diff --git a/cli/src/cli.ts b/cli/src/cli.ts
index 37c20c81a..121a3f276 100644
--- a/cli/src/cli.ts
+++ b/cli/src/cli.ts
@@ -3,11 +3,14 @@ import { dirname, join, resolve } from "node:path";
 import { CliError, bold, dim, errMessage, note, red } from "./log.ts";
 import {
   findConfigPath,
+  isEmailTransport,
   isModelProvider,
   loadConfigAt,
   loadConfigInDir,
   readConfigOrgId,
+  EMAIL_TRANSPORTS,
   MODEL_PROVIDERS,
+  type EmailTransport,
   type ModelProvider,
 } from "./config.ts";
 import { HOSTING_PROVIDER_IDS, hostingProviderChoices, isTarget, type Target } from "./providers.ts";
@@ -87,6 +90,14 @@ function modelProviderFlag(flags: Flags): ModelProvider | undefined {
   return provider;
 }
 
+function emailTransportFlag(flags: Flags): EmailTransport | undefined {
+  const transport = strFlag(flags, "email-transport");
+  if (transport !== undefined && !isEmailTransport(transport)) {
+    throw new CliError(`--email-transport must be ${EMAIL_TRANSPORTS.join(" | ")}`, { clause: "cli.invocation" });
+  }
+  return transport;
+}
+
 function version(): string {
   return cliVersion();
 }
@@ -102,9 +113,11 @@ ${bold("USAGE")}
 ${bold("DEPLOY (operator)")} ${dim("— runs in the deployment directory")}
   init [path] [--org <id>] [--target ${HOSTING_PROVIDER_IDS.join("|")}]
        [--model-provider ${MODEL_PROVIDERS.join("|")}]
+       [--email-transport ${EMAIL_TRANSPORTS.join("|")}]
                                            scaffold a deployment directory (the base model
                                            provider defaults to anthropic; its API key is a
-                                           required secret)
+                                           required secret; sign-in emails default to resend,
+                                           and only the chosen transport's keys are scaffolded)
   setup [path]                             interactive wizard: scaffold if needed, then walk the
                                            missing secrets with per-provider instructions
   up                                       build images and bring the deployment up
@@ -237,10 +250,11 @@ async function dispatch(argv: string[]): Promise<void> {
     }
 
     case "init": {
-      rejectUnknownFlags(flags, ["org", "target", "model-provider"]);
+      rejectUnknownFlags(flags, ["org", "target", "model-provider", "email-transport"]);
       rejectExtraPositionals(positionals, 1);
       const target = targetFlag(flags);
       const modelProvider = modelProviderFlag(flags);
+      const emailTransport = emailTransportFlag(flags);
       const org = strFlag(flags, "org");
       const dir = positionals[0] !== undefined ? resolve(positionals[0]) : resolve(process.cwd());
       runInit({
@@ -248,6 +262,7 @@ async function dispatch(argv: string[]): Promise<void> {
         ...(org ? { org } : {}),
         ...(target ? { target } : {}),
         ...(modelProvider ? { modelProvider } : {}),
+        ...(emailTransport ? { emailTransport } : {}),
       });
       return;
     }
diff --git a/cli/src/commands/init.ts b/cli/src/commands/init.ts
index f1cbddfd1..4572fa8f4 100644
--- a/cli/src/commands/init.ts
+++ b/cli/src/commands/init.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import {
   configPathInDir,
   loadConfigAt,
   validOrgId,
+  type EmailTransport,
   type ModelProvider,
   type Target,
   type QmConfig,
@@ -256,7 +257,13 @@ function scaffoldDeploymentSkill(dir: string): void {
   }
 }
 
-export function runInit(opts: { org?: string; target?: Target; modelProvider?: ModelProvider; dir?: string }): void {
+export function runInit(opts: {
+  org?: string;
+  target?: Target;
+  modelProvider?: ModelProvider;
+  emailTransport?: EmailTransport;
+  dir?: string;
+}): void {
   assertNodeEngine();
   const orgId = opts.org ?? "default-org";
   if (!validOrgId(orgId)) die(`--org must be a lowercase DNS label (a-z, 0-9, and hyphens between)`);
@@ -273,8 +280,9 @@ export function runInit(opts: { org?: string; target?: Target; modelProvider?: M
 
   const target: Target = opts.target ?? "docker";
   const modelProvider: ModelProvider = opts.modelProvider ?? "anthropic";
+  const emailTransport: EmailTransport = opts.emailTransport ?? "resend";
   const provider = hostingProvider(target);
-  writeFileSync(configPath, provider.scaffold.renderConfig(orgId, modelProvider));
+  writeFileSync(configPath, provider.scaffold.renderConfig(orgId, modelProvider, emailTransport));
   ok(`wrote ${CONFIG_FILENAME} (orgId=${orgId}, target=${target}, modelProvider=${modelProvider})`);
 
   const config = loadConfigAt(configPath).config;
diff --git a/cli/src/config.ts b/cli/src/config.ts
index 4d1f283ea..2277e65cf 100644
--- a/cli/src/config.ts
+++ b/cli/src/config.ts
@@ -122,6 +122,12 @@ export const MODEL_PROVIDER_HARNESSES: Readonly<Record<ModelProvider, readonly s
 export const isModelProvider = (value: unknown): value is ModelProvider =>
   typeof value === "string" && (MODEL_PROVIDERS as readonly string[]).includes(value);
 
