# AI use cases for Mailcheap (marclou/mailcheap) Repo: [marclou/mailcheap](https://github.com/marclou/mailcheap) | Use cases: 4 | Page: https://dedupedai.com/use-cases/marclou-mailcheap/ MailCheap is an open source newsletter app that charges for emails sent rather than dormant subscribers, runnable as a hosted service or self-hosted with Amazon SES or PostShiba. This file holds every use case of this repo. Each one starts with a "## " heading and ends with its URL. - Launch a newsletter on MailCheap Cloud in minutes: https://dedupedai.com/use-cases/marclou-mailcheap/launch-newsletter-on-mailcheap-cloud/ - Self-host a newsletter app on Vercel with Amazon SES: https://dedupedai.com/use-cases/marclou-mailcheap/self-host-newsletter-on-vercel-with-ses/ - Move subscribers from beehiiv, Substack or Mailchimp: https://dedupedai.com/use-cases/marclou-mailcheap/move-subscribers-from-beehiiv-or-substack/ - Have an AI agent draft and review a newsletter issue: https://dedupedai.com/use-cases/marclou-mailcheap/have-an-ai-agent-draft-and-review-an-issue/ ## How to launch a newsletter on MailCheap Cloud in minutes with Mailcheap Repo: [marclou/mailcheap](https://github.com/marclou/mailcheap) | Difficulty: Beginner | Time: 15 minutes | Basis: From the README Sign up for the hosted service and publish your first newsletter with a website, without running any servers. **Who it is for:** A creator or small publisher who wants a newsletter and website with no infrastructure to maintain. **The problem:** Setting up a newsletter stack means choosing a sender, a website, signup forms and deliverability settings, which takes time before the first issue goes out. **The outcome:** A working newsletter with a signup form, a website for its issues, and a first issue reviewed and ready to send. ### Steps 1. Sign up at https://mailcheap.ai. Plans start at $19 a month for 20,000 emails. 2. Create a newsletter. Without your own domain, it sends from a shared address on the Mailcheap.ai subdomain, and its website sits on a free subdomain of Mailcheap.ai. 3. Write an issue in the editor, or send Markdown or complete HTML through the API. 4. Open the review step and fix what it flags: subject, preview text, unsubscribe link, Gmail's 100 KB clip, postal address and sender. 5. Send the issue now, schedule it, or send to your most engaged readers first and the rest later. ### Prompt to paste into your agent ```text Using the marclou/mailcheap repository's MCP server with an API key for , create a newsletter named and draft a first issue about . Report the review checklist results and do not send anything. Verify that the draft appears in the dashboard before you finish. ``` ### Caveat MailCheap Cloud is the hosted version of this same code, and only active subscribers count toward a plan, so dormant contacts do not raise your bill. Risk, credentials: An agent connected with an API key can act on your whole MailCheap account, so keep the key scoped to what you need and revoke it if it leaks. Dual-use notice: only use this on software, sites and systems you own or are authorized to test. Disclaimer: Third-party repos we don't own or vouch for. AI-generated use cases can be wrong: review everything and run at your own risk. Full text: https://dedupedai.com/disclaimer/ URL: https://dedupedai.com/use-cases/marclou-mailcheap/launch-newsletter-on-mailcheap-cloud/ ## How to self-host a newsletter app on Vercel with Amazon SES with Mailcheap Repo: [marclou/mailcheap](https://github.com/marclou/mailcheap) | Difficulty: Advanced | Time: 60 minutes | Basis: From the README Deploy the open source MailCheap app to your own Vercel project and send through your own Amazon SES account. **Who it is for:** A developer or technical publisher who wants full control of the data and pays only the sending provider per email. **The problem:** Hosted newsletter tools charge monthly for subscribers, including dormant ones, and keep your contacts on their platform. **The outcome:** A self-hosted newsletter on your own domain, sending through your SES account, with sign-in limited to the emails you list. ### Steps 1. Create a free MongoDB Atlas cluster, allow 0.0.0.0/0 under Network Access, and copy the connection string with a database name added before the `?`. 2. Click Deploy on the repository's README, then fill in MONGODB_URI, BETTER_AUTH_SECRET, SUPPRESSION_HASH_KEY, ADMIN_EMAILS and EMAIL_FROM. Generate each secret with `openssl rand -base64 48`. 3. Set up sign-in codes through Resend or your email provider, then open https:// .vercel.app/signin and sign in with your email. 