Automatic emails using bash and sendgrid

Posted on by

Problem

You would like to be able to automatically send some emails (ie reports) from a linux server, using a bash script that runs in cronjob, without installing an email server on the linux server.

Solution

  • Create an account in Sendgrid and follow the directions for using WebAPI with curl
    here
  • Set up your bash script to use the API key and have a script like the following. If you want to use big or multiple files you will need to use a temporary file for the base64 encoding, as in the example below, as there is a limit in curl. 
    #!/bin/bash

# Email setup
SENDGRID_API_KEY="your_sendgrid_api_key"
FILENAME_ATTACH="title_of_your_attachment"
FILENAME_ZIP="the_path_to_your_zip_file"
FILENAME_BASE64_TMP="the_path_to_temporary_base64_encoding"
EMAIL_TO="email_to_address"
EMAIL_SUBJECT="email_subject"
EMAIL_FROM="email_from_address"
EMAIL_MESSAGE="your_email_message"

function email_exports()
{
  FILENAME_BASE64=$(base64 -w0 $FILENAME_ZIP);

  REQUEST_DATA='{"personalizations": [{
                        "to": [{ "email": "'"$EMAIL_TO"'" }],
                        "subject": "'"$EMAIL_SUBJECT"'"
                }],
                "from": {
                        "email": "'"$EMAIL_FROM"'"
                        },
                "content": [{
                        "type": "text/plain",
                        "value": "'"$EMAIL_MESSAGE"'"
                        }],
                "attachments": [{
                        "content": "'"$FILENAME_BASE64"'",
                        "filename": "'"$FILENAME_ATTACH"'"
                        }]
  }';

  # We need to store the base64 locally as the text
  # is too big for sending directly with curl
   echo $REQUEST_DATA > $FILENAME_BASE64_TMP

   curl -X "POST" "https://api.sendgrid.com/v3/mail/send" \
        -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENDGRID_API_KEY" \
        -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
        -d "@$FILENAME_BASE64_TMP";

   rm $FILENAME_BASE64_TMP
}

email_exports
  • Add your script to crontab