox.

Restore Original Mail Settings (Optional)

Restore the original ColdFusion mail configuration.

cfconfig import from=mailSettings.json to=server.local

Restart ColdFusion after restoring the configuration if required.

Stop Mailpit

Stop the Mailpit service.

brew services stop mailpit