Create your first alias

An alias is an address on your domain that forwards to an inbox you already read. Here's how to set one up.

Getting started·5 min read

What an alias is

An alias maps an address on your domain to one or more real inboxes. Mail sent to hello@yourdomain.com can arrive in your personal Gmail, your team's shared inbox, or both - without anyone hosting a mailbox at yourdomain.com.

Under the hood, an alias is a routing rule: a condition (the address that was emailed) and an action (forward to a destination). For more on how rules are matched, see How routing rules work.

Step 1 - Verify a destination

JoltMx only forwards to verified destinations. This is a safety feature: it stops a typo from quietly sending your mail to an address you don't control.

  1. Open Destinations → Add destination and enter the inbox you want mail to land in (e.g. you@gmail.com).
  2. JoltMx emails that address a confirmation link.
  3. Click the link. The destination is now verified and available to use in any rule.
Your verified destinations — only confirmed addresses can be used as a forwarding target

Step 2 - Create the alias

With a verified destination ready, create the rule:

  1. Go to Routes → Add route and pick the domain.
  2. Enter the local part of the address - the bit before the @. For hello@yourdomain.com, that's hello.
  3. Choose the action Forward and select your verified destination.
  4. Save. Mail to hello@yourdomain.com now forwards immediately.
A domain's rules — an exact alias forwarding to a verified destination, with a catch-all beneath it
Tip: Send a test email to the new alias from another account. Then open the message in the dashboard to watch its timeline: received → authenticated → routed → forwarded → delivered.

Forward to more than one inbox

Need a shared address like support@ to reach the whole team? Verify each person's inbox as a destination, then add them all to the same route. Every verified recipient gets a copy.

Exact alias vs. catch-all

You have two ways to cover addresses on a domain:

  • Exact alias - matches one specific address, like hello@. Best when you want tight control over which addresses are live.
  • Catch-all - matches every address on the domain that doesn't have a more specific rule. Best when you want nothing to bounce. See Set up a catch-all.

Exact matches always take priority over a catch-all, so you can run both: route billing@ to your accountant while everything else falls through to a single inbox.

Next step

Want a single rule to cover the whole domain? Read Set up a catch-all. Want to reply as your alias too? See Send email from your alias.

Free during beta

Start routing mail in minutes.

Point your MX records at JoltMx. Add a domain. Create your first rule. Done.

No credit card required  ·  Free tier stays free