GiteaMailTemplates/CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to Gitea Mail Templates

Thanks for your interest in contributing! This project aims to provide a diverse, well-maintained collection of email templates for the Gitea ecosystem.

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Ways to Contribute

Adding a New Style

1. Scaffold the new style: cd tools && go run . create <your-style-name> — this creates the directory structure with placeholder .tmpl files for all 11 email types
2. Edit each .tmpl file in themes/<your-style-name>/ with your unique visual design
3. Regenerate the preview: cd tools && go run . preview all — the build script auto-discovers all theme directories under themes/ and generates the theme selector dynamically
4. Submit a PR with screenshots of rendered emails (≤ 50 KiB each, 10–20 KiB recommended)

Style Guidelines

• Each style must include all 11 template types listed in the README
• Use only Gitea's built-in template functions — check the Gitea source for reference
• Translation keys must come from Gitea's official locale files (mail.* namespace)
• Never reference .DisplayName in templates where the data context lacks it (collaborator, transfer, release, workflow_run, assigned, default)
• Design for 600px max-width email clients
• Test against major email clients (Apple Mail, Gmail, Outlook) when possible

Bug Reports

If a template doesn't render correctly:

1. Check that all referenced Go template variables exist — compare against the Gitea source mail templates
2. Verify translation keys match Gitea's locale files
3. Confirm .DisplayName isn't used in templates that lack it
4. Regenerate the preview: cd tools && go run . preview all
5. Open an issue with: the style name, which email type, and the error or unexpected output

Documentation Improvements

Documentation updates, preview screenshots, installation guides, and translations are always welcome.

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Development Setup

• Go 1.21+ for template rendering and the CLI tool

Previewing Locally (Static)

1. Run cd tools && go run . preview all to generate rendered data
2. Open preview/index.html directly in a browser — no server needed
3. Use the theme switcher, template selector, and view mode toggles

Dev Server (Live Reload)

cd tools && go run . dev
# → http://localhost:3456

• Watches themes/**/*.tmpl — auto-rebuilds on save
• Pure Go HTTP server with SSE push — no external dependencies
• Re-renders templates in-process and pushes reload events to the browser
• Terminal output: themes/aurora/mail/repo/release.tmpl changed → [Builder] Rebuild done in 45ms

Integration Testing

Deploy the templates to a Gitea instance and verify with real transactional emails. The admin test email (Site Administration > Configuration > Mailer > Send Test Email) does not use custom mail templates — it follows a built-in code path.

The most reliable method is to trigger a real notification. For example, the password reset flow:

1. Log out and click "Forgot password" on the login page
2. Enter your account email and submit
3. Check the password reset email — it will render with your custom mail templates

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Commit Conventions

Any readable commit message in semantic format is welcome. Such as:

• style(horizon|terminal|ember|bloom|heritage|neon|mono|terra|ink|aurora): — template changes
• preview(*): — preview tooling changes
• tools(*): — Go build script changes
• docs(*): — documentation and translations
• fix(*): — bug fixes
• project(*): — README, LICENSE, AGENTS.md, meta

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Translations

• English
• Simplified Chinese
• Traditional Chinese
• Russian
• Japanese
• Korean

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License

By contributing, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the MIT License.