+export const EMAIL_TRANSPORTS = ["resend", "smtp"] as const;
+export type EmailTransport = (typeof EMAIL_TRANSPORTS)[number];
+
+export const isEmailTransport = (value: unknown): value is EmailTransport =>
+  typeof value === "string" && (EMAIL_TRANSPORTS as readonly string[]).includes(value);
+
 export interface QmConfig {
   contract: typeof CONTRACT_VERSION;
   orgId: string;
@@ -761,8 +767,10 @@ function validateBrokerTrust(config: QmConfig, path: string, secrets?: ReadonlyM
     );
   }
   const transport = authEnv.AUTH_EMAIL_TRANSPORT?.trim();
-  if (transport !== "resend" && transport !== "smtp") {
-    throw new CliError(`${path}: env.auth.AUTH_EMAIL_TRANSPORT must be "resend" or "smtp"`);
+  if (!isEmailTransport(transport)) {
+    throw new CliError(
+      `${path}: env.auth.AUTH_EMAIL_TRANSPORT must be ${EMAIL_TRANSPORTS.map((t) => JSON.stringify(t)).join(" or ")}`,
+    );
   }
   const domain = authEnv.AUTH_ALLOWED_EMAIL_DOMAIN?.trim();
   if (
diff --git a/cli/src/provider-scaffold.ts b/cli/src/provider-scaffold.ts
index ab8e23252..408995896 100644
--- a/cli/src/provider-scaffold.ts
+++ b/cli/src/provider-scaffold.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { createHash } from "node:crypto";
 import { existsSync, readFileSync } from "node:fs";
-import type { ModelProvider, QmConfig } from "./config.ts";
+import type { EmailTransport, ModelProvider, QmConfig } from "./config.ts";
 import type { Target } from "./providers.ts";
 import { declaredVariables, terraformVars } from "./terraform.ts";
 
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ interface ScaffoldFile {
 }
 
 export interface ProviderScaffold {
-  renderConfig(orgId: string, modelProvider: ModelProvider): string;
+  renderConfig(orgId: string, modelProvider: ModelProvider, emailTransport: EmailTransport): string;
   ignores: readonly string[];
   agentsAppendix: string;
   files(config: QmConfig): ScaffoldFile[];
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ export const dockerScaffold: ProviderScaffold = {
 };
 
 export const flyScaffold: ProviderScaffold = {
-  renderConfig: (orgId, modelProvider) =>
+  renderConfig: (orgId, modelProvider, emailTransport) =>
     renderConfig(orgId, {
       target: "fly",
       modelProvider,
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ export const flyScaffold: ProviderScaffold = {
   "flyOrg": "personal",
 `,
       services: ["core", "slack", "web-ui", "admin", "portal", "auth"],
-      env: `{ "core": { "HARNESS": "pi", "SNAPSHOT_STORE": "s3", "TRANSFER_STORE": "s3", "S3_BUCKET": ${JSON.stringify(`${orgId}-data`)}, "S3_REGION": "auto" }, "slack": { "SLACK_IDENTITY_EMAIL": "1" }, "auth": { "AUTH_EMAIL_TRANSPORT": "resend" } }`,
+      env: `{ "core": { "HARNESS": "pi", "SNAPSHOT_STORE": "s3", "TRANSFER_STORE": "s3", "S3_BUCKET": ${JSON.stringify(`${orgId}-data`)}, "S3_REGION": "auto" }, "slack": { "SLACK_IDENTITY_EMAIL": "1" }, "auth": { "AUTH_EMAIL_TRANSPORT": ${JSON.stringify(emailTransport)} } }`,
       secretEnv: `,
 
