Should each AI agent have its own email inbox?
Usually yes. Separate inboxes show which agent a message belongs to and limit what each agent can read.
Separate inboxes help most when agents manage different accounts, receive verification messages, or should not see each other's mail.
A discussion of agent email identity describes codes reaching the wrong workflow and old links staying usable. Separate addresses do not settle access on their own: the permissions on each mailbox must be limited too.
Set up a small test
- Create two test addresses you control, one for each agent or workflow.
- Give each workflow access only to its own inbox. Send a harmless test message to each.
- Check that each workflow can read its own message and cannot read the other's. Test the refusal, not just the successful read.
- Record which outside accounts use each address, so you can find recovery mail later.
- When an agent is retired, remove its mailbox access and check that a new request is refused. Keep the address or recovery method only as long as the account needs it.
A shared inbox can still make sense for a team process. Decide who can read it and how messages are routed before attaching it to several agents.
ActAs gives each agent its own inbox on your domain, and each connection reads only the inboxes you tick. The guide to email access you can take back runs this test with two agents.