> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.alpacarelay.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Connect a sending identity

> Connect a Gmail account so AlpacaRelay can send campaigns as you.

A sending identity is the account your campaigns go out from — the address recipients see in their inbox. AlpacaRelay never sends from a shared address of ours, so you connect your own.

<Info>
  You only need this to **send campaigns from AlpacaRelay**. Designing emails, previewing them, exporting the HTML, and pushing designs to [your own ESP](/integrations/overview) all work without one.
</Info>

## What you can connect

Gmail, over Google sign-in. That's the one option today — there's no SMTP or custom-domain setup yet.

<Note>
  Sending from your own domain is a common ask and isn't supported yet. If you need `hello@yourcompany.com` as the visible sender, the practical route today is to design in AlpacaRelay and send through [an ESP you've already set up](/integrations/overview).
</Note>

## Connect Gmail

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Connected apps">
    Click your workspace name, then **Settings** → **Connected apps**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose Gmail">
    Click **Connect app** and pick **Gmail**. You'll be asked to confirm, then a Google window opens — allow the popup.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Sign in and grant permission">
    Sign in as the Gmail account you want to send from and approve the request.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check it landed">
    Gmail appears in your connected apps, showing the address it resolved and a **Connected** badge. That address is read from Google directly, so what you see is genuinely the mailbox you'll send from.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  **Connected apps** is only visible to workspace owners. If it isn't in your Settings, ask an owner to connect the account — everyone in the workspace can then send using it.
</Warning>

### What AlpacaRelay can and can't do with your Gmail

The connection requests a single Gmail permission: **send email on your behalf**.

| Can                           | Can't                                     |
| ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| Send messages as your address | Read, search, or open any of your mail    |
| —                             | See your drafts, labels, or contacts      |
| —                             | Delete or modify anything in your mailbox |

There is no read permission in the request at all, so mailbox access isn't a matter of policy — it's not technically possible with the access you grant.

## Connect more than one

You can connect several Gmail accounts to one workspace and choose which a campaign sends from. The same address can't be added twice.

This is how you keep, say, `news@` and `founders@` separate without switching workspaces.

## Use it

Once connected, pick the sending account when you set up a campaign under **Campaigns**. A campaign won't send without one — you'll get **Connect and select a sending account** if you try.

<Tip>
  Test emails don't need a connected identity. You can check how an email lands in a real inbox before setting any of this up.
</Tip>

## Sending rate

Campaigns are paced deliberately rather than blasted: roughly **one email every three seconds**, up to about **400 per day**.

That means a 400-recipient campaign takes around twenty minutes of steady sending, and a larger audience spills into the following day. When you set a campaign up, the recipient estimate tells you in advance if the audience won't clear in one day.

<Note>
  Your Google account's own limit applies on top of this — a few hundred messages a day on personal Gmail, higher on Workspace. Whichever limit is lower is the one you'll hit.
</Note>

## Disconnect

**Disconnect** on the Gmail row removes the identity and revokes AlpacaRelay's access at Google in one step. Nothing is left behind holding a token.

<Warning>
  Check your campaigns first. A scheduled campaign pointing at a disconnected identity fails rather than falling back to another one. Reconnecting creates a fresh identity, so you'll need to select it on any campaign that referenced the old one.
</Warning>

You can also remove access from your Google account's [connected apps](https://myaccount.google.com/permissions) at any time. Do that and sending stops immediately — AlpacaRelay finds out when a send fails, so disconnecting here is the tidier path.

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="No Google window opened">
    It was blocked as a popup. Allow popups for AlpacaRelay and click **Connect** again — the click itself is what permits the window to open.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I can't find Connected apps in Settings">
    It's owner-only. Ask a workspace owner to connect the account.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="My campaign says to select a sending account">
    Either nothing is connected, or the campaign doesn't have an account chosen. Both live in the campaign's setup.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A campaign failed after working before">
    The identity was probably disconnected, or access was revoked at Google. Reconnect, then select the new identity on the campaign.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Sending is slower than I expected">
    That's the pacing described above, not a stall. Steady sending protects your address's reputation far more than speed helps you.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>