TempMail.now API (unofficial, session-based)

TempMail.now has no formal API. But the website itself talks to a few plain HTTP endpoints, and you can call them from a script. This page documents those endpoints as they work today. There is no key, no sign-up, and nothing to install. All you need is curl and a cookie jar. Read the limits section before you build anything on it.

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How the session works

The API does not use keys. It uses a cookie. When you first call /api/temp_email, the server creates an inbox for you and sets a session cookie in the response. Every later call must send that cookie back. If you forget it, the server thinks you are a new visitor and gives you a different address.

With curl, the easy way is a cookie jar file. The -c flag saves cookies to the file, and -b reads them from it. Use both flags on every call so the jar stays up to date.

GET /api/temp_email: get an address

This is always the first call. It returns your current address, or creates one if you do not have one yet. The reply is JSON with three fields.

curl -c jar -b jar "https://tempmail.now/api/temp_email"

{"email": "abc123@example-domain.tld", "created_at": "2026-09-13T10:00:00", "duration_minutes": 10}

You can ask for a longer or shorter timer with the duration query parameter. Allowed values are 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 minutes. It only applies when a new address is created. If you already have a live address, the timer does not change.

curl -c jar -b jar "https://tempmail.now/api/temp_email?duration=30"

• email is the full address to paste into a form.
• created_at is when the address was made.
• duration_minutes is how long the inbox lives from that time.

GET /fetch_emails: read the inbox

Call this to see what has arrived. It returns every message in the inbox, the seconds left on the timer, and the address the inbox belongs to.

curl -b jar -c jar "https://tempmail.now/fetch_emails"

{
  "emails": [
    {
      "id": 4821,
      "from_address": "noreply@some-site.tld",
      "subject": "Your code is 482913",
      "body": "...",
      "received_at": "2026-09-13T10:01:12",
      "token": "3f9a...c21e",
      "status": "unread",
      "attachments": [{"filename": "invoice.pdf"}]
    }
  ],
  "remaining_time": 540,
  "temp_email": "abc123@example-domain.tld"
}

The body field holds the message text. The token field is a link to the full message: open /en/view/ followed by the token in a browser to see it rendered with any attachments. The attachments list gives you the file names.

When the inbox timer has run out, the shape of the reply changes. Instead of an emails list, you get an info message and a fresh address. Your script should check for this and start over.

{"info": "Your inbox expired. A new address was created.", "temp_email": "xyz789@example-domain.tld"}

POST /change_email: get a new address

This throws away the current address and gives you a new one under the same session. The old inbox and its messages are gone at once. It is the same thing the Change Email button does on the website.

curl -X POST -b jar -c jar "https://tempmail.now/change_email"

{"new_email": "qrs456@example-domain.tld"}

GET /generate_qr: QR code for the address

This returns a PNG image of a QR code that holds your current address. It is handy for moving the address to a phone without typing it. Save the output to a file.

curl -b jar -c jar "https://tempmail.now/generate_qr" -o address.png

A full example: wait for a code

Here is the whole flow in one shell script. It gets an address, prints it so you can paste it into a form, then polls every 10 seconds until a message arrives.

#!/bin/sh
curl -s -c jar -b jar "https://tempmail.now/api/temp_email"
echo
for i in $(seq 1 30); do
  sleep 10
  out=$(curl -s -b jar -c jar "https://tempmail.now/fetch_emails")
  case "$out" in
    *'"subject"'*) echo "$out"; break ;;
  esac
done

Rate limits

Each client gets a fixed budget per minute:

• /api/temp_email: 30 requests per minute
• /fetch_emails: 120 requests per minute

Go over the budget and you get an error until the minute resets. There is no need to poll faster than every 5 seconds. The mail fetcher itself only checks the mailbox every few seconds, so faster calls just return the same result. To see how mail moves from the server to your inbox, read how temp mail works.

What this API is and is not

Please read this part. It sets the rules.

• Unofficial. These are the endpoints the site uses. They may change without notice.
• Receive-only. You cannot send, reply, or forward. There is no such endpoint.
• No key, no account. The cookie is the only thing that ties calls together.
• No guarantee. Do not build a product on it. Build a script for yourself.
• For testing and personal automation. Good uses: checking your own sign-up flow, grabbing a code in a test run, or fetching a download link.
• Not for bulk account creation. Making many accounts on other sites, sending spam, or hammering the endpoints gets your client blocked, and we do not lift blocks.

Messages and addresses are removed when the timer ends, and a cleanup job clears anything left over. Nothing is kept for later. The details are on our how we handle your data page and in the privacy policy.

Frequently asked questions