# Mailgun api key, what is it for?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/mailgun-api-key-what-is-it-for/103962
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [12월 11, 2018, 1:40오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/mailgun-api-key-what-is-it-for/103962 "2018-12-11T01:40:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Json\_Blob](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Json_Blob)
#### Post date: [12월 11, 2018, 1:40오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/mailgun-api-key-what-is-it-for/103962/1 "2018-12-11T01:40:06Z")
I did a quick search but only found someone saying it doesn’t work. But I’m not entirely sure what it’s used for in the first place. Can I get a short explanation?
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [12월 11, 2018, 4:41오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/mailgun-api-key-what-is-it-for/103962/2 "2018-12-11T04:41:03Z")
It’s for bounce handling, when email fails to deliver, we want to disable the user’s email and/or notify them via PM that their email is busted. You’ll notice several common email services are represented in site settings, for the same reasons.
In order to know that email failed to deliver, you need to configure the email service to tell Discourse that, because otherwise, how would it possibly know?
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### Author:  [@zogstrip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zogstrip)
#### Post date: [12월 11, 2018, 6:35오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/mailgun-api-key-what-is-it-for/103962/3 "2018-12-11T18:35:37Z")
More information available on the dedicated howto topic 😉
> [@Configure VERP to handle bouncing e-mails](https://meta.discourse.org/t/handling-bouncing-e-mails/45343):
>
> Setting up bounces handling Discourse uses the [Variable envelope return path (VERP)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_envelope_return_path) technique to handle bouncing e-mails. To enable VERP, set the “reply by email address” site setting with an email address template that uses the + sign. The default of replies+%{reply\_key}@discourse.example.com … works fine. If you are using your own or your company’s email server, then, that’s it tada Your discourse instance must be able to receive email sent to this address. This should work via POP, bu…
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### Author:  [@Json\_Blob](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Json_Blob)
#### Post date: [12월 11, 2018, 6:47오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/mailgun-api-key-what-is-it-for/103962/4 "2018-12-11T18:47:48Z")
That’s perfect, thanks guys
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### Author:  [@zogstrip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zogstrip)
#### Post date: [12월 11, 2018, 6:57오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/mailgun-api-key-what-is-it-for/103962/5 "2018-12-11T18:57:52Z")