Strapi Email & Notifications — Email Plugin Configuration and Template Customization

# Check if email plugin is installed
npm run strapi list

# Install the email plugin
npm run strapi install email

# Install SendGrid provider
npm install @strapi/provider-email-sendgrid

# Install Amazon SES provider
npm install @strapi/provider-email-amazon-ses

# Install Nodemailer provider (SMTP)
npm install @strapi/provider-email-nodemailer

// config/plugins.js
module.exports = {
  email: {
    config: {
      provider: "sendgrid",
      providerOptions: {
        apiKey: process.env.SENDGRID_API_KEY,
      },
      settings: {
        defaultFrom: "noreply@yourdomain.com",
        defaultFromName: "Your App Name",
        defaultReplyTo: "support@yourdomain.com",
        defaultReplyToName: "Support Team",
      },
    },
  },
};

// config/plugins.js
module.exports = {
  email: {
    config: {
      provider: "nodemailer",
      providerOptions: {
        host: process.env.SMTP_HOST || "smtp.gmail.com",
        port: process.env.SMTP_PORT || 587,
        secure: process.env.SMTP_SECURE === "true", // true for 465, false for others
        auth: {
          user: process.env.SMTP_USERNAME,
          pass: process.env.SMTP_PASSWORD,
        },
      },
      settings: {
        defaultFrom: "noreply@yourdomain.com",
        defaultFromName: "Your App Name",
      },
    },
  },
};

// config/plugins.js
module.exports = {
  email: {
    config: {
      provider: "amazon-ses",
      providerOptions: {
        key: process.env.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID,
        secret: process.env.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY,
        amazon: "https://email.us-east-1.amazonaws.com",
      },
      settings: {
        defaultFrom: "noreply@yourdomain.com",
        defaultFromName: "Your App Name",
      },
    },
  },
};

// Send a simple email
await strapi.plugin("email").service("email").send({
  to: "user@example.com",
  from: "noreply@yourdomain.com",
  replyTo: "support@yourdomain.com",
  subject: "Welcome to our platform",
  text: "Thank you for registering.",
  html: "<h1>Welcome!</h1><p>Thank you for registering.</p>",
});

// Send with template variables
const user = { name: "Alice", email: "alice@example.com" };

await strapi.plugin("email").service("email").send({
  to: user.email,
  subject: "Welcome, ${user.name}!",
  text: `Hi ${user.name},\n\nWelcome to the platform!`,
  html: `<h1>Hi ${user.name}!</h1><p>Welcome to the platform!</p>`,
});

// In a controller — send email after article creation
async create(ctx) {
  const { data } = ctx.request.body;
  const article = await strapi.entityService.create("api::article.article", { data });

  // Send notification to all editors
  const editors = await strapi.entityService.findMany("plugin::users-permissions.user", {
    filters: { role: { name: "Editor" } },
  });

  for (const editor of editors) {
    await strapi.plugin("email").service("email").send({
      to: editor.email,
      subject: "New article created",
      html: `<p>A new article <strong>${article.title}</strong> has been created.</p>`,
    });
  }

  return { data: article };
}

// Admin panel: Settings > Users & Permissions > Email Templates

// Available templates:
// - Email confirmation
// - Password reset
// - Email address confirmation

// Each template supports these variables:
// - URL (confirmation/reset link)
// - USER (user object)
// - CODE (reset code)

// Customized password reset template (HTML):
`
<table style="max-width:600px;margin:0 auto;font-family:sans-serif">
  <tr>
    <td style="padding:40px;background:#f8fafc;border-radius:8px">
      <h1 style="color:#1e293b">Reset Your Password</h1>
      <p style="color:#64748b">Hi ${USER.username},</p>
      <p style="color:#64748b">Click the button below to reset your password. This link expires in 1 hour.</p>
      <a href="${URL}"
         style="display:inline-block;padding:12px 24px;background:#4f46e5;color:#fff;text-decoration:none;border-radius:6px">
        Reset Password
      </a>
      <p style="color:#94a3b8;margin-top:24px;font-size:12px">
        If you did not request this, ignore this email.
      </p>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
`

// src/api/article/content-types/article/lifecycle.js
module.exports = {
  async afterCreate(event) {
    const { result } = event;
    const { strapi } = event;

    // Notify subscribers about new article
    const subscribers = await strapi.db.query("api::subscriber.subscriber").findMany({
      where: { active: true },
    });

    const emailService = strapi.plugin("email").service("email");

    for (const subscriber of subscribers) {
      await emailService.send({
        to: subscriber.email,
        subject: `New article: ${result.title}`,
        html: `
          <h2>New Article Published</h2>
          <p><strong>${result.title}</strong></p>
          <p>${result.description?.substring(0, 200)}...</p>
          <a href="https://example.com/articles/${result.id}">Read more</a>
        `,
      }).catch((err) => {
        strapi.log.error(`Failed to send email to ${subscriber.email}: ${err.message}`);
      });
    }
  },
};

// Never let email failures crash your application
async function sendEmailSafe(recipient, subject, html) {
  try {
    await strapi.plugin("email").service("email").send({
      to: recipient,
      subject,
      html,
    });
    return { success: true };
  } catch (error) {
    strapi.log.error(`Email delivery failed: ${error.message}`);
    // Log to monitoring service
    return { success: false, error: error.message };
  }
}

// Use in controllers:
async create(ctx) {
  try {
    const entry = await strapi.entityService.create(...);

    // Non-blocking email send
    sendEmailSafe(
      ctx.state.user.email,
      "Entry created",
      `<p>Your entry has been created.</p>`
    );

    return { data: entry };
  } catch (error) {
    return ctx.badRequest(error.message);
  }
}

// config/plugins.js — Development email config (Mailtrap)
module.exports = {
  email: {
    config: {
      provider: "nodemailer",
      providerOptions: {
        host: "sandbox.smtp.mailtrap.io",
        port: 2525,
        auth: {
          user: process.env.MAILTRAP_USER,
          pass: process.env.MAILTRAP_PASS,
        },
      },
      settings: {
        defaultFrom: "dev@example.com",
        defaultFromName: "Dev Environment",
      },
    },
  },
};