Email

The Email feature enables Strapi applications to send emails from a server or an external provider.

IDENTITY CARD

Plan

Free feature

Role & permission

Email > "send" permission for the user to send emails via the backend server

Activation

Available by default

Environment

Available in both Development & Production environment

Configuration

Most configuration options for the Email feature are handled via your Strapi project's code. The Email feature is not configurable in the admin panel, however users can test email delivery if it has been setup by an administrator.

Admin panel settings

Path to configure the feature: Settings > Email feature > Configuration

In the Configuration interface, only the email address field under "Test email delivery" is modifiable by users. A Send test email button sends a test email.

This page is only visible if the current role has the "Access the Email Settings page" permission enabled (see RBAC feature documentation for more information):

Code-based configuration

The Email feature requires a provider and a provider configuration in the config/plugins.js|ts file. See providers for detailed installation and configuration instructions.

Sendmail is the default email provider in the Strapi Email feature. It provides functionality for the local development environment but is not production-ready in the default configuration. For production stage applications you need to further configure Sendmail or change providers.

Email configuration options

Plugins configuration are defined in the config/plugins.js file or config/plugins.ts file. Please refer to providers for detailed provider-specific installation and configuration instructions.

Option	Type	Description	Default Value	Notes
provider	string	The email provider to use.	sendmail	Required
providerOptions	object	The email provider options.	{}	Optional
providerOptions.apiKey	string	The API key for the email provider.	''	Optional
settings	object	The email settings.	{}	Optional
settings.defaultFrom	string	The default email address to use as the sender.	''	Optional
settings.defaultReplyTo	string	The default email address to use as the reply-to address.	''	Optional
ratelimit	object	The email rate limit settings.	{}	Optional
ratelimit.enabled	boolean	Whether to enable rate limiting.	true	Optional
ratelimit.interval	string	The interval for rate limiting in minutes.	5	Optional
ratelimit.max	number	The maximum number of requests allowed during the interval.	5	Optional
ratelimit.delayAfter	number	The number of requests allowed before rate limiting is applied.	1	Optional
ratelimit.timeWait	number	Time to wait before responding to a request (in milliseconds).	1	Optional
ratelimit.prefixKey	string	The prefix for the rate limit key.	${userEmail}	Optional
ratelimit.whitelist	array(string)	Array of IP addresses to whitelist from rate limiting.	[]	Optional
ratelimit.store	object	Rate limiting storage location and for more information please see the koa2-ratelimit documentation.	MemoryStore	Optional

Providers

The Email feature can be extended via the installation and configuration of additional providers.

Providers add an extension to the core capabilities of the plugin, for example to use Amazon SES for emails instead of Sendmail.

There are both official providers maintained by Strapi — discoverable via the Marketplace — and many community maintained providers available via npm.

A provider can be configured to be private to ensure asset URLs will be signed for secure access.

Installing providers

New providers can be installed using npm or yarn using the following format @strapi/provider-<plugin>-<provider> --save.

For example, to install the Sendgrid provider:

Yarn

yarn add @strapi/provider-email-sendgrid

NPM

npm install @strapi/provider-email-sendgrid --save

Configuring providers

Newly installed providers are enabled and configured in the /config/plugins file. If this file does not exist you must create it.

Each provider will have different configuration settings available. Review the respective entry for that provider in the Marketplace or npm to learn more.

The following is an example configuration for the Sendgrid provider:

JavaScript

/config/plugins.js

module.exports = ({ env }) => ({
  // ...
  email: {
    config: {
      provider: 'sendgrid', // For community providers pass the full package name (e.g. provider: 'strapi-provider-email-mandrill')
      providerOptions: {
        apiKey: env('SENDGRID_API_KEY'),
      },
      settings: {
        defaultFrom: 'juliasedefdjian@strapi.io',
        defaultReplyTo: 'juliasedefdjian@strapi.io',
        testAddress: 'juliasedefdjian@strapi.io',
      },
    },
  },
  // ...
});

TypeScript

/config/plugins.ts

export default ({ env }) => ({
  // ...
  email: {
    config: {
      provider: 'sendgrid', // For community providers pass the full package name (e.g. provider: 'strapi-provider-email-mandrill')
      providerOptions: {
        apiKey: env('SENDGRID_API_KEY'),
      },
      settings: {
        defaultFrom: 'juliasedefdjian@strapi.io',
        defaultReplyTo: 'juliasedefdjian@strapi.io',
        testAddress: 'juliasedefdjian@strapi.io',
      },
    },
  },
  // ...
});

Note

• When using a different provider per environment, specify the correct configuration in /config/env/${yourEnvironment}/plugins.js|ts (See Environments).
• Only one email provider will be active at a time. If the email provider setting isn't picked up by Strapi, verify the plugins.js|ts file is in the correct folder.
• When testing the new email provider with those two email templates created during strapi setup, the shipper email on the template defaults to no-reply@strapi.io and needs to be updated according to your email provider, otherwise it will fail the test (See Configure templates locally).

Configuration per environment

When configuring your provider you might want to change the configuration based on the NODE_ENV environment variable or use environment specific credentials.

You can set a specific configuration in the /config/env/{env}/plugins.js|ts configuration file and it will be used to overwrite the default configuration.

Creating providers

To implement your own custom provider you must create a Node.js module.

The interface that must be exported depends on the plugin you are developing the provider for. The following is a template for the Email feature:

JavaScript

module.exports = {
  init: (providerOptions = {}, settings = {}) => {
    return {
      send: async options => {},
    };
  },
};

TypeScript

export {
  init: (providerOptions = {}, settings = {}) => {
    return {
      send: async options => {},
    };
  },
};

In the send function you will have access to:

• providerOptions that contains configurations written in plugins.js|ts
• settings that contains configurations written in plugins.js|ts
• options that contains options you send when you call the send function from the email plugin service

You can review the Strapi-maintained providers for example implementations.

