ceven

MXToolbox

Monitors your domain health and email deliverability by automating DNS lookups, blacklist checks, and server connectivity tests.

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Why use Ceven?

  1. AI native MXToolbox integration

    • Describe the outcome and Ceven picks the right MXToolbox calls, fills the parameters, and checks the result.
    • Structured, agent friendly tool schemas so each call runs reliably instead of by guesswork.
    • Rich coverage for reading, writing, and querying your MXToolbox data, across all 13 of its actions.

  2. Managed auth

    • Built in OAuth with automatic token refresh and rotation.
    • One place to manage, scope, and revoke MXToolbox access.
    • Per user and per environment credentials instead of shared keys.

  3. Agent optimized design

    • Actions are tuned from real success and error rates so reliability climbs over time.
    • Full execution logs so you always know what ran in MXToolbox, when, and on whose behalf.
    • The agent pauses and asks when MXToolbox is unclear instead of plowing ahead.

  4. Enterprise grade security

    • Fine grained access so you control which agents and people can reach MXToolbox.
    • Least privilege by default, read scopes first and only the writes a workflow needs.
    • A full audit trail of every MXToolbox action to support review and sign off.

Supported tools

Every action Ceven's agents can run on MXToolbox, and when to use it.

Lookup BIMI Record
Use this when checking domain brand identity via BIMI lookup to ensure logos appear in supported email clients.
Lookup Blacklist
Perform a blacklist check on a domain or IP to verify if it is listed in common spam databases.
Lookup DKIM Record
Retrieve DKIM records for a domain to verify cryptographic signatures before sending high volume email.
Lookup DMARC Record
Retrieve DMARC records for a domain to check the policy for handling emails that fail authentication.
Lookup DNS Records
Pull DNS lookup details for a given domain to verify general record accuracy.
HTTP Lookup
Assess HTTP connectivity and status for a given domain to check if the web server is responsive.
Lookup MTA STS Record
Validate mail transport security policy by looking up the MTA STS record for a domain.
Lookup MX Records
Discover mail exchange servers for a domain to ensure email is routing to the correct provider.
Ping Lookup
Run hop by hop network latency diagnostics on a specified domain or IP address.
SMTP Lookup
Verify SMTP connectivity for a domain to test if the mail server accepts connections.
Lookup SPF Record
Confirm email sender authorization policies by retrieving the SPF record for a specified domain.
Monitor Status
Get current health details of all account monitors to identify failing network checks.
Check Usage
Monitor remaining API calls and quota reset timing to avoid service interruptions.

13 actions · scroll to see them all

Frequently asked questions

Ceven manages API calls through a smart queuing system that respects the limits of your specific MXToolbox plan. Because MXToolbox applies strict rate limits based on the account tier, the agent tracks the remaining quota using the Check Usage tool. If a workflow triggers a massive bulk check across hundreds of domains, Ceven will automatically throttle the requests to prevent a 429 error. You can configure the agent to prioritize certain domains or to spread the checks over a longer window to ensure critical monitors never fail due to quota exhaustion. This prevents your automation from being temporarily blocked by the MXToolbox API gateway.
Ceven cannot directly modify your DNS records because MXToolbox is a diagnostic tool, not a DNS host. However, the agent can bridge the gap by taking the error found in MXToolbox and sending a request to your DNS provider like Cloudflare or Route 53. For example, if MXToolbox reports a missing SPF record, the agent can draft the correct record based on your mail server details and then use a separate integration to apply that change to your zone file. This creates a closed loop where MXToolbox finds the problem and another tool fixes it without human intervention.
Ceven can verify the entire trifecta of modern email authentication. It uses MXToolbox to pull SPF records to check which IPs are authorized to send mail, DKIM records to ensure the public keys are correctly published, and DMARC records to see how receivers should handle failures. Beyond these, it can also check BIMI records for brand identity and MTA STS for encrypted transport policies. By pulling all these records in one workflow, the agent provides a complete deliverability snapshot that tells you exactly why your emails might be landing in the spam folder.
Yes, Ceven leverages the Monitor Status tool to keep a pulse on your network health. Instead of you logging into the dashboard, the agent can be scheduled to poll your monitors every hour. If a monitor transitions from a healthy state to a failing state, the agent triggers an immediate alert in Slack or PagerDuty. This allows you to catch a blacklisted IP or a downed mail server before your customers start reporting issues. It transforms MXToolbox from a manual lookup tool into an automated alerting engine for your infrastructure.
Absolutely. When you use the Lookup Blacklist action, Ceven queries the comprehensive list of databases that MXToolbox monitors. The agent does not just tell you if you are listed, but it can parse the results to identify which specific blacklist is the culprit. You can build a workflow that checks your primary sending IP every morning and logs any new listings into a spreadsheet for your security team. This ensures that you have a historical audit trail of your IP reputation and can act quickly to request a delisting.
The limit is determined by your MXToolbox subscription tier, not by Ceven. Free accounts have very limited monitoring capabilities, while paid tiers allow for a much larger volume of monitored domains and API calls. Ceven simply acts as the orchestrator for the permissions granted to your API key. If you find that your workflows are failing due to account restrictions, you will need to upgrade your plan within the MXToolbox dashboard. Once the upgrade is complete, Ceven will immediately have access to the expanded limits without needing any reconfiguration.
An MX lookup simply tells you which server is designated to receive mail for a domain, which is a DNS level check. An SMTP lookup goes a step further by actually attempting to connect to that server to see if it responds correctly. Ceven uses the MX lookup first to find the target and then runs the SMTP lookup to verify that the server is actually online and configured to accept mail. This two step process is critical for troubleshooting because a domain can have a perfectly valid MX record but a crashed mail server.
Ceven uses the BIMI record lookup to verify if your brand logo is correctly configured for email clients. While it cannot design the SVG logo for you, it can check if the record is present and if the pointer to the logo is valid. You can set up a workflow that audits all your corporate domains to ensure BIMI is consistent across the board. If a record is missing, the agent can notify your marketing team that the brand identity is not appearing in recipient inboxes, ensuring a professional image across all communications.

Alternatives to MXToolbox

Other tools that solve a similar problem. Ceven supports these too, so you can switch or run more than one at once.

DNSChecker logoDNSCheckerWhatIsMyDNS logoWhatIsMyDNSSolarWinds logoSolarWinds

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