Fastmail + Telegram: masked emails on demand

Creating a masked email should feel instant. Instead, you end up bouncing between Fastmail settings, copy-pasting addresses, and second-guessing whether you labeled the signup correctly.

This Fastmail masked emails automation hits busy founders first, honestly. But marketers running giveaways and agency folks testing tools feel it too. The outcome is simple: request a masked address and get the new email back in Telegram, properly labeled, in under a minute.

You’ll see what’s breaking today, how the workflow fixes it, and what you can tweak so it fits your own signup and privacy workflow.

How This Automation Works

See how this solves the problem:

n8n Workflow Template: Fastmail + Telegram: masked emails on demand

Click to explore

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The Challenge: Creating masked emails is annoyingly manual

Masked emails are a great habit until you’re in a hurry. You’re halfway through a checkout flow, a webinar signup, or a new SaaS trial, and you have to stop what you’re doing to generate a fresh address. Then comes the fussy part: naming it so you know what it’s for later, copying the value, pasting it in the right place, and hoping you didn’t grab an old one from your clipboard. Do that a few times a week and it turns into a constant, low-grade interruption.

It adds up fast. Here’s where it breaks down in real life.

You lose your flow during signups because generating an address lives in a different tab and a different mental context.
Labels get rushed or skipped, which means a month later you can’t remember which service a masked address belongs to.
Copy-paste mistakes happen, especially on mobile, and then you’re stuck resetting accounts or missing confirmation emails.
When you want consistency across a team, everyone does it “their way,” and the mess shows up during audits or offboarding.

The Fix: Request a masked email and receive it in Telegram

This workflow turns masked email creation into a quick request/response loop. It starts when a webhook receives a simple POST request that includes a description (what you’re signing up for) and an optional state (like “pending” or “active”). n8n then calls Fastmail to retrieve session info so it can authenticate the next request safely. With that session data in hand, it sends a second request to Fastmail’s JMAP API to create the masked email using your description and state. Finally, it assembles a clean response that includes the new masked address and its label, then returns it immediately (and you can also pass that response into Telegram so it’s waiting for you where you asked for it).

The flow is straightforward. A webhook triggers the run, Fastmail creates the masked address, and n8n returns the exact email plus the description you provided. No hunting through settings, no “which address did I just create?” moment.

What Changes: Before vs. After

What This Eliminates

Impact You’ll See

Opening Fastmail settings just to generate one new masked address.
Copying, pasting, and double-checking the masked email value.
Inconsistent naming because you created the label “later.”
Repeating the same steps on mobile, where errors are more likely.

Most people get about 10 minutes back per signup-heavy day.
Cleaner labels, so you can spot suspicious signups faster.
Far fewer “wait, which address is this?” moments in your inbox.
It becomes realistic to use masked emails for almost everything.
A repeatable process you can share with a team or clients.

Real-World Impact

Say you create 10 masked emails in a week (new tools, lead magnets, client accounts). Manually, you’ll often spend about 2 minutes navigating, 1 minute naming, and 1 minute copy-pasting per address, so roughly 40 minutes weekly. With this workflow, you send a quick request (about 20 seconds), wait for Fastmail to respond, and the masked email comes straight back for you to paste. That usually turns into about 5 minutes total for the whole week’s worth.

Requirements

n8n instance (try n8n Cloud free)
Self-hosting option if you prefer (Hostinger works well)
Fastmail account for creating masked email addresses
Telegram to receive the masked email instantly
Fastmail API credentials (get it from Fastmail API settings)

Skill level: Beginner. You’ll paste API credentials, test a webhook call, and adjust a couple of fields like “description.”

Need help implementing this? Talk to an automation expert (free 15-minute consultation).

The Workflow Flow

A webhook receives your request. You send a POST request that includes a description like “Notion trial” and, if you want, a state like “pending.” That single message is the “create a masked email now” signal.

Fastmail session info is retrieved. n8n makes an HTTP request to Fastmail to pull the session details needed to authenticate the next call. This is what keeps the workflow reliable instead of “it worked yesterday.”

The masked email gets created via the Fastmail API. The workflow maps your incoming fields into the right format, then sends a JMAP request to generate the masked address using your label.

The result is packaged and returned (and can be forwarded to Telegram). n8n extracts the masked email address, pairs it with the description, then responds to the webhook so you get a clean, paste-ready reply.

You can easily modify the incoming fields to support things like “service name,” “client,” or “project code” based on your needs. See the full implementation guide below for customization options.

Step-by-Step Implementation Guide

Step 1: Configure the Webhook Trigger

Set up the inbound webhook that initiates the workflow and accepts masked email creation requests.

Add a Incoming Webhook Trigger node and set Path to createMaskedEmail.
Set HTTP Method to POST.
Set Response Mode to responseNode so the workflow can respond via Return Webhook Reply.
Connect Incoming Webhook Trigger to Retrieve Session Info as the next step in the execution flow.

Step 2: Connect Fastmail Session Retrieval

Retrieve Fastmail session metadata needed to create a masked email account.

Add the Retrieve Session Info node and set URL to https://api.fastmail.com/jmap/session.
Set Authentication to genericCredentialType and Generic Auth Type to httpHeaderAuth.
Credential Required: Connect your httpHeaderAuth credentials.
Ensure Retrieve Session Info outputs to Map Creation Fields based on the execution flow.

