---
title: Organize your email workflow on a custom domain
description: Route custom-domain aliases into Gmail, sort them into labels, and keep new senders out of spam.
tags: [email, dns, cloudflare, gmail]
type: blog
date: 2026-07-11
---

Running email on your own domain looks simple: point `hey@yourdomain` at your
personal Gmail and forward. Do it naively and two things bite you. Everything
lands in one undifferentiated inbox, and mail from new senders gets flagged as
spam. This is the workflow I use to fix both: route the aliases through
Cloudflare, sort them into labels in Gmail, and keep the whole thing out of the
spam folder.

`narayann.dev` (`hey@` for social, `work@` for work, both forwarding to a
personal Gmail) is the running example.

## The workflow

## Route the domain through Cloudflare

Cloudflare Email Routing forwards your aliases to Gmail and rewrites the envelope
sender with SRS, so SPF passes on the forwarding hop and mail is not penalized
for being forwarded. The domain stays registered wherever it is (Squarespace, in
my case); only DNS moves to Cloudflare.

1. Sign up at [cloudflare.com](https://cloudflare.com).
2. Add the site `narayann.dev`.
3. Cloudflare auto-imports existing DNS. Verify every record copied over.
4. Copy Cloudflare's two nameservers (for example `xxx.ns.cloudflare.com`).
5. In the Squarespace domain panel, set Nameservers to custom and paste the
   Cloudflare ones.
6. Wait for activation (minutes to hours).
7. Cloudflare dashboard → **Email** → **Email Routing** → Get Started.
8. Add your personal Gmail as the destination and click the verify link it
   sends you.
9. Create the custom addresses, each routing to your Gmail:
   ```
   hey@narayann.dev  → personal Gmail
   work@narayann.dev → personal Gmail
   ```
10. Accept the MX, SPF, and TXT records Cloudflare adds automatically.
11. In Squarespace, disable the old email forwarding presets.
12. Remove any leftover MX records still pointing at Squarespace.

To verify: send a test from a fresh account and confirm it arrives. Open the
Gmail message header and check that SPF and DMARC show PASS. Forwarded DKIM may
show neutral, which is expected and fine once SPF aligns.

## Sort incoming mail into labels

Everything now lands in one Gmail inbox. A filter per alias sorts it by which
address the message was sent to. In Gmail → **Settings → Filters and Blocked
Addresses → Create a new filter**:

Social mail:

```text
To: hey@narayann.dev
```

Create the filter, then tick **Apply the label** and pick or create `social`.
Add **Also apply filter to matching conversations** so existing threads get
labeled too.

Work mail:

```text
To: work@narayann.dev
```

Same idea, label `work`.

If you want an alias out of the main inbox entirely, also tick **Skip the Inbox
(Archive it)** so it lives only under its label.

## Keep new senders out of spam

Even with SPF passing, a brand-new sender has no personal trust signal with
Gmail, so a borderline message can still get flagged. Existing threads are safe
because Gmail already trusts the conversation. One catch-all filter fixes new
senders:

```text
To: *@narayann.dev
```

Create the filter and tick **Never send it to Spam** (add **Always mark as
important** if you want). This works instantly and needs no DNS changes. You can
fold it into the per-alias filters above instead of running it separately.

## Harden with DMARC

A DMARC record helps your domain's reputation and gives you deliverability
reports. Add a TXT record:

| Type | Name                  | Value                                                  |
| ---- | --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| TXT  | `_dmarc.narayann.dev` | `v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:your-personal@gmail.com` |

`p=none` means monitor only, no enforcement, which is the safe way to start.

## Useful Gmail filter variants

Multiple aliases in one filter:

```text
to:(hey@narayann.dev OR work@narayann.dev)
```

All aliases on the domain:

```text
to:(*@narayann.dev)
```

From a specific sender, to auto-label newsletters or a noisy service:

```text
from:(newsletter@substack.com)
```

## What I'd do

Route the domain through Cloudflare first, since that is the backbone. Add the
per-alias label filters so mail sorts itself, and the catch-all never-spam
filter so nothing new gets lost. Then add the DMARC record while you are already
in DNS. Once Cloudflare is live, drop the old Squarespace forwarding entirely.

## References

* [Cloudflare Email Routing](https://www.cloudflare.com/products/email-routing/)
* [Cloudflare Postmaster / SRS docs](https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-routing/postmaster/)
* [Gmail filter search operators](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7190)