Keep project evidence together
Give each client project a mailbox for its test addresses and received messages. Your team can see which project produced an email, inspect a failed run together and give each tester access to the projects they work on.
For example, Acorn staging and Birch staging can have separate mailboxes, test recipients and automated-test credentials inside one agency organization. Teammates and agents with access inspect the same received evidence.
Choose who owns the organization
Choose the ownership model that matches where the test inbox should live after the engagement. A shared agency organization keeps agency projects together; a client-owned or dedicated organization can stay with that client. Hosted names are permanent, and individual mailboxes cannot move between organizations, so make this choice before creating addresses.
| Arrangement | Owner and payment | Seats and allowances | Hosted names | At handoff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shared agency organization | Agency owns and pays. | All members and projects share one plan. | Two names shared across project mailboxes. | Revoke departing users and credentials. Client mailboxes cannot move out. |
| Client-owned organization | Client owns and pays; agency joins by invitation. | Client and agency members share this client’s separate plan. | Two names stay with the client organization. | Verify client credentials, revoke agency credentials, remove agency members. |
| Dedicated organization for later handoff | Agency owns initially. Review payment details separately at handoff. | All invited members share its separate plan; no pooled billing. | Two names stay with the organization. | Verify client credentials and transfer the whole organization to their administrator. |
Scope each project’s pipeline
- Create its mailbox. Name it for the client and environment and give testers the read access they need.
- Issue its credential. Under Organization agents, select only that mailbox and the required scopes. Use
email:readto inspect mail andaddresses:manageto create and revoke run addresses. - Keep secrets with the project. Store the client ID and secret in its CI secret store. For a client-owned organization, prefer a client administrator as the issuer.
- Check the boundary. Confirm the intended mailbox works and a request outside the credential's selected mailbox is refused.
A credential follows its issuer's current authority. Create and verify a replacement before offboarding that person. See the agency integration guide for the setup and handoff details.
Finish the engagement cleanly
In a client-owned organization, verify client-issued credentials, revoke unused agency credentials, and remove agency members who no longer need access. The mailboxes and hosted names stay with the client.
If you created a dedicated organization for that client, invite their administrator and use Settings → Organization → Hand over ownership after they accept. The whole organization changes owner; individual mailboxes do not move between organizations. Review the payment method and billing details separately.
Developer is $19/month for three people, 25,000 messages and 10 GiB received per billing month. Team is $49/month for ten people, 100,000 messages and 50 GiB. Both retain new mail for up to 30 days. These are organization allowances, shared across its client projects. Review the full plan limits.
Put it into your next test run
Try this workflow with your normal sender and a PigeonProbe test address. Open the received message in the app, then bring the same check into CI when you are ready. Compare plans and trial limits.
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