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By default, the Chat SDK adapter responds to inbound emails. With openDM, you can go the other way — start a new email thread with any address, without waiting for them to email you first.

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Sending a proactive email

Call openDM on the adapter to create a new thread, then post a message to it. 
const threadId = await chat.adapters.resend.openDM('user@example.com');
const thread = await chat.thread('resend', threadId);
await thread.post('Hello from the bot!');
You can also send card emails in proactive threads — the same card structure from Card Emails works here.

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Triggering via HTTP

A common pattern is exposing an HTTP endpoint that triggers outbound emails. This lets external systems (cron jobs, webhooks from other services, admin dashboards) send emails through your bot. 
async function handleNotify(req, res) {
  const { to, message } = JSON.parse(await readBody(req));

  const threadId = await chat.adapters.resend.openDM(to);
  const thread = await chat.thread('resend', threadId);
  await thread.post(message);

  res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' });
  res.end(JSON.stringify({ ok: true, threadId }));
}
Then call it: 
curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/notify \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"to": "user@example.com", "message": "Your order has shipped!"}'

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When to use this

  • Welcome emails when a user signs up
  • Order confirmations and shipping updates
  • Alert notifications (monitoring, billing, security)
  • Scheduled digests or reminders
If the recipient replies, the response arrives through the normal onNewMention or onSubscribedMessage handlers — the threading is handled automatically.

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Try it yourself

Notifications Example

Proactive outbound emails via openDM and an HTTP POST endpoint