BIMI / brand logo — Sendara docs

BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) puts your logo where a recipient's eye lands first: the round sender avatar next to your name in their inbox. Instead of a grey circle with an initial, supported mailbox providers render your brand mark on every message — a small, persistent signal that the mail is really from you. The payoff is recognition and trust, which tends to lift opens, and a visible cue that your domain is authenticated and hard to spoof.

BIMI rides on top of a fully authenticated, DMARC-enforced domain. Set up DKIM, SPF, and DMARC first — the logo only shows once your mail passes authentication and your DMARC policy is at enforcement.

What BIMI requires

Four things have to be true before a mailbox provider will display your logo. Sendara generates the record and hosts the logo for you, but the DMARC and trademark pieces are yours to satisfy:

A square SVG logo. BIMI requires the SVG Tiny PS profile — a restricted, secure subset of SVG (no scripts, no external references, a 1:1 square aspect ratio, and a solid background). It must be served over HTTPS. Sendara validates the profile on upload and rejects anything that isn't compliant.
A BIMI DNS record. A TXT record at default._bimi.<domain> pointing at the logo URL:
v=BIMI1; l=<logo-url>;
DMARC at enforcement. Your DMARC policy must be p=quarantine or p=reject — a relaxed p=none is not enough. This is the security backbone: providers only trust the logo when spoofed mail on your domain is already being quarantined or rejected.
A VMC, for some providers. Gmail and Apple Mail additionally require a paid Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) — issued against a registered trademark of your logo — and a a=<vmc-url> tag added to the record. Yahoo and Fastmail display the logo without a VMC, so you can light up those inboxes immediately and add a VMC later for Gmail and Apple.

Don't publish a BIMI record while DMARC is still at p=none. Mailbox providers ignore the logo until your policy is at enforcement, and shipping a half-configured record just delays the payoff. The dmarc.at_enforcementflag in the API response tells you when you're ready.

Get the current state

Read the BIMI state for a verified domain. The response returns the hosted (or supplied) logo_url, the exact TXT record to publish (or null if no logo is set yet), whether your DMARC is already at_enforcement with a recommended policy to copy, whether the record is live (bimi_published), and a vmc_note on which providers need a certificate.

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{
  "logo_url": "https://assets.sendara.dev/v1/bimi/mail.acme.com/logo.svg",
  "record": {
    "type": "TXT",
    "name": "default._bimi.mail.acme.com",
    "value": "v=BIMI1; l=https://assets.sendara.dev/v1/bimi/mail.acme.com/logo.svg;"
  },
  "dmarc": {
    "at_enforcement": false,
    "recommended": "v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:[email protected]"
  },
  "bimi_published": false,
  "vmc_note": "Gmail and Apple Mail require a paid Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) tied to a registered trademark. Yahoo and Fastmail display the logo without one."
}

Set your logo

There are two ways to point BIMI at a logo. Either way you get the same response back — including the generated TXT record to publish.

Point at your own URL

If you already host a compliant SVG Tiny PS logo over HTTPS, send its URL. Sendara validates it and builds the record around it. Requires a key with the admin scope.

logo_urlstringOptional

Public HTTPS URL of a square SVG Tiny PS logo. Pass your own CDN URL, or omit it and upload the file so Sendara hosts it for you.

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Upload the SVG and let Sendara host it

Don't have anywhere to host the file? Send the SVG as multipart/form-data with a filepart (SVG, max 1 MiB). Sendara validates the SVG Tiny PS profile, hosts it on a stable HTTPS URL, and returns the record pointing at it.

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Hosting with Sendara is the simplest path — you skip running your own HTTPS endpoint, and the URL never changes, so the BIMI record stays valid even if you redesign your CDN.

Publish the record

Take the record from the response and publish it as a TXT record at your DNS provider, exactly as returned:

Type	Name / Host	Value
TXT	default._bimi.mail.acme.com	v=BIMI1; l=https://assets.sendara.dev/v1/bimi/mail.acme.com/logo.svg;

Once DNS propagates and your next message authenticates against an enforced DMARC policy, supported inboxes start rendering your logo. Yahoo and Fastmail light up first; Gmail and Apple follow once you've added a VMC and its a= tag to the record.

Set it in the dashboard

Prefer not to touch the API? In the Sendara dashboard, open a verified domain and go to its Brand logo (BIMI)section. Upload your SVG (or paste a URL), and Sendara hosts the logo, generates the TXT record, and shows whether your DMARC is at enforcement yet. Copy the record into your DNS provider and you're done — one logo per verified domain.

BIMI checklist

Authenticate the domain — DKIM, SPF, and DMARC all passing and aligned.
Move DMARC to p=quarantine or p=reject and confirm dmarc.at_enforcement is true.
Prepare a square SVG Tiny PS logo, then upload it (or point at your own HTTPS URL).
Publish the generated TXT record at default._bimi.<domain>.
For Gmail and Apple Mail, obtain a VMC tied to your registered trademark and add its a= tag.