django sendgrid send unique arguments - django

Question

Sendgrid allows to specify unique arguments when sending emails. These can be used for the event webhook integration to identify emails doc.
I have an existing code piece in django that uses django.core.mail.EmailMultiAlternatives to send emails via SendGrid. I'd like to specify the above mentioned unique arguments if possible. So far I was trying to use the custom_args field
email.custom_args = {'test_arg': 'value'}
but that didn't seem to work.
I saw that there's a django-sendgrid module, but if possible I'd prefer not having to re-write the existing code base.

Answer 1

i don't use the SendGrid, but looks like the Unique Arguments is email headers, and by the doc: emailmessage, you can add headers for example:
from django.core.mail import EmailMultiAlternatives
subject, from_email, to = 'hello', 'EXAMPLE#FROM.com', 'EXAMPLE#TO.NET'
text_content = 'This is an important message.'
msg = EmailMultiAlternatives(
subject,
text_content,
from_email,
[to], headers={"customerAccountNumber": "55555", },
)
msg.send()

Answer 2

Have you tried using the SendGrid Python Library?
The term custom_args is specific to Web API v3 Mail Send, so adding it to your SMTP message won't work. The Web v3 API call is faster and more full-featured than the SMTP transaction, but is a newer generation of call, and has some updated vocabulary.
If you need to send via SMTP, you'll need to use the term unique_args within the X-SMTPAPI header specifically. That will allow those key:values to be attached to all Events related to the messages generated in that send.

Answer 3

I'm using Python and Django to configure sending messages through SendGrid: https://docs.sendgrid.com/for-developers/sending-email/django
As others have mentioned, the best way to match event webhooks with previously sent emails is to add a unique identifier when sending the email. To do so, you need to use the X-SMTPAPI header with a unique_args key/value. It's important to configure this header correctly, otherwise the email will be rejected. Two helpful links:
Building an X-SMTPAPI Header
Unique Arguments
Based on this documentation, here's what my implementation looks like:
MESSAGE_ID_KEY = 'jv_message_id'
message = EmailMultiAlternatives(
subject=subject,
body=plain_content,
from_email=from_email or EMAIL_ADDRESS_SEND,
to=to_emails,
cc=cc_email,
headers={
'X-SMTPAPI': json.dumps({'unique_args': {MESSAGE_ID_KEY: '<internal message id>'}})
}
)
Then when the webhook is sent, I get the message ID like this:
def post(self, request):
event_data = request.data
if not event_data:
logger.error('Sendgrid webhook delivered an unparseable request')
return Response(status=status.HTTP_200_OK)
for event in event_data:
event_type = event['event']
if not (message_id := event.get(MESSAGE_ID_KEY)):
logger.warning('Sendgrid webhook delivered an event without a unique message ID')
continue
...