Build note: the email templates import emails/partials/header.html and emails/partials/footer.html through NodeBB's emails/ view namespace.
Email templates
HTML email templates for the Westgate theme. NodeBB renders these and mails them to users on various events (password reset, digest, ban, etc.).
How NodeBB uses them
- Discovery. NodeBB looks for email templates under a theme/plugin's
templates directory. Core ships them in
src/views/emails/*.tpl; a theme overrides one by shipping a file of the same name. Theemail/directory here is built into NodeBB'semails/view namespace, soemail/reset.htmloverrides the coreresettemplate. Run./nodebb buildafter editing so the changes are compiled intobuild/. - Template engine. Benchpress,
the same engine as the rest of the theme's
.tplfiles. Syntax:{var}/{obj.field}— interpolate a value from the params object.{{{ if cond }}} … {{{ else }}} … {{{ end }}}— conditionals (e.g.{{{ if logo.src }}},{{{ if showUnsubscribe }}},{{{ if rtl }}}).[[namespace:key]]— i18n translation key, resolved server-side after render (e.g.[[email:reset.cta]],[[email:greeting-no-name]]). Strings live in NodeBB's language files, not here.
- Send path.
Emailer.send(template, uid, params)→sendToEmail→renderAndTranslate('emails/<name>', params).<name>is the filename without extension (reset.html→ template namereset). - Default params available in every template:
url,site_title,logo.{src,width,height},uid,username,displayname,rtl, plusshowUnsubscribe/unsubUrlfor digest- and notification-type mails. Each template also gets its own event-specific params (see table).
Templates and what triggers them
| File | NodeBB event | Notable params |
|---|---|---|
welcome.html |
New registration needing email confirmation | confirmation link |
verify-email.html |
User adds/changes an email and must confirm it | confirmation link |
reset.html |
User requests a password reset | {reset_link} |
reset_notify.html |
Confirmation that the password was changed | — |
registration_accepted.html |
Admin approves a queued registration | — |
banned.html |
User is banned | ban reason / expiry |
invitation.html |
A user is invited to the forum | invite link |
notification.html |
Per-event notification (reply, mention, etc.); also post-queue items | showUnsubscribe, unsubUrl |
digest.html |
Scheduled activity digest (daily/weekly/monthly) | unread topics, showUnsubscribe |
test.html |
"Send test email" button in the ACP | — |
Partials
partials/ holds fragments imported by the templates above. Every
non-partial template starts with <!-- IMPORT emails/partials/header.html -->
and ends with <!-- IMPORT emails/partials/footer.html -->.
header.html— shared email head/header markup.footer.html— shared footer with the unsubscribe block ({{{ if showUnsubscribe }}}).post-queue-body.html— queued-post notification body fragment (category, topic, author, content), maintained for use by a notification branch/template.
Editing notes
- These are emails: inline CSS, table layout, MSO/Outlook conditional comments. Keep that structure — don't refactor into modern CSS.
- Brand colors are literal inline hex because Outlook/Gmail strip
var().scss/westgate/_tokens.scssholds the source values but is not available at runtime; keep the dark letterhead band + light cream card pattern. Preheader copy lives inlanguages/en-GB/email.json. - Don't hardcode user-facing copy; add/replace
[[email:…]]keys and define them in the language files. - Run
node scripts/check-emails.jsafter converting templates. It enforces the shared-partial structure by requiring a header import, footer import, and<!-- preheader -->marker in eachemail/*.htmlfile. - Rebuild (
./nodebb build) and use the ACP test-email button to verify.