Step 3: Set Up Field Mapping for Masked Email Creation

Map request payload values with fallbacks so the masked email request always has required fields.

Add a Map Creation Fields node and create a string field named state with value ={{ $('Incoming Webhook Trigger').item.json.body.state ?? "pending" }}.
Add a string field named description with value ={{ $('Incoming Webhook Trigger').item.json.body.description ?? "Test via N8n" }}.
Connect Map Creation Fields to Generate Masked Email to pass the mapped payload.

Tip: Ensure your webhook callers send body.state and body.description when you want to override the defaults.

Step 4: Configure Masked Email Creation and Response Assembly

Create the masked email via Fastmail’s JMAP API and assemble a clean response payload.

Add Generate Masked Email and set URL to https://api.fastmail.com/jmap/api/ with Method POST.
Enable Send Body and Send Headers, then set Specify Body to json.
Set JSON Body to the provided JMAP payload, including the expressions: {{ $('Retrieve Session Info').item.json.primaryAccounts['https://www.fastmail.com/dev/maskedemail'] }}, {{ $json.description }}, and {{ $json.state }}.
Add the header Content-Type with value application/json.
Credential Required: Connect your httpHeaderAuth credentials.
Add Assemble Response Data with fields: email set to ={{ $json.methodResponses[0][1].created.maskedEmailId1.email }} and desciption set to ={{ $('Map Creation Fields').item.json.description }}.
Connect Assemble Response Data to Return Webhook Reply.

⚠️ Common Pitfall: The field name desciption in Assemble Response Data is misspelled. Keep it as-is to match the existing workflow output, or correct it and update any clients expecting that field.

Step 5: Configure the Webhook Response

Return the assembled payload to the original HTTP caller.

In Return Webhook Reply, set Respond With to text.
Set Response Body to ={{ $json }} so the full response from Assemble Response Data is returned.

Step 6: Test and Activate Your Workflow

Verify the workflow end-to-end and enable it for production use.

Click Execute Workflow and send a POST request to the Incoming Webhook Trigger URL with a JSON body that includes state and description.
Confirm that Generate Masked Email returns a methodResponses payload and Assemble Response Data outputs email and desciption.
Verify the webhook response contains the masked email in the response body.
Turn on the workflow by clicking Activate so it responds to live webhook calls.

🔒

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Watch Out For

Fastmail credentials can expire or need specific permissions. If things break, check the Fastmail API credential and headers inside your n8n HTTP Request nodes first.
If you expose the webhook to the internet, it can get abused. Add an authorization header check (or at least a secret token) so random bots can’t generate addresses on your behalf.
Telegram formatting is easy to overlook. If you later add a Telegram “send message” step, test special characters in descriptions (slashes, brackets) so your message doesn’t look mangled.

Common Questions

How quickly can I implement this Fastmail masked emails automation?

Usually about 30 minutes if you already have Fastmail API access.

Can non-technical teams implement this masked emails automation?

Yes. No coding is required, but you do need to be comfortable pasting credentials and sending a test webhook request.

Is n8n free to use for this Fastmail masked emails workflow?

Yes. n8n has a free self-hosted option and a free trial on n8n Cloud. Cloud plans start at $20/month for higher volume. You’ll also need to factor in Fastmail plan costs (and any optional AI usage if you extend it).

Where can I host n8n to run this automation?

Two options: n8n Cloud (managed, easiest setup) or self-hosting on a VPS. For self-hosting, Hostinger VPS is affordable and handles n8n well. Self-hosting gives you unlimited executions but requires basic server management.

How do I adapt this Fastmail masked emails solution to my specific challenges?

You can change what gets stored in Fastmail by editing the fields in the “Map Creation Fields” step (that’s where state and description are mapped). Common customizations include enforcing a naming pattern like “client + service,” defaulting state to “pending” when it’s missing, and adding a Telegram message step so the reply lands in a specific channel. If you also want a record of what you created, add a Google Sheets row after “Assemble Response Data.”

Why is my Fastmail connection failing in this workflow?

Most of the time it’s the auth header or an expired credential in your HTTP Request nodes. Re-check the Fastmail API credentials you set in n8n, then confirm the session endpoint returns data. If the session call works but creation fails, it’s usually a payload mismatch (state/description formatting) or the wrong JMAP endpoint for your account.

What’s the capacity of this Fastmail masked emails solution?

For most people, it’s effectively “as many as you need.” The workflow creates one masked email per request, and it’s lightweight enough to run many times a day. On n8n Cloud, capacity depends on your monthly execution allowance; if you self-host, you’re mainly limited by your server and Fastmail API rate limits.

Is this Fastmail masked emails automation better than using Zapier or Make?

Often, yes, because Fastmail masked email creation usually involves custom HTTP calls rather than a simple point-and-click connector. n8n makes that kind of HTTP workflow easier to maintain, and you can self-host for unlimited runs if you’re creating lots of addresses. Zapier and Make can still do it, but you may spend more time fiddling with webhooks and paid steps. The bigger win is flexibility: adding conditional logic, extra validation, or storage in Sheets is straightforward in n8n. If you’re unsure, Talk to an automation expert and we’ll map the simplest option for your setup.

Once this is running, masked emails become a default instead of a chore. Set it up once, then keep moving.

Fastmail + Telegram: masked emails on demand

How This Automation Works

n8n Workflow Template: Fastmail + Telegram: masked emails on demand

The Challenge: Creating masked emails is annoyingly manual