How to Send Emails in Laravel with Mailable

Laravel's Mailable system makes sending emails clean and testable. Here's how to set it up from scratch.

Step 1 — Configure Mail Driver

In your .env file, set your mail driver. For local development, log or mailtrap work great:

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=sandbox.smtp.mailtrap.io
MAIL_PORT=2525
MAIL_USERNAME=your_username
MAIL_PASSWORD=your_password
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS="[email protected]"
MAIL_FROM_NAME="${APP_NAME}"

Step 2 — Create a Mailable

php artisan make:mail OrderShipped --markdown=emails.orders.shipped

Step 3 — Define the Mailable Class

// app/Mail/OrderShipped.php
namespace App\Mail;

use App\Models\Order;
use Illuminate\Mail\Mailable;
use Illuminate\Mail\Mailables\Content;
use Illuminate\Mail\Mailables\Envelope;

class OrderShipped extends Mailable
{
    public function __construct(public Order $order) {}

    public function envelope(): Envelope
    {
        return new Envelope(subject: "Your order #{$this->order->id} has shipped!");
    }

    public function content(): Content
    {
        return new Content(markdown: 'emails.orders.shipped');
    }
}

Step 4 — Write the Blade Template

{{-- resources/views/emails/orders/shipped.blade.php --}}
<x-mail::message>
# Your Order Has Shipped

Hi {{ $order->customer_name }},

Your order **#{{ $order->id }}** is on its way!

<x-mail::button :url="route('orders.show', $order)">
Track Your Order
</x-mail::button>

Thanks for shopping with us!
</x-mail::message>

Step 5 — Send the Email

use App\Mail\OrderShipped;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Mail;

Mail::to($order->customer_email)->send(new OrderShipped($order));

// Queue it to avoid blocking the request
Mail::to($order->customer_email)->queue(new OrderShipped($order));