redwerks

danielfriesen

<p>AWS Automatic SES configures WordPress run on an EC2 instance to use SES for email delivery.</p>
<p>This plugin is <strong>not</strong> for generic use of SES. If you want to use SES outside of EC2 or have more control over the settings, then use another <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/ses" rel="ugc">SES</a> email plugin.</p>
<ul>
<li>Region is automatically picked based on the region the EC2 instance is run in.</li>
<li>The EC2 instance’s Role is used and expected to have the necessary permissions for sending raw emails.</li>
<li>Only sender addresses verified for use with SES are used.</li>
</ul>
<p>AWS permissions:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>ses:SendRawEmail</code> (<strong>required</strong>) – Required for basic email sending functionality.</li>
<li><code>ses:GetIdentityVerificationAttributes</code> – If granted, will be used to warn if the default sender is not verified in SES. Required if you want AWS Automatic SES to permit the use of any from address that is verified in SES.</li>
<li><code>ses:ListIdentities</code> (<em>optional</em>) – Optionally used to display a short list of identities verified in SES on the settings page.</li>
</ul>


AWS Automatic SES

Automatically configure WordPress to use SES when on an EC2 instance with a SES capable role.

beltoftnet

<p>API Mailer for AWS SES replaces <code>wp_mail()</code> with a direct Amazon SES API integration (SendRawEmail). There is no SMTP layer or PHPMailer handoff in the critical path, reducing overhead and improving reliability.</p>
<p>The plugin focuses on correctness, performance, and operational clarity:<br />
– Direct AWS SigV4 signed requests to SES<br />
– Minimal overhead in the <code>wp_mail()</code> hook<br />
– Optional background queue with Action Scheduler or wp_cron fallback<br />
– Optional logging via WooCommerce logger or PHP error_log<br />
– Clean, PSR-4 structured codebase</p>
<h3>Key Features</h3>
<ol>
<li>Direct SES API (SendRawEmail) integration — no SMTP required.</li>
<li>Background sending queue with Action Scheduler or wp_cron fallback.</li>
<li>Tiny-args queueing with job IDs to keep cron payloads small and private.</li>
<li>Configurable rate limiting per second to stay under SES send rate.</li>
<li>From/Reply-To handling with optional forced From and custom X-* headers.</li>
<li>Test tab to send a test email and a Status tab to fetch SES GetSendQuota.</li>
<li>Logging via WooCommerce logger or PHP error_log, disabled by default.</li>
<li>Credentials from wp-config (constants) or saved settings.</li>
<li>Lightweight, minimal I/O, no Composer dependency.</li>
<li>Uninstall cleanup toggle to remove settings and queued jobs on deletion.</li>
</ol>
<h3>Why It’s High Performance</h3>
<ul>
<li>Avoids SMTP for the send path; uses PHPMailer only for MIME construction, then sends via SES API directly.</li>
<li>Background queue returns control to the request immediately when enabled.</li>
<li>Job payloads are stored server-side and referenced by a small <code>job_id</code> to avoid large serialized cron arguments.</li>
<li>Logging is optional and disabled by default to keep I/O low.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Configuration</h3>
<h3>Credentials in wp-config (recommended)</h3>
<p>Define the following constants above “That’s all, stop editing!” in <code>wp-config.php</code>, then enable “Read AWS credentials from wp-config” in the plugin settings.</p>
<pre><code>define('SES_MAILER_ACCESS_KEY', 'YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_ID');
define('SES_MAILER_SECRET_KEY', 'YOUR_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY');
define('SES_MAILER_REGION', 'us-east-1');
</code></pre>
<p>When this mode is enabled, the Access Key, Secret, and Region fields are cleared, disabled, and ignored.</p>
<h3>Background Sending</h3>
<ul>
<li>When enabled, emails are queued and sent out of band by Action Scheduler if available, or by wp_cron as a fallback.</li>
<li>The plugin stores the full email payload in an option keyed by <code>ses_mailer_job_{uuid}</code> (autoload = no) and schedules a tiny cron/action with only <code>job_id</code>.</li>
<li>Retries: up to 3 total attempts with exponential backoff (60s, then 120s).</li>
<li>For consistent cron execution on low-traffic sites, configure a real system cron to call <code>wp-cron.php</code> regularly.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Rate Limiting</h3>
<ul>
<li>A per-email pause is applied based on the configured send rate to avoid exceeding SES limits.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Logging</h3>
<ul>
<li>When enabled, log entries route to WooCommerce Status <span aria-hidden="true" class="wp-exclude-emoji">→</span> Logs (source: api-mailer-for-aws-ses) if WooCommerce is active, or to the PHP error log otherwise.</li>
<li>Logging is disabled by default. Uncheck “Disable logging” in settings to enable.</li>
</ul>
<h3>External Services</h3>
<ul>
<li>This plugin connects to Amazon Simple Email Service (AWS SES) at <code>https://email.{region}.amazonaws.com</code> to send email and to fetch sending quotas.</li>
<li>Data sent on each email: recipients, subject, message body, headers, attachments, and your AWS access key ID (signed via AWS SigV4); required to deliver the email.</li>
<li>Data sent when checking quotas: your AWS access key ID and a signed request; no recipient data is sent.</li>
<li>Service terms: https://aws.amazon.com/service-terms/ — Privacy: https://aws.amazon.com/privacy/</li>
</ul>
<h3>Translations</h3>
<ul>
<li>Text domain: <code>api-mailer-for-aws-ses</code></li>
<li>Translation template: <code>languages/api-mailer-for-aws-ses.pot</code></li>
<li>Example: Danish <code>languages/api-mailer-for-aws-ses-da_DK.po</code> (compile to <code>.mo</code> for runtime)</li>
</ul>
<h3>About the Author</h3>
<p>API Mailer for AWS SES is built and maintained by <a href="https://beltoft.net" rel="nofollow ugc">beltoft.net</a>.</p>


API Mailer for AWS SES

Amazon SES API mailer for WordPress that bypasses SMTP and sends via the SES SendRawEmail API with a lightweight, high‑performance design.

AWS Automatic SES vs API Mailer for AWS SES