---
name: "outreach_connect_mailbox"
area: "outreach"
title: "Connect a mailbox for outreach"
price: "free"
method: "POST"
url: "https://api.conecto.chat/v1/tools/outreach_connect_mailbox"
mcp_server: "https://api.conecto.chat/mcp/outreach"
auth: "Authorization: Bearer <conecto_sk_ key>"
docs_url: "https://conecto.chat/tools/outreach/outreach_connect_mailbox"
---

# Connect a mailbox for outreach (`outreach_connect_mailbox`)

A one-hour link for the owner to connect their own mailbox for outreach, typing its password on a Conecto page.

A link for the owner to connect one of the business's own mailboxes, which outreach campaigns send from and read replies in. The owner opens it and types the mailbox's settings and password on a Conecto page naming the business; you never see the password. Gmail and Outlook connect the same way with an app password (name the provider and their servers are filled in); any other mailbox with its SMTP and IMAP settings. The link works once and for an hour. outreach.mailbox_connected tells you when it is done, and outreach_mailboxes lists it. Conecto's own inboxes never send cold email.

Price: Free. A call that fails costs nothing.

## Use it when

Before the first campaign, or to add a mailbox that shares the sending.

- For the business's own Conecto inbox for replies and support, use [email_create_inbox](https://conecto.chat/tools/email/email_create_inbox.md).

## Say this to your agent

> I want the hotel emails to go out from my own Gmail, not from some service. Set that up.

## Inputs

| Name | Type | Required | Description | Allowed values | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| `provider` | string | no | Whose mailbox it is, to fill in its servers: gmail, outlook, or other. | `"gmail"`, `"other"`, `"outlook"` | `"other"` |

## Example

Written for Halverson Cycle & Repair, a bike shop with a repair workshop in Portland, Oregon.

MCP: call `outreach_connect_mailbox` on the MCP server `https://api.conecto.chat/mcp/outreach` with these arguments:

```json
{
  "provider": "gmail"
}
```

REST:

```bash
curl https://api.conecto.chat/v1/tools/outreach_connect_mailbox \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CONECTO_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"provider": "gmail"}'
```

## Response

```json
{
  "call_id": "5f0c8a2e-3b7d-4c1e-9a64-2d8e1f7b0c93",
  "tool": "outreach_connect_mailbox",
  "status": "succeeded",
  "replayed": false,
  "cost_usd": "$0.00",
  "balance_usd": "$19.75",
  "result": {
    "link": "https://api.conecto.chat/v1/connect/hBF-D9PCNWTBYOCYcvQRTufe-pCE2raF2mSRjcnFEBE",
    "expires_in_minutes": 60,
    "tell_the_owner": "Open this link within the hour and connect Gmail there with an app password. The password goes to Conecto only; I never see it."
  }
}
```

`result`: link (the page for the owner, good once for an hour), expires_in_minutes and tell_the_owner, words to send with it.

## Errors

| Code | Status | When | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| `limit_reached` | 409 | The business has as many mailboxes connected as it may. | Disconnect one, or ask for more with account_request_limit (outreach_mailboxes). |
| `unavailable` | 503 | Mailboxes can't be connected right now. | Try again later. |

The refusals every tool can give (401 key, 402 balance, 429 limits) are on the errors page: https://conecto.chat/docs/errors.md

## Related

- [outreach_mailboxes](https://conecto.chat/tools/outreach/outreach_mailboxes.md): The business's mailboxes connected for outreach, each with its state, daily limit, what it sent today and its bounce rate; never a password. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month.
- [outreach_update_mailbox](https://conecto.chat/tools/outreach/outreach_update_mailbox.md): Rename an outreach mailbox, change its daily limit, pause or resume its sending, or disconnect it. Free.
- [outreach_save_campaign](https://conecto.chat/tools/outreach/outreach_save_campaign.md): Create or change an outreach campaign: its mailboxes, the emails you write, the audience, a first line per person and when it sends. Free.
- [outreach_preview](https://conecto.chat/tools/outreach/outreach_preview.md): One step of an outreach campaign as it will go, for real people: to, from, the subject and the text with the unsubscribe line. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month.
- [outreach_start](https://conecto.chat/tools/outreach/outreach_start.md): Start an outreach campaign the person approved; $0.01 per person when their first email leaves. Free.
- [outreach_campaigns](https://conecto.chat/tools/outreach/outreach_campaigns.md): The business's outreach campaigns, newest first, each with its status and numbers. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month.
- [outreach_get_campaign](https://conecto.chat/tools/outreach/outreach_get_campaign.md): An outreach campaign with its numbers, each step's emails and replies, and its people page by page with their status. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month.
- [outreach_replies](https://conecto.chat/tools/outreach/outreach_replies.md): The replies to the business's outreach campaigns, newest first, with who wrote, the text and their status now. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month.
- [outreach_set_status](https://conecto.chat/tools/outreach/outreach_set_status.md): Keep in the CRM whether someone outreach reached is interested or not; their pending emails stop. Free.
- [outreach_pause](https://conecto.chat/tools/outreach/outreach_pause.md): Pause a running outreach campaign; replies are still read and resuming carries on. Free.
- [outreach_resume](https://conecto.chat/tools/outreach/outreach_resume.md): Resume a paused outreach campaign once what paused it is fixed. Free.
- [outreach_stop](https://conecto.chat/tools/outreach/outreach_stop.md): End an outreach campaign for good; nobody it hasn't emailed is emailed or charged. Free.