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Template System

The AhaSend CLI uses Jinja2 templating for creating personalized emails.

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Template Basics

Use double curly braces for variable substitution: 
<!-- template.html -->
<h1>Hello {{first_name}}!</h1>
<p>Welcome to {{company_name}}.</p>
<p>Your account type is: {{account_type}}</p>

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Substitution Types

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Global Substitutions

Applied to all recipients - use for company-wide data: 
{
  "company_name": "ACME Corporation",
  "support_email": "[email protected]",
  "year": "2024"
}

ahasend messages send \
  --from [email protected] \
  --to [email protected] \
  --html-template template.html \
  --global-substitutions company-data.json

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Recipient Substitutions

Per-recipient data from CSV/JSON files: 
email,first_name,account_type,balance
[email protected],John,premium,1234.56
[email protected],Jane,basic,567.89

ahasend messages send \
  --from [email protected] \
  --recipients users.csv \
  --html-template template.html \
  --global-substitutions company-data.json

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Basic Examples

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Simple Template

<!-- welcome.html -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
    <h1>Welcome {{first_name}}!</h1>
    <p>Thank you for joining {{company_name}}.</p>
    <p>Your account type: {{account_type}}</p>
    <p>Questions? Contact {{support_email}}</p>
</body>
</html>

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Conditional Content

<!-- conditional.html -->
<h1>Hello {{first_name}}!</h1>

{% if account_type == "premium" %}
    <p>Thank you for being a Premium member!</p>
{% else %}
    <p>Consider upgrading to Premium!</p>
{% endif %}

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Lists and Loops

<!-- order-confirmation.html -->
<h1>Order Confirmation</h1>
<p>Thank you, {{customer_name}}!</p>

<table>
    {% for item in items %}
    <tr>
        <td>{{item.name}}</td>
        <td>{{item.quantity}}</td>
        <td>${{item.price}}</td>
    </tr>
    {% endfor %}
</table>

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Testing Templates

Test templates using sandbox mode: 
ahasend messages send \
  --from [email protected] \
  --to [email protected] \
  --html-template template.html \
  --global-substitutions test-data.json \
  --sandbox
Then check the AhaSend dashboard to see the rendered message.

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Best Practices

  1. Use meaningful variable names: {{customer_first_name}} not {{fn}}
  2. Provide default values: {{name|default("Friend")}}
  3. Test with real data: Use sandbox mode before sending
  4. Keep templates simple: Complex logic belongs in your application
  5. Global vs recipient data: Company info in global, personal info per recipient

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Next Steps