Check signup emails in Laravel

This guide adds a Signitize validation rule to a Laravel (10 or later) registration form. It uses Laravel's HTTP client, so no package is needed.

1. Add your key

.env

SIGNITIZE_API_KEY=sk_live_...

config/services.php

'signitize' => [
    'key' => env('SIGNITIZE_API_KEY'),
],

Get a free key if you don't have one.

2. The column

database/migrations/xxxx_add_email_check_to_users.php

Schema::table('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->string('email_canonical')->nullable()->unique();
    $table->string('email_check')->default('pending');
});

3. The rule

app/Rules/SignitizeEmail.php

<?php

namespace App\Rules;

use Closure;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Validation\ValidationRule;
use Illuminate\Http\Client\ConnectionException;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Log;

class SignitizeEmail implements ValidationRule
{
    /** The Signitize result, or null when the check was unavailable. */
    public ?array $result = null;

    public function validate(string $attribute, mixed $value, Closure $fail): void
    {
        try {
            $response = Http::withToken(config('services.signitize.key'))
                ->timeout(5)
                ->post('https://api.signitize.io/v1/check', ['email' => $value]);
        } catch (ConnectionException) {
            return; // timeout or network error: don't block the signup
        }

        if ($response->status() === 400) {
            $fail('Enter a valid email address.');
            return;
        }
        if (! $response->ok()) {
            Log::warning('Signitize unavailable', ['status' => $response->status()]);
            return;
        }

        $this->result = $response->json();

        if ($this->result['disposable']) {
            $fail('Please use a permanent email address.');
        } elseif (! $this->result['deliverable']) {
            $fail('This email address cannot receive mail. Please check it for typos.');
        }
    }
}

4. The controller

app/Http/Controllers/RegisterController.php

use App\Models\User;
use App\Rules\SignitizeEmail;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Validation\ValidationException;

public function store(Request $request)
{
    $emailRule = new SignitizeEmail();

    $data = $request->validate([
        'name' => ['required', 'string', 'max:100'],
        'email' => ['required', 'string', 'max:254', $emailRule],
        'password' => ['required', 'confirmed', 'min:8'],
    ]);

    $canonical = $emailRule->result['email'] ?? null;

    if ($canonical && User::where('email_canonical', $canonical)->exists()) {
        throw ValidationException::withMessages(['email' => 'You already have an account.']);
    }

    $user = User::create([
        'name' => $data['name'],
        'email' => trim($data['email']),
        'email_canonical' => $canonical,
        'email_check' => $canonical ? 'passed' : 'pending',
        'password' => $data['password'],
    ]);

    $user->sendEmailVerificationNotification();

    // ...log in and redirect as usual
}

The verification email goes to the typed address. With Laravel Breeze or Jetstream, add $emailRule to the email rules of the existing registration code instead.

5. Recheck pending users

Users created while Signitize was unavailable are pending. Schedule a command every 10 minutes (Schedule::command(...)->everyTenMinutes()) that runs the recheck logic from Never block a signup, and grant free credits only to passed users.