mail

Mail

Emails are classes that extend @adonisjs/mail's BaseMail. The prepare() method sets recipients, subject, and calls this.message.htmlView('<mod>::emails/<template>', {...}). Templates are .edge files at app/<mod>/ui/emails/<name>.edge that consume a shared @email.layout component. The layout owns fonts, colors, button styles, header, and footer; each template only fills the body slot. Raw <html><head><style> blocks are never authored — MJML with the shared layout is mandatory. Emails are always dispatched from event listeners, not from actions directly (see [[actions-events]]), so unit tests can fake the emitter and end-to-end tests can fake the mail transport.

Rules

• Mail class location: app/<mod>/mails/<name>_notification.ts — one file per email.
• Class shape: extends BaseMail, declares from = env.get('EMAIL_FROM'), sets subject either as a class field or dynamically in prepare() from a translations field.
• prepare() does all the work: build any URL (via signedUrlFor for time-limited links), call this.message.to(recipient).subject(...), then render with htmlView('<mod>::emails/<template>', props). Always spread ...mailContext() into props so the layout has appName + appUrl.
• Templates live at app/<mod>/ui/emails/<name>.edge. Every template opens with @email.layout({ title, preview: subtitle }) and closes with @end. Between them, only <mj-section> markup — body, button, text.
• Shared MJML layout is the single source of truth for typography, colors, header, footer. Change once, all emails update.
• mailContext() returns { appName, appUrl } from env with a fallback name. Every mail class spreads it into htmlView props so the layout can render brand chrome.
• Env: EMAIL_FROM required; APP_NAME optional (has a fallback); APP_URL required. SMTP vars for local dev (typically Mailpit) and the prod driver's API key (e.g. RESEND_API_KEY).
• i18n: the translation shape is a plain interface (subject, title, subtitle, actionBtn, defaultMessage). Passed from the caller. Keys live per module under emails.<name>.* in the locale JSON — see [[i18n]].

Repo refs

• Mail class + prepare(): app/auth/mails/reset_password_notification.ts, app/users/mails/welcome_notification.ts.
• Shared MJML layout: resources/views/components/email/layout.edge. Template: app/users/ui/emails/welcome.edge.
• mailContext(): app/common/services/mail_context.ts.

Doc refs

• AdonisJS Mail — https://docs.adonisjs.com/guides/digging-deeper/mail
• MJML documentation — https://mjml.io/documentation/
• MJML in AdonisJS — https://docs.adonisjs.com/guides/digging-deeper/mail#using-mjml-for-responsive-emails

Workflow

Add a new email

1. Class at app/<mod>/mails/<name>_notification.ts:

   import { BaseMail } from '@adonisjs/mail'
   import env from '#start/env'
   import { mailContext } from '#common/services/mail_context'
   
   export default class OrderConfirmedNotification extends BaseMail {
     from = env.get('EMAIL_FROM')
     subject = 'Order confirmed'
   
     constructor(
       private user: User,
       private order: Order,
       private translations: MailBasicTranslation,
     ) {
       super()
       this.subject = translations.subject
     }
   
     async prepare() {
       const { title, subtitle, actionBtn, defaultMessage } = this.translations
       this.message.to(this.user.email).subject(this.translations.subject)
       this.message.htmlView('<mod>::emails/order_confirmed', {
         ...mailContext(),
         title,
         subtitle,
         actionBtn,
         defaultMessage,
         orderUrl: `${env.get('APP_URL')}/orders/${this.order.id}`,
       })
     }
   }
   

2. Template at app/<mod>/ui/emails/<name>.edge:

   @email.layout({ title, preview: subtitle })
     <mj-section background-color="#ffffff" padding="36px 40px 8px">
       <mj-column>
         <mj-text font-size="28px" font-weight="800" color="#141820">{{ title }}</mj-text>
         <mj-text padding="24px 0 0" font-size="16px" color="#3A4150">{{ subtitle }}</mj-text>
       </mj-column>
     </mj-section>
   
     <mj-section background-color="#ffffff" padding="0 40px 28px">
       <mj-column>
         <mj-button href="{{ orderUrl }}" align="left">{{ actionBtn }}</mj-button>
       </mj-column>
     </mj-section>
   @end
   

3. Mount the edge namespace for the module — app/<mod>/start/view.ts calls edge.mount('<mod>', new URL('ui', BASE_URL)). Preload the file via adonisrc.ts — see [[module-scaffolding]].
4. i18n: add emails.<name>.{subject,title,subtitle,actionBtn,defaultMessage} to the locale JSON — see [[i18n]].
5. Trigger via event: emit the domain event from the action; the listener in <mod>/start/events.ts calls mail.send(new Mail(...)) — see [[actions-events]].
6. Verify: a spec that asserts the send with mail.fake() (see Testing below) — not done until it confirms the mail dispatches.

Change the shared look

Edit the shared MJML layout component. Every email updates. Ask whether a change belongs in the shared layout (font, brand color, corners) or per-template (headline size, hero image).

Signed / time-limited URLs

Use signedUrlFor('route.name', params, { expiresIn, prefixUrl, purpose }) for password-reset-style links so the URL expires and can only be consumed once.

Testing

tests/bootstrap.ts typically calls mail.fake() as a safety net so no spec accidentally emails a real inbox. Per-spec, opt into stricter assertions:

const mails = mail.fake()
await someActionThatSends()
mails.assertSent(WelcomeNotification, (msg) => msg.to === user.email)
mails.restore()

For listener specs, call mail.fake() before emitter.emit(...) — see [[testing]].

Anti-patterns

• ❌ Authoring <html><head><style> blocks — bypasses the layout, breaks responsive defaults, drifts from other emails.
• ❌ Duplicating header/footer HTML in every template — use the layout.
• ❌ Calling mail.send(...) directly from an action — emit an event; the listener sends. Otherwise unit tests must stub the mail service.
• ❌ Hardcoding appName inside a template — read {{ appName }} (provided by mailContext()).
• ❌ Assembling URLs by string concat when signedUrlFor (or urlFor on the frontend) is available.
• ❌ Forgetting preview in @email.layout({ title, preview }) — a good preview text noticeably improves inbox opens.
• ❌ Passing a Lucid model into the mail class and dereferencing it inside prepare() — pull the fields you need into a plain object first, so the class stays serializable and easy to test.

Related skills

[[actions-events]] · [[i18n]] · [[testing]] · [[notifications]]