After creating your new provider you can publish it to npm to share with the community or use it locally for your project only.

Local providers

If you want to create your own provider without publishing it on npm you can follow these steps:

1. Create a providers folder in your application.
2. Create your provider (e.g. /providers/strapi-provider-<plugin>-<provider>)
3. Then update your package.json to link your strapi-provider-<plugin>-<provider> dependency to the local path of your new provider.

{
  ...
  "dependencies": {
    ...
    "strapi-provider-<plugin>-<provider>": "file:providers/strapi-provider-<plugin>-<provider>",
    ...
  }
}

4. Update your /config/plugins.js|ts file to configure the provider.
5. Finally, run yarn or npm install to install your new custom provider.

Private providers

You can set up a private provider, meaning that every asset URL displayed in the Content Manager will be signed for secure access.

To enable private providers, you must implement the isPrivate() method and return true.

In the backend, Strapi generates a signed URL for each asset using the getSignedUrl(file) method implemented in the provider. The signed URL includes an encrypted signature that allows the user to access the asset (but normally only for a limited time and with specific restrictions, depending on the provider).

Note that for security reasons, the content API will not provide any signed URLs. Instead, developers using the API should sign the urls themselves.

Usage

The Email feature uses the Strapi global API, meaning it can be called from anywhere inside a Strapi application, either from the back-end server itself through a controller or service, or from the admin panel, for example in response to an event (using lifecycle hooks).

Sending emails with a controller or service

The Email feature has an email service that contains 2 functions to send emails:

• send() directly contains the email contents,
• sendTemplatedEmail() consumes data from the Content Manager to populate emails, streamlining programmatic emails.

Using the send() function

To trigger an email in response to a user action add the send() function to a controller or service. The send function has the following properties:

Property	Type	Format	Description
from	string	email address	If not specified, uses defaultFrom in plugins.js.
to	string	email address	Required
cc	string	email address	Optional
bcc	string	email address	Optional
replyTo	string	email address	Optional
subject	string	-	Required
text	string	-	Either text or html is required.
html	string	HTML	Either text or html is required.

The following code example can be used in a controller or a service:

/src/api/my-api-name/controllers/my-api-name.ts|js (or /src/api/my-api-name/services/my-api-name.ts|js)

await strapi.plugins['email'].services.email.send({
  to: 'valid email address',
  from: 'your verified email address', //e.g. single sender verification in SendGrid
  cc: 'valid email address',
  bcc: 'valid email address',
  replyTo: 'valid email address',
  subject: 'The Strapi Email feature worked successfully',
  text: 'Hello world!',
  html: 'Hello world!',
}),

Using the sendTemplatedEmail() function

The sendTemplatedEmail() function is used to compose emails from a template. The function compiles the email from the available properties and then sends the email.

To use the sendTemplatedEmail() function, define the emailTemplate object and add the function to a controller or service. The function calls the emailTemplate object, and can optionally call the emailOptions and data objects:

Parameter	Description	Type	Default
emailOptions Optional	Contains email addressing properties: to, from, replyTo, cc, and bcc	object
emailTemplate	Contains email content properties: subject, text, and html using Lodash string templates	object
data Optional	Contains the data used to compile the templates	object

The following code example can be used in a controller or a service:

/src/api/my-api-name/controllers/my-api-name.js (or ./src/api/my-api-name/services/my-api-name.js)

const emailTemplate = {
  subject: 'Welcome <%= user.firstname %>',
  text: `Welcome to mywebsite.fr!
    Your account is now linked with: <%= user.email %>.`,
  html: `<h1>Welcome to mywebsite.fr!</h1>
    <p>Your account is now linked with: <%= user.email %>.<p>`,
};

await strapi.plugins['email'].services.email.sendTemplatedEmail(
  {
    to: user.email,
    // from: is not specified, the defaultFrom is used.
  },
    emailTemplate,
  {
    user: _.pick(user, ['username', 'email', 'firstname', 'lastname']),
  }
);

Sending emails from a lifecycle hook

To trigger an email based on administrator actions in the admin panel use lifecycle hooks and the send() function.

The following example illustrates how to send an email each time a new content entry is added in the Content Manager use the afterCreate lifecycle hook:

JavaScript

/src/api/my-api-name/content-types/my-content-type-name/lifecycles.js

module.exports = {
    async afterCreate(event) {    // Connected to "Save" button in admin panel
        const { result } = event;

        try{
            await strapi.plugin('email').service('email').send({ // you could also do: await strapi.service('plugin:email.email').send({
              to: 'valid email address',
              from: 'your verified email address', // e.g. single sender verification in SendGrid
              cc: 'valid email address',
              bcc: 'valid email address',
              replyTo: 'valid email address',
              subject: 'The Strapi Email feature worked successfully',
              text: '${fieldName}', // Replace with a valid field ID
              html: 'Hello world!', 
                
            })
        } catch(err) {
            console.log(err);
        }
    }
}

TypeScript

/src/api/my-api-name/content-types/my-content-type-name/lifecycles.ts

export default {
  async afterCreate(event) {    // Connected to "Save" button in admin panel
    const { result } = event;

    try{
      await strapi.plugins['email'].services.email.send({
        to: 'valid email address',
        from: 'your verified email address', // e.g. single sender verification in SendGrid
        cc: 'valid email address',
        bcc: 'valid email address',
        replyTo: 'valid email address',
        subject: 'The Strapi Email feature worked successfully',
        text: '${fieldName}', // Replace with a valid field ID
        html: 'Hello world!', 
      })
    } catch(err) {
      console.log(err);
    }
  }
}