Designing email templates

Use this skill when creating or editing email templates for PostHog workflows — broadcast campaigns and function_email workflow actions send the rendered template.

How authoring works

You author the design JSON (content.email.design) and save it with workflows-create-email-template. The server renders the sent email from your design with the same renderer PostHog's visual editor uses, so the template opens as editable blocks for humans and sends exactly what the design describes. Schema and a working example in references/unlayer-design-json.md.

When talking to the user, call it the template's design — the design document format is an internal implementation detail. Always share the template's _posthogUrl edit link in your reply after creating or updating, so the user can open it in PostHog directly.

Read references/design-guidelines.md before composing — it covers committing to a design direction, typography, color, and the patterns that make an email look designed rather than generated. For one fragment the block editor can't express, use an html-type content block inside the design.

Personalization with Liquid

Email content uses Liquid templating. Liquid tags pass through the renderer as plain text, so use them anywhere — block text, subject, links:

Hi {{ person.properties.first_name | default: 'there' }},