> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.brew.new/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Validate Contacts
> Check any address before you send. Each contact comes back valid, risky, or invalid, and the verdict is saved on the contact.
Sending to addresses that can't receive mail raises your bounce rate, and bounce rate is one of the two metrics that decide your [sending reputation](/audience/audience-hygiene). Validation runs a real deliverability check on your contacts before an email goes out. Each address comes back with one of three verdicts:
* **Valid.** The mailbox exists and accepts mail.
* **Risky.** Deliverable, but worth a look: a role account (`info@`, `support@`), a disposable address, or a catch-all domain that accepts everything.
* **Invalid.** The address can't receive mail. Don't send to it.
Every result carries a machine-readable `reason` and, where a typo looks likely, a `didYouMean` correction (`gamil.com` to `gmail.com`). The verdict is saved on the contact, so a list you validated stays validated.
Each checked address costs **2 credits**, drawn from the same [credit balance](/api-reference/api/credits) as AI email generation and charged only when the check completes.
## From an Audience
The most credit-efficient way to validate. Open the audience, then click the three-dot menu in the top right corner of the audience view (next to **Download CSV**) and choose **Validate contacts**. Every contact in that audience is checked.
You can validate your whole list from the All contacts view, but for better credit usage, [create an audience](/audience/create-audiences) first and validate that group instead. Two credits per address adds up; validating the segment you're about to send to is usually all you need.
## On CSV Import
The [CSV import](/audience/add-contacts#csv-upload) has a validation checkbox. Tick it and every address in the file is deliverability-checked as it's ingested, so bad addresses never enter your list unflagged.
## When Adding a Contact Manually
The [add-contact form](/audience/add-contacts#add-manually) has the same checkbox. Tick it and the address is checked as it's saved.
## From MCP
If Brew is [connected to your AI client](/api-reference/mcp/quickstart), the easiest flow is to ask for your audiences, pick one, and validate it:
> *"List my audiences."*
> *"Validate the contacts in the newsletter audience."*
The agent calls `list_audiences` and then `validate_contacts`, and replies with the verdict counts and the addresses that came back risky or invalid. The `create_contact` and `import_contacts_csv` tools take the same opt-in validation as the UI checkboxes.
## From the API
The same check is available on three endpoints:
* **`POST /v1/contacts/validate`** checks up to 100 addresses at once and writes the verdict back onto matching contacts. Each result carries `risk`, `isDisposable`, and `isRole` signals alongside `reason` and `didYouMean`.
* **`POST /v1/contacts`** and **`POST /v1/contacts/import-csv`** accept an optional **`validate: true`** to check each address as it's ingested. Up to 100 addresses validate inline; larger submissions upsert first and validate as a background job, returning a `validationJobId`.
In the TypeScript SDK it's `brew.contacts.validate(...)`, and the ingestion methods take the same `validate` flag. The contact's verdict field is named `validationStatus`. If a check can't complete, the call returns a retryable `503` and you are not billed.
## What to Do with the Verdicts
* **Valid** contacts need nothing. Send as usual.
* **Risky** contacts deserve a look before a big send. Role accounts rarely engage, disposable addresses churn fast, and catch-all domains can't be confirmed either way. Consider excluding them from your primary sending audience.
* **Invalid** contacts should leave your active audience. Sending to them produces hard bounces, and hard bounces hurt every future send. See [Audience Hygiene](/audience/audience-hygiene) for the wider cleanup routine.
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