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A chainable Django email sender utility.

Project description

๐Ÿ“ง Django Email Sender Utility

A clean, reusable, lightweight and chainable utility class for sending emails in Django using templates. It supports both HTML and plain text templates, context injection, and flexible usage โ€” either directly, via subclassing, or abstracted into functions.

Table of Contents

Why Use This?

While Django already provides a way to send emails, it can become verbose and repetitive. EmailSender abstracts the boilerplate and lets you send templated emails fluently.

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Features

  • Chainable API (.to(), .from_address(), etc.)
  • Supports HTML and plain text templates
  • Uses Django's template system for dynamic content
  • Easy to integrate and override
  • Encourages clean code and reusability
  • Supports subclassing or functional abstractions

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Available Methods

Method Description

 - create()                                                                                    
 - from_address(email)                                                                        
 - to(recipients)                                                                            
 - with_subject(subject)                                                                     
 - with_context(context)                                                                     
 - with_text_template(folder_name="folder-name-here", template_name="template-name-here.txt")  
 - with_html_template(folder_name="folder-name-here", template_name="template-name-here.html") 
 - with_headers(headers)                                                                     
 - send()

๐Ÿ“ง EmailSender Class API Reference

๐Ÿ”จ create()

Factory method โ€” Instantiates and returns an EmailSender object.

๐Ÿ“ค from_address(email)

Sets the sender's email address.
email: A string representing the sender's email (e.g. noreply@yourdomain.com).

๐Ÿ“ฅ to(recipients)

Sets the recipient(s) of the email.
recipients: A string or list of strings with one or more email addresses.

๐Ÿ“ with_subject(subject)

Sets the subject line of the email.
subject: A string for the email's subject.

๐Ÿ”ง with_context(context)

Provides the context dictionary for rendering templates.
context: A dictionary with variables used in both HTML and text templates.

๐Ÿ“„ with_text_template(folder_name="folder-name-here", template_name="template-name-here.txt")

Specifies the plain text template.
If folder_name is omitted, defaults to emails_templates/.

๐ŸŒ with_html_template(folder_name="folder-name-here", template_name="template-name-here.html")

Specifies the HTML version of the email template.
If folder_name is omitted, defaults to emails_templates/.

๐Ÿงพ with_headers(headers)

Optional method to add custom email headers.
headers: A dictionary of headers (e.g. {"X-Custom-Header": "value"}).

๐Ÿ“ฌ send()

Sends the email using the provided configuration and templates.

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๐Ÿšจ Error Handling

 - Raises ValueError if required fields are missing.
 - Raises TypeError if headers are not provided as a dictionary.

Code Style Tips

๐Ÿ”„ Formatting long method chains

When chaining multiple methods, breaking the chain onto separate lines can cause syntax errors unless you use an escape character (\). However, this approach can be difficult to read. A cleaner solution is to wrap the chain in parentheses.

๐Ÿ”น Using backslashes (\)

This works but can become harder to read as the chain grows:

EmailSender.create()\
    .from_address(from_email)\
    .to([user.email])\
    .with_subject(subject)\
    .with_context({"username": user.username})\
    .with_text_template(text_registration_path, folder_name="emails")\
    .with_html_template(html_registration_path, folder_name="emails")\
    .send()

๐Ÿ”น Using parentheses (recommended)

This method is cleaner, more readable, and less error-prone:

    EmailSender.create()
    .from_address(from_email)
    .to([user.email])
    .with_subject(subject)
    .with_context({"username": user.username})
    .with_text_template(text_registration_path, folder_name="emails")
    .with_html_template(html_registration_path, folder_name="emails")
    .send()

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Installation via Pypi

PyPI version

django-email-sender is a Django package that allows you to send emails using customizable templates, with easy-to-use methods for setting the sender, recipients, subject, and context.

Installation

To install the package: pip install django-email-sender

For more details, visit the PyPI page.

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Requirements

  • Python 3.8+
  • Django >= 3.2 < 6.0

Compatibility

This package has been tested against Django 5.2 (the latest version at the time of release) and is known to work with versions 3.2 and above.

โš ๏ธ Compatibility with Django 6.x and beyond is not yet guaranteed. If you're using a future version, proceed with caution and consider opening an issue if anything breaks.

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HTML Email Template Example

django-email-sender supports sending beautiful HTML emails using Django templates.

