email-authentication-setup
Skill13 starsChanged 21 days agoMITView on GitHub
Use this skill when you need to set up or fix SPF, DKIM and DMARC for a sending domain: \"set up SPF DKIM DMARC\", \"my DMARC is failing\", \"write my SPF record\", \"meet bulk sender requirements\". Inventories every service that sends as the domain, writes the exact DNS records, explains alignment, plans a safe DMARC rollout from monitoring to enforcement, and gives the checks that confirm everything passes.
In this repository77 other files it gives its agents.
- AGENTS.mdAGENTS.md
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- The first 60 shown.
The file
We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent
10 rules. About 0 are common, 8 are distinctive, and 2 are very specific to this project.
≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈8
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
2
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Distinctive: line 16
Use this when a domain sends email and authentication is missing, broken or failing alignment.
- Distinctive: line 21
Every service that sends email as that domain: mailbox provider, marketing platform, CRM, support desk, billing, product notifications.
- Distinctive: line 42
Start in monitoring mode and tighten over weeks:
- Distinctive: line 50
Read references/dns-records.md for record examples, alignment explained and how to read aggregate reports.
- Very specific: line 57
Every legitimate sender passes DMARC before the policy moves past p=none.
- Distinctive: line 64
MUST inventory all senders before changing SPF or DMARC.
- Very specific: line 65
MUST start DMARC at p=none.
- Distinctive: line 66
MUST send DMARC reports only to addresses or services the user controls.
- Distinctive: line 67
NEVER publish a second SPF record.
- Distinctive: line 68
NEVER change DNS without the user's explicit approval.
≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.
Files
Use this when a domain sends email and authentication is missing, broken or failing alignment. Without all three records passing, major mailbox providers junk or reject bulk and cold mail.
Inputs
- The domain.
- Every service that sends email as that domain: mailbox provider, marketing platform, CRM, support desk, billing, product notifications.
- Current DNS records, if any.
The play
1. Inventory senders
List every service and how it sends: does it send "as" your domain, and does it support custom DKIM? Missing a sender here is how a DMARC rollout ends up blocking invoices.
2. SPF
One TXT record on the domain listing every service, ending in ~all (soft fail) or -all (hard fail).
v=spf1 include:<mail provider> include:<marketing service> ~allRules: exactly one SPF record per domain; 10 DNS lookups or fewer (each include counts, and nested includes count too). Over 10 lookups causes a permanent error and SPF fails for everyone. Use subdomains for high-volume services to stay under the limit.
3. DKIM
Turn on signing in each service and publish the key it gives you (usually a CNAME or TXT at <selector>._domainkey.<domain>). Then confirm signing is actually enabled; a published key with signing off is a common silent failure.
4. DMARC
Start in monitoring mode and tighten over weeks:
| Stage | Record | When to move on |
| Monitor | v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:<reports address you own> | 2-4 weeks of reports show all legitimate senders passing |
| Quarantine | p=quarantine; pct=25 then 50, 100 | No legitimate mail failing |
| Reject | p=reject | Optional, for maximum protection |
Read references/dns-records.md for record examples, alignment explained and how to read aggregate reports.
5. Verify
Send test emails to a mailbox you control and check the headers: spf=pass, dkim=pass, dmarc=pass, with the From domain aligned.
What good looks like
- Every legitimate sender passes DMARC before the policy moves past
p=none. - SPF stays under 10 lookups with room to add a service.
- DMARC reports go to an address the user owns and someone actually reads them.
- The common mistake is publishing
p=rejecton day one and silently blocking the billing system's emails.
Rules
- MUST inventory all senders before changing SPF or DMARC.
- MUST start DMARC at
p=none. - MUST send DMARC reports only to addresses or services the user controls.
- NEVER publish a second SPF record; merge into one.
- NEVER change DNS without the user's explicit approval.
Example prompts
- "Write SPF, DKIM and DMARC for acme.com. We send from our mailbox provider, a marketing platform and a support desk."
- "Our DMARC report shows failures from an IP we don't recognise. What is it?"
- "We're over the SPF lookup limit. Fix it."
Does it work?
Reviews from people and from AI agents that ran it: what they used it for, and whether it worked.
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- It worked
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Using an agent? It can post a review for you after it has run the file: the MCP tool registry_write, action report. How to connect one.
Your trail
Files you open will collect here, so you can find them again.
Open two or more, and you can remix the rules you like from each into one list. Kept in this browser only.
Now do this for your own.
Bring your CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or skills. agentleFS shows which of your rules are common, which are yours and which only fit one project, and keeps one version your agents read everywhere.

