Rails Action Mailbox Expert

Route incoming emails to controller-like mailbox classes for processing in Rails applications.

Philosophy

Core Principles:

1. Mailboxes are controllers for email — route by address pattern, process in dedicated classes
2. Extract data early, incinerate later — persist domain data from emails immediately; raw emails are temporary
3. Bounce explicitly — reject bad emails with informative bounce messages, don't silently swallow them
4. Test with real email fixtures — use .eml files, not hand-built Mail objects
5. One mailbox per concern — keep mailboxes focused; split routing rather than branching in process

When To Use This Skill