This example shows a verification email template that you can use out of the box or modify to suit your needs.

๐Ÿ—‚๏ธ Save this as: templates/emails_templates/emails/verify_email.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Verify Your Email</title>
    <style>
        body {
            font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
            background-color: #f4f4f4;
            margin: 0;
            padding: 0;
        }
        .container {
            max-width: 600px;
            margin: 30px auto;
            background-color: #fff;
            padding: 20px;
            border-radius: 8px;
        }
        .code {
            font-size: 32px;
            font-weight: bold;
            color: #333;
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <div class="container">
        <h1>Verify Your Email Address</h1>
        <p>Hi {{ username }},</p>
        <p>Please verify your email address by entering the following code:</p>
        <div class="code">{{ verification_code }}</div>
        <p>If you didn't request this, you can safely ignore this email.</p>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

Plain Text & Multi-part Email Support

django-email-sender supports both plain text and multi-part (HTML + text) emails. This ensures emails are readable in all clients, including those that don't support HTML.


๐Ÿ“„ Plain Text Email Example

๐Ÿ—‚๏ธ Save this as: templates/emails_templates/emails/verify_email.txt

Hi {{ username }},

Please verify your email address by entering the following code:

{{ verification_code }}

If you didn't request this, you can safely ignore this email.

## Usage Example

๐Ÿ“จ Multi-part Email (HTML + Plain Text) usage

Use both .with_text_template() and .with_html_template() together to send a multi-part email:

from django_email_sender import EmailSender

EmailSender.create()
    .from_address("noreply@example.com")
    .to(["user@example.com"])
    .with_subject("Please verify your email")
    .with_context({
        "username": user.username,
        "verification_code": "123456"
    })
    .with_html_template("verify_email.html", folder_name="emails")
    .with_text_template("verify_email.txt", folder_name="emails")
    .send()

โœจ This approach helps you keep your email logic clean and makes templates easy to design or preview.

Explanation:

  • .from_address("no-reply@example.com"): Specifies the sender's email address.
  • .to(["recipient@example.com"]) : Specifies the recipient's email address.
  • .with_subject("Welcome!") : The subject of the email.
  • .with_context({"username": "John"}) : Context for the email templates, allowing dynamic insertion of values (e.g., the recipient's name).
  • .with_text_template("welcome.txt", folder_name="emails"): The path to the text-based email template. Here, we specify the folder name (emails) where the template is stored. If no folder name is provided, it defaults to email_templates/.
  • .with_html_template("welcome.html", folder_name="emails"): The path to the HTML-based email template. Similarly, you can specify the folder name (emails) for this template.
  • .send(): Sends the email.

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Subclassing

You can also subclass the EmailSender class to create more specific types of emails.

Example: Password Reset Email

class PasswordResetEmail(EmailSender):
    def __init__(self, user):
        super().__init__()
        self.user = user

    def build(self):
        return self\
            .from_address("no-reply@example.com")\
            .to([self.user.email])\
            .with_subject("Reset Your Password")\
            .with_context({"username": self.user.username, "reset_link": generate_reset_link(self.user)})\
            .with_text_template("reset_password.txt", folder_name="emails")\
            .with_html_template("reset_password.html", folder_name="emails")

Usage:

PasswordResetEmail(user).build().send()

Here, the PasswordResetEmail class uses reset_password.txt and reset_password.html templates from the emails folder.

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Function-Based Abstractions

๐Ÿ› ๏ธ For a functional approach, you can also wrap EmailSender in specific functions to handle common email use cases.

Example: Sending a Verification Email

def send_verification_email(user):
    html_verification_path = "verification/verification.html"
    text_verification_path = "verification/verification.txt"
    subject = "Verify Your Email"
    from_email = "no-reply@example.com"

    return EmailSender.create()\
        .from_address(from_email)\
        .to([user.email])\
        .with_subject(subject)\
        .with_context({
            "username": user.username,
            "verification_link": generate_verification_link(user)
        })\
        .with_text_template(text_verification_path, folder_name="emails")\
        .with_html_template(html_verification_path, folder_name="emails")\
        .send()

