Verdict reasons

Every answer leads with a verdict: deliverable, risky, or undeliverable. When the verdict is not deliverable, the reason field says why in one machine-readable word, and smtp_reason adds the detail behind the mailbox handshake. Each value has its own page with the full explanation, an example, and what to do with the address.

Undeliverable reasons

Do not send. The risk score is always 100, the address joins your suppression list, and the lookup is free.

reason meaning
invalid_syntaxthe input does not parse as an email address
invalid_local_partthe username breaks the rules its own provider enforces
no_mx_recordsthe domain has no mail servers at all
null_mxthe domain declares that it never accepts mail
mx_unresolvablethe mail servers the domain points at do not exist
mailbox_not_foundthe mail server rejected the mailbox during the handshake
mailbox_disabledthe mailbox exists but its provider has disabled it
suppressedthe address is on your account's suppression list

Risky reasons

Mail may arrive, but something argues for caution. Each reason adds its published weight to the risk score; the answer costs 1 credit like any deliverable one.

reason meaning risk weight
likely_typothe domain is a known misspelling of a real mail provider +60
disposablethe domain belongs to a disposable, temporary email provider +80
implicit_mxthe domain has no MX record and relies on the address-record fallback +30
mailbox_fullthe mailbox is over its storage quota +20
rolea shared role inbox such as info@ or support@ rather than a person +30
catch_allthe server accepts every address at the domain, so the mailbox cannot be confirmed +30

Mailbox-check details

The smtp_reason field explains what the SMTP handshake found, or why it could not settle the mailbox. A message is never sent.

smtp_reason meaning
mailbox_fullthe mailbox is over its storage quota
no_mailboxthe server answered that the mailbox does not exist
disabledthe server reported the mailbox as disabled or suspended
greylistedthe server deferred the handshake and asked the sender to come back later
timeoutthe mail server did not answer within the probe's time limit
no_connectno mail server accepted a connection on port 25
mx_unreachablethe mail exchangers could not be reached from the verification network
delivered_recentlyyour own delivery report confirmed this mailbox
provider_unavailablethe verification provider itself could not answer

Every page here has a Markdown twin at the same URL with a .md suffix, and all of them are collected in llms-full.txt.