---
name: "smtpd-tables"
section: "7"
platform: "linux"
package: "opensmtpd"
version: "7.9.0p0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux", "openbsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/smtpd-tables"
---

# smtpd-tables(7)

table API for the smtpd daemon

## NAME

**smtpd-tables** – table API for the smtpd daemon

## DESCRIPTION

The [smtpd(8)](/smtpd/8.md) daemon provides a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTPD) implementation, which allows ordinary machines to become Mail eXchangers (MX). Some features that are commonly used by MX, such as querying databases for user credentials, are outside of the scope of SMTP and too complex to fit in [smtpd(8)](/smtpd/8.md).

Because an MX may need to provide these features, [smtpd(8)](/smtpd/8.md) provides an API to implement [table(5)](/table/5.md) backends with a simple text-based protocol.

## DESIGN

**smtpd-tables** are programs that run as unique standalone processes, they do not share [smtpd(8)](/smtpd/8.md) address space. They are executed by [smtpd(8)](/smtpd/8.md) at startup and expected to run in an infinite loop, reading events and queries from standard input and writing responses to standard output. They are not allowed to terminate.

Because **smtpd-tables** are standalone programs that communicate with [smtpd(8)](/smtpd/8.md), they may run as different users than [smtpd(8)](/smtpd/8.md) and may be written in any language. **smtpd-tables** must not use blocking I/O, they must support answering asynchronously to [smtpd(8)](/smtpd/8.md).

## PROTOCOL

The protocol consist of human-readable lines exchanged between **smtpd-tables** and [smtpd(8)](/smtpd/8.md).

The protocol begins with a handshake. First, [smtpd(8)](/smtpd/8.md) provides **smtpd-tables** with general configuration information in the form of key-value lines, terminated by ‘config\|ready’. For example:

```
config|smtpd-version|7.9.0
config|protocol|0.1
config|tablename|devs
config|ready
```

Then, **smtpd-tables** register the supported services, terminating with ‘register\|ready’. For example:

```
register|alias
register|credentials
register|ready
```

Finally, [smtpd(8)](/smtpd/8.md) can start querying the table. For example:

```
table|0.1|1713795082.354255|devs|lookup|alias|b72508d|op
```

The “\|” character is used to separate the fields and may only appear verbatim in the last field of the payload, in which case it should be considered a regular character and not a separator. No other field may contain a “\|”.

Each request has a common set of fields, followed by some other fields that are operation-specific. The common format consists of a protocol prefix ‘table’, the protocol version, the timestamp and the table name. For example:

```
table|0.1|1713795091.202157|devs
```

The protocol is inherently asynchronous, so multiple request may be sent without waiting for the table to reply. All the replies have a common prefix, followed by the operation-specific response. The common format consist of a prefix with the operation name in followed by ‘-result’, and the unique ID of the request. For example:

```
lookup-result|b72508d
```

The list of operations, operation-specific parameters and responses are as follows:

- **update** *id*

  Ask the table to reload its configuration. The result is either ‘ok’ on success or ‘error’ and a message upon a failure to do so.

- **check** *service* *id* *query*

  Check whether *query* is present in the table. The result is ‘found’ if found, ‘not-found’ if not, or ‘error’ and a message upon an error.

- **lookup** *service* *id* *query*

  Look up a value in the table for given the *query*. The result is ‘found’ and the value if found, ‘not-found’ if not found, or ‘error’ and a message upon an error.

- **fetch** *service* *id*

  Fetch the next item from the table, eventually wrapping around. It is only supported for the **source** and **relayhost** services. The result is ‘found’ and the value if found, ‘not-found’ if the table is empty, or ‘error’ and a message upon an error.

Each service has a specific format for the result. The exact syntax for the values and eventually the keys are described in [table(5)](/table/5.md). The services and their result format are as follows:

- **alias**

  One or more aliases separated by a comma.

- **auth**

  Only usable for check. Lookup key is username and cleartext password separated by ‘:’.

- **domain**

  A domain name.

- **credentials**

  The user name, followed by ‘:’ and the encrypted password as per [smtpctl(8)](/smtpctl/8.md) **encrypt** subcommand.

- **netaddr**

  IPv4 and IPv6 address or netmask.

- **userinfo**

  The user id, followed by ‘:’ then the group id, then ‘:’ and finally the home directory.

- **source**

  IPv4 and IPv6 address.

- **mailaddr**

  An username, a domain or a full email address.

- **addrname**

  Used to map IP addresses to hostnames.

## EXAMPLES

Assuming the table is called “devs”, here's an example of a failed **update** transaction:

```
table|0.1|1713795097.394049|devs|update|478ff0d2
update-result|478ff0d2|error|failed to connect to the database
```

A **check** request for the **netaddr** service for the 192.168.0.7 IPv4 address which is not in the table:

```
table|0.1|1713795103.314423|devs|check|netaddr|e5862859|192.168.0.7
check-result|e5862859|not-found
```

A successful **lookup** request for the **userinfo** service for the user ‘op’:

```
table|0.1|1713795110.354921|devs|lookup|userinfo|f993c74|op
lookup-result|f993c74|found|1000:1000:/home/op
```

A series of **fetch** requests for the **source** service that wraps around:

```
table|0.1|1713795116.227321|devs|fetch|source|189bd3ee
lookup-result|189bd3ee|found|192.168.1.7
table|0.1|1713795120.162438|devs|fetch|source|9e4c56d4
lookup-result|9e4c56d4|found|10.0.0.8
table|0.1|1713795122.930928|devs|fetch|source|f2c8b906
lookup-result|f2c8b906|found|192.168.1.7
```

## SEE ALSO

[smtpd(8)](/smtpd/8.md)

## HISTORY

**smtpd-tables** first appeared in OpenBSD 7.6.