   // The initial admin seed is kept in the provider secret store, never in config.
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ export const flyScaffold: ProviderScaffold = {
 };
 
 export const awsScaffold: ProviderScaffold = {
-  renderConfig: (orgId, modelProvider) => {
+  renderConfig: (orgId, modelProvider, emailTransport) => {
     const cluster = clusterName(orgId);
     const services = Object.fromEntries(
       [
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ export const awsScaffold: ProviderScaffold = {
   },
 `,
       services: ["core", "slack", "web-ui", "admin", "portal", "auth"],
-      env: `{ "core": { "HARNESS": "pi", "AWS_DEPLOY_IMAGE": ${JSON.stringify(`${cluster}-sandbox`)}, "AWS_PUBLIC_ORIGIN_URL": "http://replace-with-alb-hostname" }, "slack": { "SLACK_IDENTITY_EMAIL": "1" }, "auth": { "AUTH_EMAIL_TRANSPORT": "resend" } }`,
+      env: `{ "core": { "HARNESS": "pi", "AWS_DEPLOY_IMAGE": ${JSON.stringify(`${cluster}-sandbox`)}, "AWS_PUBLIC_ORIGIN_URL": "http://replace-with-alb-hostname" }, "slack": { "SLACK_IDENTITY_EMAIL": "1" }, "auth": { "AUTH_EMAIL_TRANSPORT": ${JSON.stringify(emailTransport)} } }`,
       secretEnv: `,
 
   // The initial admin seed is kept in the provider secret store, never in config.
diff --git a/cli/src/secrets.ts b/cli/src/secrets.ts
index 5de7571a9..ed061840b 100644
--- a/cli/src/secrets.ts
+++ b/cli/src/secrets.ts
@@ -544,6 +544,17 @@ export function secretsForService(
   return computedSecrets(config).filter((secret) => secretDestinations(secret, pluginNames).has(service));
 }
 
+function requiresOtherEmailTransport(config: QmConfig, condition: SecretCondition): boolean {
+  if (condition.kind === "all")
+    return condition.conditions.some((nested) => requiresOtherEmailTransport(config, nested));
+  if (condition.kind === "any")
+    return condition.conditions.every((nested) => requiresOtherEmailTransport(config, nested));
+  if (condition.kind !== "env-equals" || condition.service !== "auth" || condition.name !== "AUTH_EMAIL_TRANSPORT")
+    return false;
+  const configured = config.env.auth?.AUTH_EMAIL_TRANSPORT?.trim();
+  return configured !== undefined && configured !== "" && configured !== condition.value;
+}
+
 function conditionClause(condition: SecretCondition): string {
   if (condition.kind === "service-enabled") return `the ${condition.service} service is enabled`;
   if (condition.kind === "service-absent") return `the ${condition.service} service is not enabled`;
@@ -585,7 +596,10 @@ export function renderEnvExample(config: QmConfig): string {
   }
   const activeNames = new Set(active.map((secret) => secret.name));
   const inactive = FIRST_PARTY_SECRET_SPECS.filter(
-    (spec, i, all) => !activeNames.has(spec.name) && all.findIndex((other) => other.name === spec.name) === i,
+    (spec, i, all) =>
+      !activeNames.has(spec.name) &&
+      all.findIndex((other) => other.name === spec.name) === i &&
+      !(typeof spec.required === "object" && requiresOtherEmailTransport(config, spec.required.when)),
   );
   for (const spec of inactive) {
     const clauses = [
diff --git a/cli/test/init.test.ts b/cli/test/init.test.ts
index 7d2cbded4..1c334e40a 100644
--- a/cli/test/init.test.ts
+++ b/cli/test/init.test.ts
@@ -179,6 +179,26 @@ test("init --target fly scaffolds the full hosted topology and both Slack apps",
     for (const line of ["# OIDC_CLIENT_ID=", "# OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET=", "# PORTAL_EXPECTED_TEAM_ID="]) {
       assert.ok(env.split("\n").includes(line), `external-IdP secret ${line} stays documented but unrequired`);
     }
+    assert.ok(!env.includes("SMTP_"), "the unselected smtp transport's keys stay out of .env.example");
+    assert.ok(!readFileSync(join(dir, ".env"), "utf8").includes("SMTP_"), "and out of .env");
+  } finally {
+    rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+});
+
+test("init --email-transport smtp scaffolds smtp keys only and a matching config", () => {
+  const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "qm-init-smtp-"));
+  try {
+    quiet(() => runInit({ dir, org: "acme", target: "fly", emailTransport: "smtp" }));
+    const { config } = loadConfigInDir(dir);
+    assert.equal(config.env.auth?.AUTH_EMAIL_TRANSPORT, "smtp");
+    const env = readFileSync(join(dir, ".env.example"), "utf8");
+    assert.equal(env, renderEnvExample(config));
+    for (const line of ["SMTP_HOST=", "SMTP_USERNAME=", "SMTP_PASSWORD="]) {
+      assert.ok(env.split("\n").includes(line), `.env.example should require ${line}`);
+    }
+    assert.ok(!env.includes("RESEND_API_KEY"), "the unselected resend transport's key stays out of .env.example");
+    assert.ok(!readFileSync(join(dir, ".env"), "utf8").includes("RESEND_API_KEY"), "and out of .env");
   } finally {
     rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
   }