Example: Sending a Registration Email

def send_registration_email(user):
    html_registration_path = "registration/registration.html"
    text_registration_path = "registration/registration.txt"
    
    subject = "Welcome to the Platform!"
    from_email = "no-reply@example.com"

    return EmailSender.create()\
        .from_address(from_email)\
        .to([user.email])\
        .with_subject(subject)\
        .with_context({"username": user.username})\
        .with_text_template(text_registration_path, folder_name="emails")\
        .with_html_template(html_registration_path, folder_name="emails")\
        .send()

Advantages of this Approach:

  • Keeps your logic functional and simple: It's straightforward to use and easy to test.
  • Keeps your email templates modular and easy to override: Templates are organized in subfolders (e.g., registration, verification), making them easier to manage.
  • Clean and maintainable codebase: You donโ€™t have to subclass EmailSender each time, reducing complexity.

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Templates

๐Ÿ“ Templates must reside inside a dedicated email_templates/ directory, which should exist inside your Django template directory.

This folder can contain your own structure to help organise different types of emails. For example:

Example

project/
โ”œโ”€โ”€ templates/
โ”‚   โ””โ”€โ”€ email_templates/
โ”‚       โ””โ”€โ”€ registration/
โ”‚           โ”œโ”€โ”€ registration.html
โ”‚           โ””โ”€โ”€ registration.txt

When calling with_html_template() or with_text_template(), you can provide the subfolder and filename like so:

EmailSender.create()
    .with_html_template("registration.html", folder_name="registration")
    .with_text_template("registration.txt", folder_name="registration")

You must have both an .html and .txt version of the email template. These are required for rich content and email client compatibility.

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Configuring the Template Directory**

๐Ÿ“ EmailSender allows you to easily configure the location of template directories used by the app, including email templates. By default, EmailSender will look for templates in a templates folder inside the base directory of your project. However, if you'd like to customize the location, you can do so using the MYAPP_TEMPLATES_DIR setting in your Django project's settings.py.

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Default Behaviour

By default, EmailSender will look for templates in the following directory:

{BASE_DIR}/templates/emails_templates/

Where:

  • BASE_DIR is the root directory of your Django project (where manage.py is located).
  • templates is the default directory where EmailSender expects to find your templates.
  • emails_templates is the subdirectory where email-related templates should be stored.

Customizing the Template Directory Path

If you'd like to customize the template directory location, you can define the MYAPP_TEMPLATES_DIR setting in your settings.py file.

Steps to Override:

  1. Open your settings.py file.
  2. Define the MYAPP_TEMPLATES_DIR setting to point to your custom template folder.

Example:

# settings.py

BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent

# Custom template directory location
MYAPP_TEMPLATES_DIR = BASE_DIR / "custom_templates"

In this example:

  • EmailSender will look for templates in {BASE_DIR}/custom_templates/emails_templates/.
  • If you do not define MYAPP_TEMPLATES_DIR, EmailSender will use the default location: {BASE_DIR}/templates/emails_templates/.

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How It Works

  • MYAPP_TEMPLATES_DIR: If defined, EmailSender uses this setting to locate the main template folder.
  • Fallback: If MYAPP_TEMPLATES_DIR is not defined, EmailSender falls back to the default location: {BASE_DIR}/templates.
  • Email Templates: EmailSender looks specifically in the emails_templates/ subdirectory for email-related templates.

Example File Structure:

Default Setup:

my_project/
โ”‚
โ”œโ”€โ”€ templates/
โ”‚   โ””โ”€โ”€ emails_templates/
โ”‚       โ”œโ”€โ”€ welcome_email.html
โ”‚       โ””โ”€โ”€ welcome_email.txt


Custom Setup (with MYAPP_TEMPLATES_DIR defined):

my_project/
โ”‚
โ”œโ”€โ”€ custom_templates/
โ”‚   โ””โ”€โ”€ emails_templates/
โ”‚       โ”œโ”€โ”€ welcome_email.html
โ”‚       โ””โ”€โ”€ welcome_email.txt

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Error Handling

If EmailSender cannot find the templates in the expected location, it will raise a error to let you know where the missing templates are expected.

If BASE_DIR is not defined in settings.py, an ImproperlyConfigured error will be raised to prompt you to define it.

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Fallback Logic

In case the MYAPP_TEMPLATES_DIR is not defined in settings.py, EmailSender will automatically fallback to the default template directory (templates) without requiring any extra configuration.