4. Follow the README's email provider and QStash steps for Amazon SES and Upstash QStash, and leave SENDING_ENABLED unset until both are done. 5. Check that `/api/health` answers 200 before you send your first issue. ### Prompt to paste into your agent ```text In the marclou/mailcheap repository, follow the self-hosting steps for Vercel with my MongoDB connection string in and my admin email in . Report which environment variables are still missing and whether /api/health returns 200. Verify that SENDING_ENABLED is not set to true before the email provider is configured. ``` ### Caveat Self-hosting comes without support, and the README says plan for about an hour, most of it waiting for DNS and for SES production access. Risk, credentials: The database URI, the signing secret and your SES keys are all sensitive, so store them only in the hosting platform's environment settings. Dual-use notice: only use this on software, sites and systems you own or are authorized to test. Disclaimer: Third-party repos we don't own or vouch for. AI-generated use cases can be wrong: review everything and run at your own risk. Full text: https://dedupedai.com/disclaimer/ URL: https://dedupedai.com/use-cases/marclou-mailcheap/self-host-newsletter-on-vercel-with-ses/ ## How to move subscribers from beehiiv, Substack or Mailchimp with Mailcheap Repo: [marclou/mailcheap](https://github.com/marclou/mailcheap) | Difficulty: Beginner | Time: 30 minutes | Basis: From the README Import a CSV export from another newsletter tool with each reader's status and signup date kept. **Who it is for:** A newsletter owner leaving beehiiv, Substack, Mailchimp or another listed tool to cut costs. **The problem:** Moving a list is risky: invalid, misspelled or previously unsubscribed addresses can hurt deliverability, and re-importing them can resend to people who opted out. **The outcome:** A cleaned contact list in MailCheap, with readers' statuses and signup dates intact and bad addresses left out automatically. ### Steps 1. Export your subscriber list as CSV from beehiiv, Substack, Mailchimp, Kit, MailerLite, Buttondown, Ghost or EmailOctopus. 2. Import the CSV into your MailCheap newsletter as it is. 3. Review what the import left out: invalid, misspelled, spam trap, role, throwaway, duplicate and domains that cannot receive email. 4. Check that the never-email list has not blocked addresses you expected to keep, and that unsubscribed or complained readers stayed out. 5. Leave list cleanup on, so readers who ignored several issues get one re-engagement email and then stop receiving issues. ### Prompt to paste into your agent ```text Using the marclou/mailcheap MCP server with my API key, import the CSV at into the newsletter . Report how many contacts were imported and how many were left out by reason. Do not send any issue. Verify that the reader count in the dashboard matches the import report. ``` ### Caveat Imports only bring over contacts the cleaning rules allow, so expect some addresses to be left out and check the report before you assume the list is complete. Risk, credentials: Subscriber CSVs contain personal email addresses, so delete local copies once the import is confirmed. Dual-use notice: only use this on software, sites and systems you own or are authorized to test. Disclaimer: Third-party repos we don't own or vouch for. AI-generated use cases can be wrong: review everything and run at your own risk. Full text: https://dedupedai.com/disclaimer/ URL: https://dedupedai.com/use-cases/marclou-mailcheap/move-subscribers-from-beehiiv-or-substack/ ## How to have an AI agent draft and review a newsletter issue with Mailcheap Repo: [marclou/mailcheap](https://github.com/marclou/mailcheap) | Difficulty: Intermediate | Time: 30 minutes | Basis: From the README Let Claude Code, Codex or Cursor write an issue through the MCP server and fix review warnings before you approve a send. **Who it is for:** A newsletter writer who already works in an AI coding or chat agent and wants to draft issues from notes without leaving it. **The problem:** Writing each issue by hand in a separate dashboard, then fixing review warnings one by one, slows down a weekly newsletter. **The outcome:** A drafted issue that passes the review checklist, ready for you to approve, with the send step still under your control. ### Steps 1. Create an API key in your MailCheap account and connect Claude Code, Codex or Cursor to the MCP server with it. 2. Give the agent your notes and the newsletter it should write for. 3. Ask the agent to run the review checks and fix subject, preview text, unsubscribe link, Gmail's 100 KB clip, postal address and sender. 4. Read the draft in the dashboard and confirm the content is yours before anything else happens. 5. Approve the send yourself. MCP marks sending as an action that can't be undone, so the agent asks you first. ### Prompt to paste into your agent ```text Using the marclou/mailcheap MCP server with my API key and my notes in , draft an issue for the newsletter . Fix all review warnings and report the remaining ones. Do not send it. Verify that the draft exists in the dashboard and that the review list is empty or explained. ``` ### Caveat The agent can prepare and check an issue, but the README says sending is an action agents must confirm with you, so keep that approval step in place. Risk, credentials: An API key given to an agent lets it act on your newsletter account, so use the narrowest key you can and rotate it after the session. Dual-use notice: only use this on software, sites and systems you own or are authorized to test. Disclaimer: Third-party repos we don't own or vouch for. AI-generated use cases can be wrong: review everything and run at your own risk. Full text: https://dedupedai.com/disclaimer/ URL: https://dedupedai.com/use-cases/marclou-mailcheap/have-an-ai-agent-draft-and-review-an-issue/