Sending emails is a crucial aspect of modern communication, whether it's for personal or business purposes. Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides a powerful email delivery service called Simple Email Service (SES), which enables you to send email messages directly from your applications. In this blog post, we'll explore how to use SES in AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) to send emails.

Before we dive into the technical details, let's briefly discuss AWS SES.

What is AWS SES?

Amazon SES is a cloud-based email-sending service that provides a scalable and cost-effective way to send and receive emails. SES enables you to send transactional emails, marketing emails, and other types of high-quality content to your customers.

AWS SES provides you with the ability to send emails through an SMTP interface, an API, or by using the AWS Management Console. SES provides several features such as email tracking, bounce handling, feedback loops, and content filtering, making it a powerful tool for sending emails at scale.

How to send emails with SES in AWS CDK?

To send emails with SES in AWS CDK, you need to perform the following steps:

1. Create an AWS CDK stack for SES.

2. Configure SES to send emails from your verified email address.

3. Create an SES email template.

4. Send an email using the SES email template.

Let's explore each of these steps in more detail.

1. Create an AWS CDK stack for SES

To create an AWS CDK stack for SES, you need to create a new AWS CDK app and add a new stack to it. For example, if you are using TypeScript, you can create a new AWS CDK app using the following command:

cdk init app --language=typescript

After creating the app, add a new stack to it by running the following command:

cdk add stack --language=typescript

This will create a new stack file in your project directory, which you can use to define your SES infrastructure.

2. Configure SES to send emails from your verified email address

To send emails from SES, you need to verify your email address. You can do this by navigating to the SES console, and selecting "Email Addresses" from the left-hand menu, and then click the "Verify a New Email Address" button.

After verifying your email address, you need to configure SES to send emails from it. You can do this by defining an SES identity policy in your AWS CDK stack. Here's an example of how to do this in TypeScript:

import * as cdk from 'aws-cdk-lib';
import * as ses from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-ses';
import * as iam from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-iam';

export class SesStack extends cdk.Stack {
  constructor(scope: cdk.Construct, id: string, props?: cdk.StackProps) {
    super(scope, id, props);

    const senderEmail = 'youremail@example.com';
    const verifiedEmail = 'youremail@example.com';

    const identity = new ses.CfnIdentity(this, 'Identity', {
      identityName: senderEmail
    });

    const policy = new iam.PolicyDocument({
      statements: [
        new iam.PolicyStatement({
          effect: iam.Effect.ALLOW,
          actions: [
            'ses:SendEmail',
            'ses:SendRawEmail'
          ],
          resources: ['*'],
          conditions: {
            'StringEquals': {
              'ses:FromAddress': verifiedEmail,
            },
          },
        }),
      ],
    });

    new ses.CfnIdentityPolicy(this, 'IdentityPolicy', {
      identity: identity.ref,
      policy: policy.toJSON(),
    });
}}

In this example, we define an SES identity with the CfnIdentity construct and then create an identity policy with the CfnIdentityPolicy construct. The identity policy allows SES to send emails only from the verified email address.

3. Create an SES email template

To send emails with SES, you need to create an email template. SES email templates provide a way to define the content and format of your emails, including the subject line, message body, and any attachments. You can create an SES email template using the aws-ses module in your AWS CDK stack. Here's an example of how to create an SES email template in TypeScript:

import * as cdk from 'aws-cdk-lib';
import * as ses from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-ses';

export class SesStack extends cdk.Stack {
  constructor(scope: cdk.Construct, id: string, props?: cdk.StackProps) {
    super(scope, id, props);

    const emailTemplate = new ses.CfnTemplate(this, 'EmailTemplate' {
      templateName: 'MyEmailTemplate',
      subjectPart: 'Hello, {{name}}!',
      htmlPart: '<p>Hello, {{name}}!</p>',
      textPart: 'Hello, {{name}}!',
    });
  }
}

In this example, we define an SES email template with the CfnTemplate construct. The email template includes placeholders for the recipient's name, which we can replace when we send the email.

4. Send an email using the SES email template

To send an email with SES, you can use the aws-sdk module in your AWS CDK stack. Here's an example of how to send an email using the SES email template in TypeScript:

import * as cdk from 'aws-cdk-lib';
import * as ses from 'aws-sdk/clients/ses';

export class SesStack extends cdk.Stack {
  constructor(scope: cdk.Construct, id: string, props?: cdk.StackProps) {
    super(scope, id, props);

    const senderEmail = 'youremail@example.com';
    const recipientEmail = 'recipient@example.com';

    const sesClient = new ses({
      region: this.region,
    });

    const params = {
      Destination: {
        ToAddresses: [recipientEmail],
      },
      Source: senderEmail,
      Template: 'MyEmailTemplate',
      TemplateData: JSON.stringify({
        name: 'John Doe',
      }),
    };

    sesClient.sendTemplatedEmail(params, (err, data) => {
      if (err) {
        console.error(err);
      } else {
        console.log('Email sent:', data);
      }
    });
  }
}

In this example, we create an SES client using the aws-sdk module and then define the email parameters, including the recipient email address, sender email address, email template name, and template data. Finally, we use the sendTemplatedEmail method to send the email.

Conclusion

In this blog post, we've explored how to use the AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) to send emails with Amazon Simple Email Service (SES). We covered the following steps:

1. Verify email addresses in SES

2. Create an SES identity with an identity policy

3. Create an SES email template

4. Send an email using the SES email template

By following these steps, you can easily send emails with SES in your AWS CDK applications. SES is a cost-effective and scalable email service that can be used to send transactional emails, marketing emails, and more.