Connect email

Email in Cove is a mailbox. It is not Gmail OAuth, and it is not “paste a webhook and hope.”

What a founder does

1. Open Channels → Email.
2. Save the public address customers already write to (help@yourdomain.com).
3. Copy the Cove receive address ({your-slug}@inbound.coveinbox.co). The same address is on Settings → Organization. Save Email so Cove starts ingesting mail to that address.
4. In Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, forward that public inbox to the Cove address (or add it as an alias).
5. Send a test from a mailbox you control. The thread should appear in Inbox within a minute.

Desk replies go out through Resend. Reply-To is the Cove address (plus a conversation tag), so the customer’s next reply lands on the same thread — including after you resolve it.

What this is not

• Not Gmail OAuth. A Google refresh token without a reviewed inbox poll is not a mailbox. That connect stays coming soon.
• Not required: a per-workspace signed webhook. Use that only if you cannot forward mail and you are building your own poster.

If mail does not land

The receive domain needs MX at Resend or the Cove inbound-mail worker. That is a one-time operator step (see docs/INBOUND_EMAIL.md). Founders only forward.