Cloudflare Email Routing — Setup Guide

1

Navigate to Email Routing Complete

Log into the Cloudflare dashboard — you'll land on Account home

In the left sidebar, click Domains, then Overview

Click your domain name in the list to open its dashboard

In the domain-level sidebar, click Email, then Email Routing

Note

Email only appears in the sidebar after you've clicked into a specific domain. It is not visible from the account home sidebar.

2

Enable Email Routing & configure DNS Complete

On the Email Routing overview page, click the Enable Email Routing link in the warning banner

Review the conflicting DNS records shown — these are existing MX and TXT records Cloudflare will replace

Click Add records and enable — Cloudflare automatically deletes conflicting records and injects the correct MX and SPF records into your DNS zone

Warning

If your domain already uses another email service (e.g. Google Workspace), this step will permanently delete those MX records and break inbound email. Do not proceed if you rely on another mail provider on this domain.

3

Create the alias Complete

Click the Routing rules tab in the Email Routing dashboard

Under Custom addresses, click Create address

Custom address: Enter your desired prefix only (e.g. jobs-2026) — Cloudflare appends @yourdomain.com automatically

Action: Leave as Send to an email (the default)

Destination: Enter the full email address you want mail forwarded to (e.g. your Gmail or iCloud inbox)

Click Save — if the destination is already verified, the rule goes Active immediately. If it's a new address, Cloudflare will send a verification email first.

Note

Destination addresses are verified at the account level. If you use the same email you registered your Cloudflare account with, it is already verified and the rule activates instantly.

4

Verify the destination address if new address Complete

Skip this section if your rule is already showing Active. Only needed if you used a destination address Cloudflare hasn't verified before.

Open your destination inbox and find the verification email sent by Cloudflare

Click Verify email address in that email, then click Go to Email Routing

Back in the dashboard, confirm the rule now shows Active — your alias is live and forwarding

Note

Once verified, a destination address is shared across your whole Cloudflare account. You can reuse it on any other domain without re-verifying.

5

Enable catch-all optional Complete

Makes every possible address at your domain valid — you can type [email protected] into a signup form and it will forward, without creating an explicit rule first.

In the Routing rules tab, scroll down to the Catch-all address section

Toggle it to Active

Set the Action dropdown to Send to an email and select your verified destination address

Click Save

Heads up

With catch-all enabled, spam sent to any guessed address at your domain will also land in your inbox. If this becomes noisy, disable catch-all and switch back to explicit rules per alias.