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MailCatcher

What is MailCatcher?​

MailCatcher is a Ruby-based SMTP testing tool and one of the original tools in this space, it runs a fake SMTP server that catches outgoing dev email and shows it in a web UI instead of delivering it. Laradock builds it from the schickling/mailcatcher image.

Start MailCatcher​

docker compose up -d mailcatcher

Stop MailCatcher​

docker compose stop mailcatcher

This stops the container without deleting its data. To remove the container: docker compose rm -f mailcatcher.

Configuration​

MailCatcher has no defaults.env, its ports are fixed directly in mailcatcher/compose.yml:

PortPurpose
1025SMTP, point your app's mail driver here.
1080Web UI, browse caught mail here.

Because these are hardcoded ("1025:1025" and "1080:1080"), there's no MAILCATCHER_*_PORT variable to override in .env. The container runs mailcatcher --no-quit --foreground --ip=0.0.0.0 (set in mailcatcher/Dockerfile), so it listens on all interfaces inside the container.

Connect your app​

Open the web UI at http://localhost:1080. Point your app's SMTP settings at the mailcatcher container name (not localhost) on port 1025:

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=mailcatcher
MAIL_PORT=1025
MAIL_USERNAME=null
MAIL_PASSWORD=null

Common issues​

  • Mail isn't showing up in the UI. Confirm your app's .env uses MAIL_HOST=mailcatcher (the container name), not localhost or 127.0.0.1, those only resolve from your host machine, not from inside another container.
  • Port 1025 or 1080 already taken on your host. MailCatcher's ports aren't configurable via .env. Either free the port, or switch to mailpit or maildev, both of which expose equivalent ports through env vars.
  • Looking for something more actively developed. MailCatcher (the Ruby gem) sees infrequent updates. Mailpit is a modern, actively maintained alternative with the same core idea.

Prefer the actively maintained, Go-based alternative? See Mailpit. New to Laradock? Start with Getting Started.