Self-hosted email platform · in development

Own your email engine.

CherAmi runs cold outreach, newsletters and lifecycle automation from one platform on your own server: through your domains, your mailboxes and the sending providers you already use.

Request early access See what’s inside

Closed beta planned for 2027. This site uses no cookies and no tracking.

Works with

Any SMTP / IMAP mailbox
Google Workspace
Amazon SES
SendGrid
Docker

The route

Your server is the loft. Your mailboxes are the flock.

Mail leaves from your own infrastructure, through your own senders. And like a homing pigeon, every reply finds its way back to one Unibox.

01 · LoftYour serverCherAmi

02 · FlockYour sendersMailboxes · SES · SendGrid

03 · DestinationInboxesGmail · Outlook · others

Replies come back to one Unibox

Why own it

Control instead of another subscription seat

Your infrastructure

One Docker image with an embedded SQLite database, on a server you control. Contacts, templates and send history live in your database, not in someone else’s account.

Your sending, your rules

Cold outreach goes out through your own mailboxes; newsletters and lifecycle mail through SendGrid or Amazon SES. Daily caps, ramp-up plans and pacing are set per sender.

Nothing happens in the dark

Templates and settings keep a full version history with one-click restore, and every send is archived with exactly what was sent, to whom and when.

Features

Everything a self-run outbound program needs

Many mailboxes, one platform

Connect SMTP/IMAP mailboxes in bulk from a CSV file or link Google Workspace accounts with OAuth. Use SendGrid and Amazon SES for newsletters and automation.

Pacing and provider interleaving

Sends are paced per sender and interleaved by recipient provider, so no single inbox provider receives a burst from you.

Automatic guardrails

A sender pauses itself when its bounce or spam-complaint rate crosses your threshold, before a bad list can hurt your domain.

Preflight checks

A campaign can’t start with broken merge tags, a missing unsubscribe path or other blockers. The preflight report shows exactly what to fix.

Personalization that previews honestly

Spintax and Liquid merge tags with conditions. Variants are chosen deterministically per recipient, so the preview is what gets sent.

Preview matrix

Check each email in simulated mailbox layouts, in light and dark themes, on desktop and mobile, before anyone receives it.

Seed tests

Send a template to your own test inboxes at Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo or iCloud to check placement before a campaign goes out.

A/B variants

Test subject lines and content variants, then compare delivery, opens, clicks and replies for each.

Sequences that stop on reply

Multi-step sequences end automatically when a contact replies. Out-of-office answers are recognized and don’t end the sequence.

Unibox

Replies from every connected mailbox land in one inbox. You answer from the same mailbox, so the thread stays natural.

Bounces, unsubscribes, suppression

Bounce reports are matched to the original send. Unsubscribes, bounces and complaints feed one suppression list, and marketing mail carries one-click unsubscribe headers (RFC 8058).

Event-driven automation

Trigger flows from your product (signup, order, inactivity), build behavioral segments and RFM lifecycle stages, or start from ready-made SaaS flow templates.

REST API

Sync contacts, push events and manage suppressions from your app or CRM with scoped API keys.

Analytics and send archive

Delivery, open, click and reply metrics per campaign, variant and sender, plus a record of every message sent.

Why the name

Named for a bird that kept flying.

Cher ami is French for “dear friend”. It was also the name of a homing pigeon that carried messages for the US Army Signal Corps in the First World War.

1918
On the Western Front, homing pigeons carry messages from the front line back to their lofts. Cher Ami’s home is Mobile Loft No. 11 at Rampont, near Verdun.
October 1918
During the Meuse-Argonne offensive he is shot and badly wounded in flight, and still makes it back to his loft.
The legend
For a century he has been credited with carrying the Lost Battalion’s plea to stop the shelling of its own men in the Argonne forest. Historians still debate which bird carried it.
1919 →
He receives the French Croix de Guerre, dies in June 1919 and has been at the Smithsonian in Washington since 1921.

Our artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heavens sake stop it.

From the Lost Battalion’s message, October 1918

We named CherAmi after that idea: a message that reaches its destination, and a bird that always finds its way home.

How it works

From empty server to first campaign

Install on your server
Today CherAmi ships as Docker Compose behind a reverse proxy with automatic HTTPS. A guided one-page installer is planned.
Connect your senders
Import mailboxes from CSV, link Google Workspace, or add SendGrid and Amazon SES. Set daily caps and ramp-up plans per sender.
Launch with guardrails
Import contacts, build a sequence or a flow, pass the preflight report and start. Replies arrive in the Unibox.

Who it’s for

Built first for teams that run their own outbound

B2B outbound teams

You already own your domains and mailboxes and want one place to run sequences, replies and deliverability.

Agencies

You manage outreach for several clients and want per-sender limits and data that stays on your infrastructure. Multi-client workspaces are on the roadmap.

Lifecycle and newsletters

Product-triggered flows, segments and newsletters run on the same engine through SendGrid or Amazon SES.

Honest limits

What CherAmi is not (yet)

Not a warm-up networkThere is no shared warm-up pool. Your reputation comes from your own sending.
Not a lead databaseBring your own lists. CherAmi imports them, takes in results from your verification service and keeps your suppressions.
Not a hosted serviceYou run it on a server. Managed hosting may come later.
No white-label client portalAgencies work inside CherAmi itself for now.

Where we are

Built, now being hardened

Core platformBuilt: sending, sequences, Unibox, automation, analytics
NowHardening, testing and running it on our own infrastructure
Closed beta2027, with a small group of teams and agencies
Public launchPlanned for 2027

Get early access

We are opening a small closed beta for teams and agencies that run their own outbound. Tell us about your setup (how many domains and mailboxes, and what you use today) and we will get back to you.

Rather talk? We are having 20-minute conversations with outbound teams to shape the product. Just say so in your email.

Request early access

or write to [email protected]

FAQ

Questions

What is CherAmi?

A self-hosted email platform for cold outreach, newsletters and lifecycle automation. You install it on your own server and send through your own mailboxes and providers.

What do I need to run it?

A Linux server (a small VPS is enough to start) with Docker, a domain or subdomain for the panel, and the mailboxes or sending providers you want to use.

Which mailboxes and providers are supported?

Any SMTP/IMAP mailbox, Google Workspace through OAuth, SendGrid and Amazon SES. Cold outreach is meant to go through your own mailboxes; SendGrid and SES are for newsletters and lifecycle mail.

Does it include warm-up or leads?

No. CherAmi has no warm-up network and no lead database. It focuses on sending, replies, deliverability controls and automation for lists you already have.

Is cold email legal?

It depends on where your recipients are. CherAmi includes unsubscribe handling and suppression lists, but you are responsible for the rules that apply to you, such as CAN-SPAM, the GDPR or KVKK. Some countries, Germany for example, restrict unsolicited B2B email.

When can I use it, and what will it cost?

A closed beta is planned for 2027, followed by a public launch. Pricing will be announced before launch. Early-access teams hear about it first.