Email Validation

Email Validation Overview

Cleanmails includes a built-in email validation engine that checks addresses through multiple layers. Validation runs as a background job when you trigger it on an uploaded lead list — results appear in real-time on the leads table.

Validation Pipeline

Each email in your lead list goes through these checks (in order):

Step	Check	What It Does
1	Syntax validation	RFC 5322 compliant regex check — catches obvious typos
2	Disposable detection	Checks against 120,000+ known disposable/throwaway domains
3	Role-based filter	Identifies generic addresses (info@, admin@, support@, etc.)
4	Free email flag	Flags Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, and other free providers
5	DNS MX lookup	Verifies the domain has valid mail exchange servers (5s timeout)
6	A-record fallback	Falls back to DNS A record if no MX records found
7	Domain suggestion	Suggests corrections for typos (e.g., gmial.com → gmail.com)

How it runs

Validation runs as a background job in the Asynq worker's default queue with 100 concurrent goroutines. Results are written to PostgreSQL as each lead is processed — the frontend shows progress in real-time.

Scoring System

Each lead receives a score from 0–100 based on the checks above:

Factor	Points
Valid syntax	+20
Has MX records	+35
Not a role account	+15
Not a free email	+15 (free emails get +5)
Reachable assessment	+10 to +15
Disposable domain	Instant invalid (score: 5)
No MX records	Instant invalid (score: 10)

Score Categories

Score Range	Status	Color	Meaning
60–100	Valid	Green	Safe to send — high confidence deliverable
35–59	Risky	Amber	May bounce — use with caution
0–34	Invalid	Red	Will likely bounce — do not send

How to Validate Leads

Upload a CSV list, then trigger validation from the dashboard or via API:

bash

# Step 1: Upload a CSV lead list
curl -X POST https://YOUR_SERVER/api/v1/workspaces/1/leads/upload \
  -H "Cookie: auth_token=YOUR_JWT_TOKEN" \
  -F "file=@leads.csv"

# Step 2: Trigger validation
curl -X POST https://YOUR_SERVER/api/v1/workspaces/1/leads/validate \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Cookie: auth_token=YOUR_JWT_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"list_id": 1}'

# Step 3: Check results (updated in real-time as validation progresses)
curl https://YOUR_SERVER/api/v1/workspaces/1/leads \
  -H "Cookie: auth_token=YOUR_JWT_TOKEN"

From the dashboard

You can also trigger validation directly from the lead list card in the dashboard — click the list, then hit the Validate button. A progress bar shows real-time status.

CSV Format

The uploaded CSV should include at minimum an email column. Additional supported columns:

Column	Description
`email`	Email address (required)
`first_name`	First name (used in campaign personalization)
`last_name`	Last name
`company`	Company name
`job_title`	Job title
`phone`	Phone number

Duplicate emails within the same workspace are automatically deduplicated via a database unique index.

Performance

Metric	Value
Concurrency	100 parallel goroutines per validation job
Disposable blocklist	120,000+ domains
Score range	0–100 per email
Queue priority	Default queue (weight 3)
Max retry	2 attempts on failure