CLI

`email dev`

Starts a local development server that will watch your files and automatically rebuild your email template when you make changes.

Options

--dir

string

default:"emails"

Change the directory of your email templates.

--port

string

default:"3000"

Port to run dev server on

F.A.Q

Where can I place my static files for previewing?

Almost always you will need to have static files in your emails, and seeing them on the preview server without having to first host on a CDN is very helpful.

We do allow for this, and currently, you can place your files inside a static directory inside your emails directory.

This does adjust to your --dir option, so if your emails directory was inside ./src/emails, you would place your static files inside ./src/emails/static.

These static files are directly served from our preview server by looking into the requests made into it that end with /static (i.e. http://localhost:3000/static/...) and serving the files at that point, this also allows for you to have images inside your emails like so:

export default function Email(props) {
  return (
    <div>
      <img src="/static/email-logo.png" />
    </div>
  );
}

This does not mean your images are hosted for you to send the emails.

If you do send the rendered email, and you are trying to link to an image, or some other asset inside emails/static, they will not load on the email that was sent.

We recommend that you use a different source link to your files depending on whether you’re running in production or not. Here’s an example

const baseURL = process.env.NODE_ENV === "production" ? "https://cdn.com" : "";

export default function Email(props) {
  return (
    <div>
      <img src={`${baseURL}/static/email-logo.png`} />
    </div>
  );
}

You can refer to our demo emails source code for an example of how we do this with our demo deploy on Vercel.

How can I define props specific to the email's preview?

Considering that you are already default exporting the React component that will render as your email template, you can just define a PreviewProps with it as follows:

Email template

export default function Email(props) {
  return (
    <div>
      <a src={props.source}>click here if you want candy 👀</a>
    </div>
  );
}

Email.PreviewProps = {
  source: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
};

And then, when opening this email’s preview, the PreviewProps will be used as props into Email. So, in a nutshell, it will render the same as if you were to do:

Another file

import Email from "./path-to-my-email";

<Email {...Email.PreviewProps} />;

How to make the preview server ignore directories?

Once the preview server has started and is now open on localhost, the preview server reads recursively down into all of your files and directories. This can be disabled from a directory down by prefixing it with _, e.g. components -> _components.

So if you wanted to make components for your emails, you could have a file structure as follows:

my-project
├── emails
│   ├── _components
│   │   └── this-is-not-going-to-appear-in-the-sidebar.tsx
│   ├── email.tsx
│   └── static
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json

Then the only file that will be shown on the preview server is going to be your email.tsx.

The heuristics for files to be considered emails

`email build`

Copies the preview app for onto .react-email and builds it.

--dir

string

default:"emails"

Change the directory of your email templates.

--packageManager

string

default:"npm"

Package manager to use on the installation of .react-email.

`email start`

Runs the built preview app that is inside .react-email.

`email export`

Generates the plain HTML files of your emails into a out directory.

A very common misconception is to assume that email export is the default or primary way of rendering email templates.

The primary and preferable way is always going to be the render utility, by passing in the needed data through props, on the exact moment of sending the email.

email export is a secondary way meant for situations where React Email cannot be used optimally. With this secondary way, comes significant drawbacks, mainly the need for manual templating, which could be done easily with the render utility. It being a secondary way, we would strongly recommend you don’t use it unless you really are forced into it.

As an example, two cases where email export makes itself necessary include:

When the email content must be processed by a backend in a language other than JavaScript.
When the platform handling email, such as Shopify, forces you into manual templating.

You also should not have to worry about render’s performance, as typically, the introduced time in rendering is going to be milliseconds when compared to manual templating.

Options

--outDir

string

default:"out"

Change the output directory.

--pretty

boolean

default:"false"

Minify or prettify the generated HTML file.

--plainText

boolean

default:"false"

Set output format as plain text.

--dir

string

default:"emails"

Change the directory of your email templates.

`email help <cmd>`

Shows all the options for a specific command.

Overview

Getting Started

Components

Utilities

Integrations

Contributing

`email dev`

`email build`

`email start`

`email export`

`email help <cmd>`

Overview

Getting Started

Components

Utilities

Integrations

Contributing

​email dev

​email build

​email start

​email export

​email help <cmd>

`email dev`

`email build`

`email start`

`email export`

`email help <cmd>`