How to Build an SMTP Server for Receiving and Parsing Emails in .NET Core

Implementing SMTP Server in .NET Core

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In this article, we will learn how to create a simple SMTP server using a .NET Core Console Application. This server will be able to receive emails and extract details like the sender, recipient, subject, and body content.

To achieve this, we will use two libraries:

• SmtpServer: Handles the SMTP protocol so we can receive emails.
• MimeKit: Helps parse email content, making it easy to read messages.

By the end of this guide, you will have a working SMTP server that prints email details to the console.

What You Need Before Starting

Make sure you have the following:

✅ .NET Core SDK → Download from here.
✅ Basic C# knowledge → Understanding of Console Applications.
✅ Internet connection → To install required packages.

Step 1: Create a New .NET Core Console Project

First, open your command prompt or terminal and run the following commands:

dotnet new console -n SmtpInboundServer
cd SmtpInboundServer