Resend-skills react-email

Use when building HTML email templates with React components, adding a visual email editor to an application using the React Email visual editor, rendering emails to HTML, or sending emails with Resend. Covers welcome emails, password resets, notifications, order confirmations, newsletters, transactional emails, and the embeddable email editor component.

install
source · Clone the upstream repo
git clone https://github.com/resend/resend-skills
Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/
T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/resend/resend-skills "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/react-email" ~/.claude/skills/resend-resend-skills-react-email && rm -rf "$T"
manifest: skills/react-email/SKILL.md
source content

React Email

Build and send HTML emails using React components - a modern, component-based approach to email development that works across all major email clients.

Installation

Scaffold a new React Email project, install dependencies, and start the dev server:

npx create-email@latest
cd react-email-starter
npm install
npm run dev

This works with any package manager (npm, yarn, pnpm, bun) — substitute accordingly.

The dev server runs at localhost:3000 with a preview interface for templates in the

emails
folder.

Adding to an Existing Project

Install the packages and add a script to your

package.json
:

{
  "scripts": {
    "email": "email dev --dir emails --port 3000"
  }
}

Make sure the path to the emails folder is relative to the base project directory. Ensure

tsconfig.json
includes proper support for JSX.

Basic Email Template

Create an email component with proper structure using the Tailwind component for styling:

import {
  Html,
  Head,
  Preview,
  Body,
  Container,
  Heading,
  Text,
  Button,
  Tailwind,
  pixelBasedPreset
} from '@react-email/components';

interface WelcomeEmailProps {
  name: string;
  verificationUrl: string;
}

export default function WelcomeEmail({ name, verificationUrl }: WelcomeEmailProps) {
  return (
    <Html lang="en">
      <Tailwind
        config={{
          presets: [pixelBasedPreset],
          theme: {
            extend: {
              colors: {
                brand: '#007bff',
              },
            },
          },
        }}
      >
        <Head />
        <Body className="bg-gray-100 font-sans">
          <Preview>Welcome - Verify your email</Preview>
          <Container className="max-w-xl mx-auto p-5">
            <Heading className="text-2xl text-gray-800">
              Welcome!
            </Heading>
            <Text className="text-base text-gray-800">
              Hi {name}, thanks for signing up!
            </Text>
            <Button
              href={verificationUrl}
              className="bg-brand text-white px-5 py-3 rounded block text-center no-underline box-border"
            >
              Verify Email
            </Button>
          </Container>
        </Body>
      </Tailwind>
    </Html>
  );
}

// Preview props for testing
WelcomeEmail.PreviewProps = {
  name: 'John Doe',
  verificationUrl: 'https://example.com/verify/abc123'
} satisfies WelcomeEmailProps;

export { WelcomeEmail };

Behavioral Guidelines

  • When iterating over the code, only update what the user asked for. Keep the rest intact.
  • If the user asks to use media queries, inform them that most email clients don't support them and suggest a different approach.
  • Never use template variables (like
    {{name}}
    ) directly in TypeScript code. Instead, reference the underlying properties directly. If the user explicitly asks for
    {{variableName}}
    , place the mustache string only in PreviewProps, never in the component JSX:
const EmailTemplate = (props) => {
  return (
    <h1>Hello, {props.variableName}!</h1>
  );
}

EmailTemplate.PreviewProps = {
  variableName: "{{variableName}}",
};

export default EmailTemplate;
  • Never write the
    {{variableName}}
    pattern directly in the component structure. If the user insists, explain that this would make the template invalid.

Essential Components

See references/COMPONENTS.md for complete component documentation.

Core Structure:

  • Html
    - Root wrapper with
    lang
    attribute
  • Head
    - Meta elements, styles, fonts
  • Body
    - Main content wrapper
  • Container
    - Outermost centering wrapper (has built-in
    max-width: 37.5em
    ). Use only once per email.
  • Section
    - Interior content blocks (no built-in max-width). Use for grouping content inside
    Container
    .
  • Row
    &
    Column
    - Multi-column layouts
  • Tailwind
    - Enables Tailwind CSS utility classes

Content:

  • Preview
    - Inbox preview text, always first inside
    <Body>
  • Heading
    - h1-h6 headings
  • Text
    - Paragraphs
  • Button
    - Styled link buttons (always include
    box-border
    )
  • Link
    - Hyperlinks
  • Img
    - Images (see Static Files section below)
  • Hr
    - Horizontal dividers

Specialized:

  • CodeBlock
    - Syntax-highlighted code
  • CodeInline
    - Inline code
  • Markdown
    - Render markdown
  • Font
    - Custom web fonts

Before Writing Code

When a user requests an email template, ask clarifying questions FIRST if they haven't provided:

  1. Brand colors - Ask for primary brand color (hex code like #007bff)
  2. Logo - Ask if they have a logo file and its format (PNG/JPG only - warn if SVG/WEBP)
  3. Style preference - Professional, casual, or minimal tone
  4. Production URL - Where will static assets be hosted in production?

