DockFlare v3.1.0: You've Got Mail

[ChrispyBacon-dev]

Hello everyone,

v3.1.0 is a big one. Probably the biggest feature release since the multi-server agent system in v3.0.

This release introduces DockFlare Mail a fully self-hosted email suite that uses Cloudflare as a zero-infrastructure delivery layer while keeping every message, attachment, and mailbox record on your own hardware. No third-party mail servers. No SaaS subscriptions. No sending your email to someone else's cloud.

Cloudflare handles the edge. You keep the data.

Cloudflare's Email Service entered public beta today. Read their announcement: Email for Agents

Highlights

• Self-hosted inbound and outbound email via Cloudflare Email Routing, Workers, and R2
• Local email storage in SQLite with FTS5 full-text search everything stays on your server
• Multi-domain support with complete per-domain isolation of secrets, buckets, and Workers
• One-click provisioning of all required Cloudflare infrastructure from the DockFlare UI
• PWA-ready Webmail client installable on desktop and mobile
• Desktop and mobile push notifications for new mail via Web Push (VAPID)
• Per-mailbox storage quotas enforced at the Cloudflare KV layer
• Backup, restore, and full teardown tooling built in
• 7 new Help Center guides covering every part of the email setup

What's New

DockFlare Mail

DockFlare Mail turns Cloudflare into a stateless mail relay that you own and control.

Inbound emails arrive at Cloudflare, get routed through an Email Worker, buffered briefly in R2, and pulled down to your server by the new Mail Manager service. Outbound mail goes the other direction from your server, through an authenticated Cloudflare Worker with automatic SPF, DKIM, and DMARC handling, and out to the internet.

Your messages live in a local SQLite FTS5 database. Your attachments live in a dedicated Docker volume. Cloudflare never stores your email permanently it is a pipe, not a vault.

One-Click Infrastructure Provisioning

The Email Setup flow provisions everything directly from the DockFlare UI:

• Cloudflare Email Routing and catch-all rules
• Inbound and outbound Workers with correct bindings
• R2 buckets for message buffering
• MX, SPF, DMARC, and DKIM DNS records

A Repair DNS tool is also available to re-apply or fix missing records if anything drifts. Worker redeployment is one click whenever you push configuration changes.

Multi-Domain Support

DockFlare Mail supports an unlimited number of domains simultaneously, with complete isolation per domain:

• Separate secrets, R2 buckets, and Worker endpoints per domain
• Domain-aware inbound webhook routing with per-domain signature verification
• Dynamic sync of domain configuration from the Master to the Mail Manager

PWA Webmail

The included Webmail client is built with Vue 3, Vite, and TypeScript.

It runs as a Progressive Web App installable directly from the browser on desktop and with mobile support soon. The interface uses a 3-panel layout with folder navigation, message list, and rich message display. Push notifications for new mail are supported via Web Push (VAPID) and Service Workers, so new messages reach you even when the app is in the background.

Per-Mailbox Quotas

Storage quotas are enforced at the Cloudflare KV layer, so the check happens before a message is delivered to your server. When a mailbox is full, incoming messages are rejected cleanly at the edge no surprise disk usage, no silent drops. Quota configuration and current usage are visible in the mailbox management UI.

Backup, Restore, and Teardown

Full backup and restore of the mail database and data volume is built in. Teardown options including a complete wipe of local data and Cloudflare resources are available directly from the Email section.

Security

• EdDSA JWT authentication Ed25519 key pair-based communication between Webmail, Mail Manager, and Master
• Outbound rate limiting 50 emails per hour, 200 per day per sender, enforced at the Worker layer
• CVE scan and dependency refresh included in this release

Changed

• Navigation: Email is now a primary item in the Master navigation bar
• Login page: A "Login to Email" shortcut appears on the main login page when email services are active
• Docker Compose: Updated to include dockflare-mail-manager and dockflare-webmail services under a shared email profile opt-in, no impact on existing setups

Help Center

Seven new guides covering the full email setup are now available in the Help Center (English):

• Email Overview
• Prerequisites
• Docker Deployment
• Domain Setup
• Mailbox Management
• Using Webmail
• Maintenance

Notes

Email services are fully opt-in. Existing installations are unaffected unless the email profile is added to the Compose configuration.

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For the full technical breakdown see CHANGELOG.md.

Happy tunneling,
Christian

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This discussion was created from the release DockFlare v3.1.0: You've Got Mail.

