This is a submission for the Postmark Challenge: Inbox Innovators.
What I Built
Mail Pilot is a lightweight, email-driven control system for home automation. It turns any inbox into a secure command center capable of operating physical devices—from light switches to door locks—via simple email instructions.
More than just a clever use of Postmark's inbound parsing, Mail Pilot explores a future where remote control can work reliably over the most ubiquitous and low-barrier protocol of all: email.
The MVP connects an ESP8266 device to a Rails API that receives and processes email commands. But the concept scales: with authentication, scheduling, and multi-device orchestration, Mail Pilot could offer a resilient, accessible layer of automation on top of existing smart home systems.
Demo
For judging purposes, the system is running locally with ngrok and a Wi-Fi-connected ESP8266. Commands like ROOM_1_ON or DOOR_OPEN can be sent via email, and the device will fetch and execute them.
🖼️ System Diagram:
📽️ Demo video: Watch on YouTube Shorts
⛓️ Test it (on request): I’ll gladly expose the instance via ngrok for live review. DM me if you'd like to try it.
Code Repository
🔗 Backend (Rails API): github.com/davidmrtz-dev/mail_pilot
🔗 Firmware (ESP8266): github.com/davidmrtz-dev/mail_pilot_firmware
How I Built It
- Backend: Ruby on Rails 7 with a RESTful interface and Postmark's inbound webhook to receive emails as commands.
- Device: NodeMCU ESP8266 polling the API and executing commands using relays, servos, and OLED display feedback.
- Infra: Dockerized PostgreSQL + Rails stack for portability. Ngrok is used to tunnel the local API during testing.
Postmark’s reliability and ease of use made it ideal for converting emails into executable actions in real-time.
Thanks for reading, and thank you Postmark for the opportunity to build something unexpected, fun, and potentially useful.
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