orion/docs/features/email-system.md

Email System

The email system provides multi-provider support with database-stored templates and comprehensive logging for the Orion platform.

Overview

The email system supports:

• Multiple Providers: SMTP, SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES
• Multi-language Templates: EN, FR, DE, LB (stored in database)
• Jinja2 Templating: Variable interpolation in subjects and bodies
• Email Logging: Track all sent emails for debugging and compliance
• Debug Mode: Log emails instead of sending during development

Configuration

Environment Variables

Add these settings to your .env file:

# Provider: smtp, sendgrid, mailgun, ses
EMAIL_PROVIDER=smtp
EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=noreply@orion.lu
EMAIL_FROM_NAME=Orion
EMAIL_REPLY_TO=

# Behavior
EMAIL_ENABLED=true
EMAIL_DEBUG=false

# SMTP Settings (when EMAIL_PROVIDER=smtp)
SMTP_HOST=smtp.example.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USER=
SMTP_PASSWORD=
SMTP_USE_TLS=true
SMTP_USE_SSL=false

# SendGrid (when EMAIL_PROVIDER=sendgrid)
# SENDGRID_API_KEY=SG.your_api_key_here

# Mailgun (when EMAIL_PROVIDER=mailgun)
# MAILGUN_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
# MAILGUN_DOMAIN=mg.yourdomain.com

# Amazon SES (when EMAIL_PROVIDER=ses)
# AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your_access_key
# AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your_secret_key
# AWS_REGION=eu-west-1

Debug Mode

Set EMAIL_DEBUG=true to log emails instead of sending them. This is useful during development:

EMAIL_DEBUG=true

Emails will be logged to the console with full details (recipient, subject, body preview).

Database Models

EmailTemplate

Stores multi-language email templates:

Column	Type	Description
id	Integer	Primary key
code	String(100)	Template identifier (e.g., "signup_welcome")
language	String(5)	Language code (en, fr, de, lb)
name	String(255)	Human-readable name
description	Text	Template purpose
category	String(50)	AUTH, ORDERS, BILLING, SYSTEM, MARKETING
subject	String(500)	Email subject (supports Jinja2)
body_html	Text	HTML body
body_text	Text	Plain text fallback
variables	Text	JSON list of expected variables
is_active	Boolean	Enable/disable template

EmailLog

Tracks all sent emails:

Column	Type	Description
id	Integer	Primary key
template_code	String(100)	Template used (if any)
recipient_email	String(255)	Recipient address
subject	String(500)	Email subject
status	String(20)	PENDING, SENT, FAILED, DELIVERED, OPENED
sent_at	DateTime	When email was sent
error_message	Text	Error details if failed
provider	String(50)	Provider used (smtp, sendgrid, etc.)
store_id	Integer	Related store (optional)
user_id	Integer	Related user (optional)

Usage

Using EmailService

from app.services.email_service import EmailService

def send_welcome_email(db, user, store):
    email_service = EmailService(db)

    email_service.send_template(
        template_code="signup_welcome",
        to_email=user.email,
        to_name=f"{user.first_name} {user.last_name}",
        language="fr",  # Falls back to "en" if not found
        variables={
            "first_name": user.first_name,
            "merchant_name": store.name,
            "store_code": store.store_code,
            "login_url": f"https://orion.lu/store/{store.store_code}/dashboard",
            "trial_days": 30,
            "tier_name": "Essential",
        },
        store_id=store.id,
        user_id=user.id,
        related_type="signup",
    )

Convenience Function

from app.services.email_service import send_email

send_email(
    db=db,
    template_code="order_confirmation",
    to_email="customer@example.com",
    language="en",
    variables={"order_number": "ORD-001"},
)

Sending Raw Emails

For one-off emails without templates:

email_service = EmailService(db)

email_service.send_raw(
    to_email="user@example.com",
    subject="Custom Subject",
    body_html="<h1>Hello</h1><p>Custom message</p>",
    body_text="Hello\n\nCustom message",
)

Email Templates

Creating Templates

Templates use Jinja2 syntax for variable interpolation:

<p>Hello {{ first_name }},</p>
<p>Welcome to {{ merchant_name }}!</p>

Seeding Templates

Run the seed script to populate default templates:

python scripts/seed/seed_email_templates.py

This creates templates for:

• signup_welcome (en, fr, de, lb)

Available Variables

For signup_welcome:

Variable	Description
first_name	User's first name
merchant_name	Store merchant name
email	User's email address
store_code	Store code for dashboard URL
login_url	Direct link to dashboard
trial_days	Number of trial days
tier_name	Subscription tier name

Provider Setup

SMTP

Standard SMTP configuration:

EMAIL_PROVIDER=smtp
SMTP_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USER=your-email@gmail.com
SMTP_PASSWORD=your-app-password
SMTP_USE_TLS=true

SendGrid

1. Create account at sendgrid.com
2. Generate API key in Settings > API Keys
3. Configure:

EMAIL_PROVIDER=sendgrid
SENDGRID_API_KEY=SG.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

4. Install package: pip install sendgrid

Mailgun

1. Create account at mailgun.com
2. Add and verify your domain
3. Get API key from Domain Settings
4. Configure:

EMAIL_PROVIDER=mailgun
MAILGUN_API_KEY=key-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
MAILGUN_DOMAIN=mg.yourdomain.com

Amazon SES

1. Set up SES in AWS Console
2. Verify sender domain/email
3. Create IAM user with SES permissions
4. Configure:

EMAIL_PROVIDER=ses
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=AKIAXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
AWS_REGION=eu-west-1

5. Install package: pip install boto3

Email Logging

All emails are logged to the email_logs table. Query examples:

# Get failed emails
failed = db.query(EmailLog).filter(
    EmailLog.status == EmailStatus.FAILED.value
).all()

# Get emails for a store
store_emails = db.query(EmailLog).filter(
    EmailLog.store_id == store_id
).order_by(EmailLog.created_at.desc()).all()

# Get recent signup emails
signups = db.query(EmailLog).filter(
    EmailLog.template_code == "signup_welcome",
    EmailLog.created_at >= datetime.now() - timedelta(days=7)
).all()

Language Fallback

The system automatically falls back to English if a template isn't available in the requested language:

1. Request template for "de" (German)
2. If not found, try "en" (English)
3. If still not found, return None (log error)

Testing

Run email service tests:

pytest tests/unit/services/test_email_service.py -v

Test coverage includes:

• Provider abstraction (Debug, SMTP, etc.)
• Template rendering with Jinja2
• Language fallback behavior
• Email sending success/failure
• EmailLog model methods
• Template variable handling

Architecture

app/services/email_service.py    # Email service with provider abstraction
models/database/email.py         # EmailTemplate and EmailLog models
app/core/config.py               # Email configuration settings
scripts/seed/seed_email_templates.py  # Template seeding script

Provider Abstraction

The system uses a strategy pattern for email providers:

EmailProvider (ABC)
├── SMTPProvider
├── SendGridProvider
├── MailgunProvider
├── SESProvider
└── DebugProvider

Each provider implements the send() method with the same signature, making it easy to switch providers via configuration.

Future Enhancements

Planned improvements:

1. Email Queue: Background task queue for high-volume sending
2. Webhook Tracking: Track deliveries, opens, clicks via provider webhooks
3. Template Editor: Admin UI for editing templates
4. A/B Testing: Test different email versions
5. Scheduled Emails: Send emails at specific times