[ChrispyBacon-dev]

Screenshots:

[jayscovill]

Hey there,

Out of curiosity, what motivated you to add a feature like this that doesn't seem to (me anyways) align with the what the core purpose of Dockflare was originally?

[ChrispyBacon-dev]

Hey @jayscovill , great question!

Honestly it started with my own frustration. I've been self-hosting my emails with Mailcow for about 6 years now. It works, but running a proper mail server means a VPS with a dedicated public WAN IP (that I own now), reverse DNS, full DKIM/DMARC/SPF compliance... and on top of that the constant updates just to keep CVEs and security in check adds a whole layer of complexity that never really goes away.

That said I wasn't looking to rebuild a full mail server. What changed for me was Cloudflare's Email Workers support hitting public beta. It suddenly made it possible to offload the hardest parts (delivery, compliance, DNS records) to the edge while keeping everything that actually matters, your messages, attachments, mailboxes, on your own hardware. Cloudflare is just a pipe, not a vault.

Since DockFlare already manages your Cloudflare infrastructure and Docker containers, wiring in email provisioning felt like a natural extension. One-click setup of MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, Workers, R2 buckets all from the same UI you already use. No third-party SaaS, no sending your email off to someone else's cloud (MailGun, Postfix).

What actually surprised me while developing this was how fast the whole setup is. Adding a new domain and creating mailboxes literally takes under 5 minutes. Compare that to getting a Mailcow instance properly up and running, and even then you still have to wait for domain reputation to build up so your emails don't end up in spam. That trust takes time no matter what you do.

So yeah, the core purpose is still the same: making self-hosting easier and keeping your data yours. Email just became a case where that was actually achievable in a clean way thanks to what Cloudflare is building.

Hope that makes sense! Happy to answer any follow-up questions.

Cheers,
Chris
PS: DockFlare Email feature is not done, a couple of more things are on the roadmap. (mobile, APIs for external apps, AI integration with skills maybe etc).

[LunkSnee]

Thanks for the information about why it was added. Self-hosted email is fairly niche. I've been self-hosting all kinds of stuff forever, but as you describe, email self-hosting has all kinds of additional complexities. I do love DockFlare's core, and its been a great addition for me. I worry that the self-hosting email addition will confuse those who are newly discovering DockFlare.

For example, there isn't a docker compose.yaml example with just the core (no email). Your documentation now essentially assumes everyone wants both core and email. So - I'll kindly suggest that you consider either adjusting the documentation to indicate what is OPTIONAL if one only wants Core, and what additional is needed in the compose file and elsewhere if one also wants to add the email add-on.

I greatly appreciate your work on this. Its a great tool!

[xd003]

Thanks for the information about why it was added. Self-hosted email is fairly niche. I've been self-hosting all kinds of stuff forever, but as you describe, email self-hosting has all kinds of additional complexities. I do love DockFlare's core, and its been a great addition for me. I worry that the self-hosting email addition will confuse those who are newly discovering DockFlare.

For example, there isn't a docker compose.yaml example with just the core (no email). Your documentation now essentially assumes everyone wants both core and email. So - I'll kindly suggest that you consider either adjusting the documentation to indicate what is OPTIONAL if one only wants Core, and what additional is needed in the compose file and elsewhere if one also wants to add the email add-on.

I greatly appreciate your work on this. Its a great tool!

i totally agree with this, just stumbled upon dockflare. I got confused with the mail thing tbh and its relevance to the project.
Apart from the suggestion mentioned here, i guess you can also simply create a organization and have the email part as a separate project, it would be much better for visibility as well like many people struggling with the selfhosted email setup might want to use the cloudflare email thingy without much interest in the core dockflare. Currently its all just getting lost in the mix

[ChrispyBacon-dev]

Thank you for the comments and feedback. Please be informed that DockFlare Email is entirely opt-in. The Docker compose utilizes the Docker profile, and if you don’t explicitly start it with the email profile, it won’t execute any email containers.

I’m currently working on two other projects (which are not public) but I plan to update the DockFlare documentation to enhance communication. I have some parts on the unstable branch that will integrate Tailscale network as an option. .. I use Tailscale for my internal network traffic / non-public connections on my servers. I don’t plan to push this into the stable branch yet as it requires more testing and documentation work.

Some minor security updates for DockFlare are coming, which are mostly due to CVEs (bumping up versions) .