NetSendo v2.3.2: Localized Welcome Emails & Safer Sign-Up

First impressions count. Picture a new customer who has just ordered a NetSendo Cloud instance. They open their inbox and the first email says "We received a request to reset the password". They never asked for that, and the email may not even be in their language. It looks like a mistake or a phishing attempt, and it's a poor start for a product you're asking people to trust with their audience.

NetSendo v2.3.2 fixes this. It also makes sure password emails link to your installation, and it removes the "Sign up" link once registration is no longer possible. These are small changes, but they make onboarding clearer for every NetSendo installation, Cloud or self-hosted.

🚀 What's New in v2.3.2

Welcome emails for new Cloud instances

When a NetSendo Cloud instance is provisioned, the netsendo:bootstrap command creates the administrator and asks the password relay to send them a link for setting their password. Before this release, the relay couldn't tell a brand-new account from a forgotten password. Every new customer got the standard reset email, in English.

Now the bootstrap command tells the relay that the email is a welcome (reason: welcome) and which language to use, via --locale, which is set to the language of the order. A customer who ordered in Polish gets a Polish welcome email.

Think of the change this way: before, it was like a hotel greeting a new guest with "We hear you've lost your key." Now the guest gets a proper welcome and their key.

Password links that point to your installation

With every request, the password relay now also gets this installation's sign-in address (login_url, taken from APP_URL), plus the language and the administrator's name. The relay uses that address to build the link in the email. Before, the link could point to the relay's own host, which confused users and made the email look less trustworthy.

Below is a simplified sketch of the information sent with each request. The exact payload format may differ.

{
  "reason": "welcome",
  "locale": "pl",
  "name": "Anna Kowalska",
  "login_url": "https://mail.example.com/login"
}

Registration is offered only while it's possible

In NetSendo, registering creates the administrator. That's why the "Don't have an account? Sign up" link now appears only before the first account exists:

• Self-hosted: works as before. The first person to open a fresh installation registers as its administrator. After that, registration is closed.
• Cloud: registration is closed right after installation, because bootstrap has already created the administrator.

After that, the administrator adds further users from inside the app. The "Registration is closed" message, which used to be Polish only, is now translated into English, Polish, German and Spanish. It also explains why: the installation already has an administrator.

ℹ️ Note: This behavior is covered by tests/Feature/RegistrationClosedTest.php and tests/Feature/BootstrapCommandTest.php.

💼 Benefits & Use Cases

• ✅ Onboarding emails match what the user actually did
• ✅ Emails arrive in the customer's language
• ✅ Links lead to your own domain, which builds trust and keeps your branding consistent
• ✅ No dead-end sign-up links on established installations

🛠️ Step-by-Step: Upgrading to v2.3.2

1. Back up your data

   Before any upgrade, back up your database and .env file. With self-hosting, your data is your own, and so are your backups.

2. Check your APP_URL

   The sign-in link in password emails comes from APP_URL. Make sure it is the public, HTTPS address users actually visit.

   APP_URL=https://mail.example.com

3. Pull the new release

   If you run Docker, pull the updated images and restart. Adjust the commands to match your setup.

   docker compose pull
   docker compose up -d

4. Clear the cached configuration

   If you changed APP_URL, clear the cached configuration so the new value is used. The service name depends on your compose file.

   docker compose exec app php artisan config:clear

5. Check the sign-in page

   Open /login in a private browser window. On an installation that already has an administrator, the "Sign up" link should be gone.

6. Test "Forgot password"

   Request a reset for a test user and check that the link in the email points to your domain.

⚠️ Common pitfall: If APP_URL is still set to http://localhost or an internal Docker hostname, password emails will contain that address. Always set it to the public URL.

💡 Pro Tip: On a fresh self-hosted server, register your administrator account right after installing. Until the first account exists, the first person to open the installation becomes its administrator.

php artisan test --filter=RegistrationClosedTest
php artisan test --filter=BootstrapCommandTest

🏁 Conclusion

v2.3.2 is a small release that improves onboarding:

• New Cloud administrators get a welcome email in their own language, not a password-reset email.
• Password emails link to your own installation, based on APP_URL.
• The sign-in page shows sign-up only while it's possible, and the "Registration is closed" message is translated into four languages and explains why.

For configuration details, see the documentation. To connect NetSendo to your other tools, browse the integrations.