Trigger workflows by email and send email from them — no setup, no SMTP.
MadMax speaks email natively in both directions. There's nothing to connect: no SMTP server, no API key, no provider account.
Start a workflow from an email
Drop an Email trigger on the canvas and the step mints its own
address — something like wf-a1b2…@in.madmax.build, shown in the
inspector with a copy button. Any email arriving there starts the
workflow with the message as payload:
payload.from,payload.subject,payload.text,payload.htmlpayload.files— attachments, stored durably and handed to downstream steps as file descriptors (the AI extract task reads a PDF attachment with zero extra configuration)
Only the allowed sender can trigger it. Each email trigger is locked to one address (prefilled with yours). Mail from anyone else — including forged from-lines that fail SPF/DKIM/DMARC checks — is dropped before anything runs.
Testing it
Press Run. The canvas waits, you email the step's address, and the delivery does double duty: the draft runs live in front of you, and the message is pinned as the step's sample so downstream steps have real fields to build against.
Send email from a workflow
The Send email step sends through MadMax's own sender —
workflows@mail.madmax.build — with a templated to/subject and a
markdown body:
To: {{payload.from}}
Subject: Re: {{payload.subject}}
Body: Thanks — got it. We processed **{{payload.subject}}**.
Set reply-to so responses land in your inbox. Guardrails are built in: a per-workspace daily send cap, at most five recipients per send, and a fixed sender identity that workflow config can't spoof.
Approvals by email
The Approval step can email the decision: set its Email the approver field and the pause sends that address the prompt with one-click Approve / Reject links — no sign-in needed, links valid for seven days, and a double-click or a second approver landing late gets a calm "already decided" page.