MX Record

ELI5 — The Vibe Check

An MX record tells the internet where to deliver emails for your domain. When someone sends an email to you@yoursite.com, their mail server checks the MX record to find out which mail server should receive it. No MX record = no email.

Real Talk

An MX (Mail Exchange) DNS record specifies the mail server responsible for accepting email for a domain. MX records include a priority value — lower numbers have higher priority. If the primary mail server is down, lower-priority servers act as fallbacks.

Show Me The Code

# Check MX records
dig MX example.com

# Example MX record output
; Priority  Mail server
10         mail1.example.com.
20         mail2.example.com.

# Google Workspace MX records example
1          aspmx.l.google.com.

When You'll Hear This

"Add the MX records from Google Workspace so email works." / "Why is email bouncing? Check if the MX record is correct."