Required DNS records for email
When you add a domain in Settings → Email, Atender generates a list of DNS records that you must add at your DNS provider. The exact hostnames and values are unique to your domain — copy them from the domain row in Atender, do not invent them.
This article explains what each record type is for, so you understand what you’re adding and why.
What gets generated
Atender generates three categories of records:
- MX — One or two — Tells the internet where to deliver mail addressed to your domain
- CNAME — One or more — Routes tracking and authentication paths to Mailgun
- TXT — Two or more — Carries SPF and DKIM data that prove you authorized Mailgun to send for your domain
All of them are required. A domain with only some of the records cannot verify.
MX (Mail Exchanger)
MX records control where inbound mail for your domain goes. When someone sends to support@acme.com, the sending mail server asks DNS “what’s the MX for acme.com?” and delivers the message to that host.
Atender’s MX records point your inbound mail at Mailgun’s infrastructure. Mailgun then forwards the message to Atender via an inbound webhook, which creates the conversation in your inbox.
If you already use this domain for human mailboxes (Gmail, Microsoft 365, etc.), changing the MX records will redirect all mail to Atender. Consider using a dedicated subdomain like support.acme.com for your support address, so your main mailboxes are unaffected.
CNAME (Canonical Name)
CNAME records are aliases that point one hostname at another. Atender uses them for:
- Email tracking endpoints — when a recipient opens an email or clicks a link, the request hits a hostname under your domain that aliases to Mailgun. This keeps tracking URLs branded to your domain.
- Authentication paths — some authentication flows require a hostname under your sending domain.
TXT (Text)
TXT records carry verification and authentication data:
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework) — a record that lists which servers are allowed to send mail for your domain. Atender’s
TXTrecord adds Mailgun to that list. Without SPF, many recipients (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) treat mail from your domain as suspicious or junk it outright. - DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) — a record containing a public key. Mailgun signs every outgoing message with the matching private key, and recipients verify the signature using the public key in DNS. This proves the message wasn’t tampered with in transit and wasn’t spoofed by someone else.
Both SPF and DKIM are required for healthy deliverability. Recipient mail servers actively penalize or reject mail from domains without them.
Subdomains
You can use a subdomain like support.acme.com rather than the apex acme.com. Add the records exactly as Atender generates them — they will already be scoped to the subdomain you entered.
A subdomain is often the right choice when:
- You already use the apex domain for human mailboxes and don’t want to redirect them.
- You want to keep your transactional sending reputation separate from your marketing sending reputation.