---
name: pombo-setup
description: Get a Pombo organization to the point where it can send. Connect the MCP server, add and verify a sending domain, get the account approved, and send a test. Use at the start of any Pombo integration, before drafting content or importing contacts.
---

# Setting up Pombo

The goal of this skill is a Pombo organization that can actually send:
connected, domain-verified, approved, and proven with a test send. Do these in
order.

## 1. Connect over MCP

Pombo runs a remote MCP server:

```
https://flypombo.com/mcp/sse
```

Add it to the client as a remote MCP server. Auth is OAuth 2.0. The first call
opens a browser sign-in, there is no API key to paste. If the user belongs to
more than one organization, pass `X-Pombo-Organization: <id>` to pick one.
Otherwise their first organization is used.

Tools are grouped `mcp:read` and `mcp:write`. A read connection can inspect. A
write connection can create and update. Sending is gated regardless of scope
(see step 3).

## 2. Check where things stand

Call `get_setup_status` first, every time. It returns what is done, what is
not, and the next action. Say "your domain is not verified yet" from this,
rather than discovering it when a send is refused.

## 3. Understand the four sending gates

A send needs all four, and no tool overrides them:

1. **Account approval.** New organizations start on a waitlist. Only Pombo ops
   can approve, so you cannot. The review starts by itself once the domain is
   verified and the mailing address is set, and Pombo reviews within 2 business
   hours of that and emails the account owners when it is approved. Finishing
   those two steps is the way to speed it up; there is nothing else to request.
2. **Permission attestation.** Recorded at signup. If missing, the user
   completes it in Pombo.
3. **A verified sending domain.** You do this in step 4.
4. **The weekly send cap.** 1,000 a week on the free plan. A test send counts
   against it.

Never imply you can get an account approved. Set the expectation early.

## 4. Add and verify the sending domain

- `add_sending_domain` with the domain the user sends from (the domain in their
  from address, for example `mail.acme.com` or `acme.com`).
- It returns DNS records. Only the three DKIM CNAMEs (`required: true`) are
  needed before the domain can send. Add those first at the user's DNS
  provider. MAIL FROM, SPF and DMARC (`required: false`) improve
  deliverability; offer them once DKIM verifies, or alongside if the user would
  rather do it in one go.
  - If you have DNS tooling or API access, offer to add the records yourself,
    under least privilege: a scoped token, never their account password,
    revoked when done. On Cloudflare, the user can connect Cloudflare's own
    MCP server (`https://mcp.cloudflare.com/mcp`, OAuth) alongside Pombo; add
    CNAMEs with the proxy off. The public walkthrough is
    /docs/guides/set-up-your-domain-with-an-agent.
  - If someone else manages their DNS, give the user `share_url` from
    `add_sending_domain` to forward: the same records with live status, no
    Pombo login needed, valid for 30 days.
  - Otherwise give the user the exact records and where to add them. You likely
    know their provider's UI, so be specific.
- `check_sending_domain` to poll verification. DNS can take minutes to hours.
  Do not loop tightly. Check, tell the user it is propagating, check again
  later.

## 5. Set the organization's from address and postal address

- `update_organization` to set the default from name and address.
- A physical postal address is a CAN-SPAM and CASL requirement and appears in
  the email footer. Set it now so the first send is compliant.

## 6. Set the brand voice

`update_brand_voice` with how the user's brand writes: tone, what it avoids,
sign-off. Every AI-drafted template and campaign uses it. A minute here is
worth more than editing every draft later. `get_brand_voice` reads what is set.

## 7. Prove it with a test

Once `get_setup_status` shows approved and verified:

- `send_test_email` to an address of someone in the organization (only those
  are accepted). It sends from the organization's own verified domain, so it
  also proves the From line and DKIM. It is refused until the organization is
  approved; before that, `preview_template` is the way to look at an email.
- This counts against the weekly cap, and test sends are limited to 30 an hour
  per organization. Send one, not thirty. For iterating on a
  design use `preview_template`, which returns a 7-day link with nothing sent
  and nothing counted.

## Done when

`get_setup_status` is all green and a test email has landed in a real inbox.
From here: import contacts (use `pombo-migrate` if moving off another tool),
then stand up lifecycle sequences (`pombo-events`) or a first campaign
(`pombo-campaigns`).