Conclusion

The MYAPP_TEMPLATES_DIR setting provides flexibility for users who prefer to store their templates in a custom location. By defining this setting in settings.py, users can control where the templates for EmailSender (including email templates) are stored, ensuring a smooth and configurable integration.

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Putting It All Together

This guide shows how to use django-email-sender in a Django project to send a verification email.


๐Ÿ›  Step 1: Virtual Environment

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate.ps1
source venv/bin/activate      # On Mac or linux use: venv\Scripts\activate

๐Ÿ“ฆ Step 2: Install Dependencies

pip install django django-email-sender

โš™๏ธ Step 3: Create a Django Project

django-admin startproject config .
python manage.py startapp core

In config/settings.py, add 'core' to INSTALLED_APPS.


๐Ÿงฑ Step 4: Update Django Settings

Add the following settings to your settings.py file to configure the email backend and other email-related settings.

Email settings

EMAIL_BACKEND        = 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'
EMAIL_HOST           = 'smtp.example.com'  # Replace with your email provider's SMTP server
EMAIL_PORT           = 587  # Typically 587 for TLS
EMAIL_USE_TLS        = True  # Enable TLS encryption
EMAIL_HOST_USER      = 'your-email@example.com'  # Your email address
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD  = 'your-email-password'  # Your email password (or app password if using 2FA)
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL   = EMAIL_HOST_USER  # Default email to send from

Note replace

  - smtp.example.com with your-email@example.com
  - your-email-password with your actual email service provider's SMTP details

If you are using gmail to send emails then the setup would look like

    # Email Backend
    EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'

    # Email Settings for Gmail

    EMAIL_USE_TLS        = True  
    EMAIL_HOST           = 'smtp.gmail.com'  
    EMAIL_PORT           = 587  
    EMAIL_HOST_USER      = 'your-email@gmail.com'  # Your Gmail address
    EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD  = 'your-app-password'     # Use the generated app password (if 2FA is enabled)
    DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL   = EMAIL_HOST_USER         # Optional: Set default sender email (same as the one above)


Important Notes:

  • App Password: If you have two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled for your Gmail account, you'll need to create an App Password instead of using your regular Gmail password. You can generate it in your Google account settings.

  • TLS: Setting EMAIL_USE_TLS = True ensures that emails are sent securely over TLS encryption.

This configuration should allow you to send emails via Gmail's SMTP server.

๐Ÿงฑ Step 4: Create Email Templates

Create the folder structure :

  • See HTML Email Template Example and Plain Text & Multi-part Email Support
  • Replace the folder emails with verification
  • Do the same with the file names

Then add the templates path in config/settings.py:

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
        'DIRS': [BASE_DIR / 'templates'],  # This is where you add the line
        'APP_DIRS': True,
        'OPTIONS': {
            'context_processors': [
                'django.template.context_processors.debug',
                'django.template.context_processors.request',
                'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
            ],
        },
    },
]

๐Ÿงช Step 5: Add a Test View

In core/views.py:

from django.http import HttpResponse
from django_email_sender.email_sender import EmailSender

def test_email_view(request):
    (
    EmailSender.create()
        .from_address("no-reply@example.com")
        .to(["test@example.com"])
        .with_subject("Verify Your Email")
        .with_context({ "username": "John", "verification_code": "123456"})
        .with_html_template("verification.html", folder_name="verification")
        .with_text_template("verification.txt", folder_name="verification")
        .send()
    )
    return HttpResponse("Verification email sent!")

๐Ÿ”— Step 6: Wire Up URLs

Create core/urls.py:

from django.urls import path
from .views import test_email_view

urlpatterns = [
    path("send-verification-email/", test_email_view),
]

Then include it in config/urls.py:

from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path, include

urlpatterns = [
    path("admin/", admin.site.urls),
    path("", include("core.urls")),
]

๐Ÿš€ Step 7: Run and Test

python manage.py runserver

Open http://localhost:8000/send-verification-email/ in your browser and check your inbox!


๐Ÿ’ก Tips

  • You can subclass EmailSender for different email types or simply wrap it in functions.
  • Organise your templates by email type (registration/, verification/, etc.)
  • Subject and context are fully customisable.

License

  • This package is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

Credits

-This project was created and maintained by Egbie Uku a.k.a EgbieAndersonUku1.

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