Static Files and Images

Directory Structure

Local images must be placed in the

static
folder inside your emails directory:

project/
├── emails/
│   ├── welcome.tsx
│   └── static/           <-- Images go here
│       └── logo.png

Dev vs Production URLs

Use this pattern for images that work in both dev preview and production:

const baseURL = process.env.NODE_ENV === "production"
  ? "https://cdn.example.com"  // User's production CDN
  : "";

export default function Email() {
  return (
    <Img
      src={`${baseURL}/static/logo.png`}
      alt="Logo"
      width="150"
      height="50"
    />
  );
}

How it works:

  • Development:
    baseURL
    is empty, so URL is
    /static/logo.png
    - served by React Email's dev server
  • Production:
    baseURL
    is the CDN domain, so URL is
    https://cdn.example.com/static/logo.png

Important: Always ask the user for their production hosting URL. Do not hardcode

localhost:3000
.

Styling

See references/STYLING.md for comprehensive styling documentation including typography, layout patterns, dark mode, and brand consistency.

Key Rules

  • Use
    Tailwind
    with
    pixelBasedPreset
    (email clients don't support
    rem
    ). Import
    pixelBasedPreset
    from
    @react-email/components
    .
  • Never use flexbox or grid — use
    Row
    /
    Column
    components or tables for layouts.
  • Avoid CSS/Tailwind media queries (
    sm:
    ,
    md:
    ,
    lg:
    ,
    xl:
    ) — limited email client support.
  • Never use theme selectors (
    dark:
    ,
    light:
    ) — not supported.
  • Never use SVG or WEBP images — warn users about rendering issues.
  • Always specify border type (
    border-solid
    ,
    border-dashed
    , etc.) — email clients don't inherit it.
  • For single-side borders, reset others first (
    border-none border-l border-solid
    ).

Required Classes

ComponentRequired ClassWhy
Button
box-border
Prevents padding from overflowing the button width
Hr
/ any border
border-solid
(or
border-dashed
, etc.)
Email clients don't inherit border type
Single-side borders
border-none
+ the side
Resets default borders on other sides

Structure Notes

  • Always define
    <Head />
    inside
    <Tailwind>
    when using Tailwind CSS
  • <Preview>
    should always be the first element inside
    <Body>
  • Only include props in
    PreviewProps
    that the component actually uses
  • Use fixed width/height for known-size elements (logos, icons); responsive sizing (
    w-full
    ,
    h-auto
    ) for content images

Rendering

Convert to HTML

import { render } from '@react-email/components';
import { WelcomeEmail } from './emails/welcome';

const html = await render(
  <WelcomeEmail name="John" verificationUrl="https://example.com/verify" />
);

Convert to Plain Text

const text = await render(<WelcomeEmail name="John" verificationUrl="https://example.com/verify" />, { plainText: true });

Sending

React Email supports sending with any email service provider. See references/SENDING.md for complete sending documentation including Resend, Nodemailer, and SendGrid examples.

Quick example using the Resend SDK:

import { Resend } from 'resend';
import { WelcomeEmail } from './emails/welcome';

const resend = new Resend(process.env.RESEND_API_KEY);

const { data, error } = await resend.emails.send({
  from: 'Acme <onboarding@resend.dev>',
  to: ['user@example.com'],
  subject: 'Welcome to Acme',
  react: <WelcomeEmail name="John" verificationUrl="https://example.com/verify" />
});

The Resend Node SDK automatically handles both HTML and plain-text rendering.

CLI Commands

The

react-email
package provides a CLI accessible via the
email
command:

CommandDescription
email dev --dir <path> --port <port>
Start the preview development server (default:
./emails
, port 3000)
email build --dir <path>
Build the preview app for production deployment
email start
Run the built preview app
email export --outDir <path> --pretty --plainText --dir <path>
Export templates to static HTML files
email resend setup
Connect the CLI to your Resend account via API key
email resend reset
Remove the stored Resend API key

Internationalization

See references/I18N.md for complete i18n documentation. React Email supports three libraries: next-intl, react-i18next, and react-intl.

Email Editor

React Email includes a visual editor (

@react-email/editor
) that can be embedded in your app. It's built on TipTap/ProseMirror and produces email-ready HTML.

See references/EDITOR.md for complete documentation including:

  • EmailEditor
    — batteries-included component with bubble menus, slash commands, and theming
  • StarterKit
    — 35+ email-aware extensions (headings, lists, tables, columns, buttons, etc.)
  • Inspector
    — contextual sidebar for editing styles
  • EmailTheming
    — built-in themes (
    basic
    ,
    minimal
    ) with customizable CSS properties
  • composeReactEmail
    — export editor content to email-ready HTML and plain text
  • Custom extensions via
    EmailNode
    and
    EmailMark

Quick example:

import { EmailEditor, type EmailEditorRef } from '@react-email/editor';
import '@react-email/editor/themes/default.css';
import { useRef } from 'react';

export function MyEditor() {
  const ref = useRef<EmailEditorRef>(null);

  return (
    <EmailEditor
      ref={ref}
      content="<p>Start typing...</p>"
      theme="basic"
    />
  );
}

Common Patterns

See references/PATTERNS.md for complete examples including:

  • Password reset emails
  • Order confirmations with product lists
  • Notification emails with code blocks
  • Multi-column layouts
  • Team invitation emails

Email Best Practices

  1. Test across email clients - Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, Yahoo Mail
  2. Keep it responsive - Max-width around 600px, test on mobile
  3. Use absolute image URLs - Host on reliable CDN, always include
    alt
    text
  4. Provide plain text version - Required for accessibility
  5. Keep file size under 102KB - Gmail clips larger emails
  6. Add proper TypeScript types - Define interfaces for all email props
  7. Include preview props - Add
    .PreviewProps
    for development testing
  8. Use verified domains - For production
    from
    addresses

Additional Resources