ciunkos.com/Glossary

Email authentication

SPF (Sender Policy Framework)

A DNS record listing which servers may send email for your domain.

Receivers check the sending server against the SPF record of the envelope domain. Two rules break it silently: there must be exactly one SPF record, and evaluating it may take at most 10 DNS lookups, nested includes counted. Over 10 and SPF fails for all your mail.

Share: LinkedIn · X ·

Related terms

  • DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): A signature on each message, checked against a public key in your DNS.
  • DMARC: The policy that tells receivers what to do when mail fails SPF and DKIM, and where to report.

← All terms

Need this built, fixed or reviewed?

I build and rescue products with AI coding agents under rules: AI features in production, honest estimates, email that gets delivered.

Przemysław Zalewski

How I work

Przemysław Zalewski · 15+ years shipping software

“a true bias for action” client CTO, public LinkedIn recommendation

All principles and risk levels →