- Core
- Standalone Analysis
- Spam & Deliverability
- Content Analysis
- Transforms & Dark Mode
- Compile Module
- AI-Powered Fixes
- Performance
- Security Considerations
- Types
Unified API — runs all 8 email analysis checks in a single call. Returns compatibility warnings + scores, spam analysis, link validation, accessibility audit, image analysis, inbox preview extraction, size checking, and template variable detection.
Internally parses the HTML once and shares the DOM across all analyzers.
import { auditEmail } from "@emailens/engine";
const report = auditEmail(html, {
framework: "jsx", // attach framework-specific fix snippets
spam: { emailType: "transactional" }, // skip unsubscribe check
skip: ["images"], // skip specific checks
});
// report.compatibility.warnings — CSSWarning[]
// report.compatibility.scores — Record<string, ClientScore>
// report.spam — SpamReport
// report.links — LinkReport
// report.accessibility — AccessibilityReport
// report.images — ImageReport
// report.inboxPreview — InboxPreview
// report.size — SizeReport
// report.templateVariables — TemplateReportAuditOptions:
framework?: "jsx" | "mjml" | "maizzle"— attach framework-specific fix snippetsspam?: SpamAnalysisOptions— options for spam analysisskip?: Array<"spam" | "links" | "accessibility" | "images" | "compatibility" | "inboxPreview" | "size" | "templateVariables">— skip specific checks
Session API — pre-parses the HTML once and exposes all analysis methods on the shared DOM. Use this when you need to call multiple analysis functions on the same HTML to avoid redundant parsing.
import { createSession } from "@emailens/engine";
const session = createSession(html, { framework: "jsx" });
// All analysis methods share a single DOM parse:
const warnings = session.analyze();
const scores = session.score(warnings);
const spam = session.analyzeSpam();
const links = session.validateLinks();
const a11y = session.checkAccessibility();
const images = session.analyzeImages();
const preview = session.extractInboxPreview();
const size = session.checkSize();
const templates = session.checkTemplateVariables();
// Or run everything at once:
const report = session.audit();
// Transforms and dark mode still work (parse internally per client):
const transforms = session.transformForAllClients();
const darkMode = session.simulateDarkMode("gmail-web");CreateSessionOptions:
framework?: "jsx" | "mjml" | "maizzle"— framework for fix snippets (applies to all session methods)
EmailSession methods:
| Method | Shares DOM | Description |
|---|---|---|
audit(options?) |
Yes | Run all checks (equivalent to auditEmail) |
analyze() |
Yes | CSS compatibility warnings |
score(warnings) |
— | Generate per-client scores |
analyzeSpam(options?) |
Yes | Spam indicator analysis |
validateLinks() |
Yes | Link validation |
checkAccessibility() |
Yes | Accessibility audit |
analyzeImages() |
Yes | Image analysis |
extractInboxPreview() |
Yes | Subject line and preheader extraction |
checkSize() |
Yes | Gmail clipping size check |
checkTemplateVariables() |
Yes | Unresolved template variable detection |
checkDeliverability(domain) |
— | DNS deliverability check (async, SPF/DKIM/DMARC/MX/BIMI) |
transformForClient(clientId) |
No | Transform for one client |
transformForAllClients() |
No | Transform for all 15 clients |
simulateDarkMode(clientId) |
No | Dark mode simulation |
When to use sessions vs standalone functions:
- Multiple analysis calls on the same HTML → use
createSession()to avoid redundant parsing - Single analysis call → use standalone functions (
auditEmail,analyzeEmail, etc.) - Server-side batch processing → use
createSession()per email for best throughput
Analyzes an HTML email and returns CSS compatibility warnings for all 15 email clients. Detects <style>, <link>, <svg>, <video>, <form>, inline CSS properties, @font-face, @media queries, gradients, flexbox/grid, and more.
The optional framework parameter controls which fix snippets are attached to warnings. Analysis always runs on compiled HTML.
const warnings = analyzeEmail(html); // Plain HTML
const warnings = analyzeEmail(html, "jsx"); // React Email fixes
const warnings = analyzeEmail(html, "mjml"); // MJML fixesGenerates a 0–100 compatibility score per email client. Formula: 100 - (errors × 15) - (warnings × 5) - (info × 1).
Filter warnings for a specific client.
Get only error-severity warnings.
Get only warnings that require HTML restructuring (fixType: "structural").
Analyzes an HTML email for spam scoring issues. Returns a 0–100 score (100 = clean) and an array of issues. Uses heuristic rules modeled after SpamAssassin, CAN-SPAM, and GDPR.
Note: Spam scoring heuristics — not a real spam filter. This checks for common anti-patterns that trigger spam filters but cannot predict actual inbox placement. For real spam testing, use the
checkSpamAssassin()integration or a dedicated service.
import { analyzeSpam } from "@emailens/engine";
const report = analyzeSpam(html, {
emailType: "transactional", // skip unsubscribe check
listUnsubscribeHeader: "...", // satisfies unsubscribe requirement
});
// { score: 95, level: "low", issues: [...] }Checks: caps ratio, excessive punctuation, spam trigger phrases, missing unsubscribe link (with transactional email exemption), hidden text, URL shorteners, image-to-text ratio, deceptive links (with ESP tracking domain allowlist), all-caps subject.
Validates email deliverability for a domain by checking MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and BIMI DNS records. All DNS queries have a 5-second timeout. No external dependencies — uses node:dns/promises.
import { checkDeliverability } from "@emailens/engine";
const report = await checkDeliverability("example.com");
console.log(report.score); // 0-100
console.log(report.checks); // individual check results
console.log(report.issues); // actionable issuesChecks:
- MX — domain can receive email
- SPF — authorized senders (
v=spf1), flags dangerous+all - DKIM — probes 15 common selectors (
google,selector1,default,dkim, etc.) - DMARC — policy enforcement (
v=DMARC1), warns onp=none - BIMI — brand indicator (optional, nice-to-have)
Also available as a session method: session.checkDeliverability("example.com").
Note: This is standalone async — not wired into the synchronous
auditEmail()pipeline.
Opt-in integration with a local SpamAssassin installation. Shells out to spamc (daemon) or spamassassin (standalone) via execFile. Returns null if SpamAssassin is not installed.
import { checkSpamAssassin } from "@emailens/engine";
const result = await checkSpamAssassin(rawRfc2822Message);
if (result) {
console.log(result.score); // e.g. 3.2
console.log(result.isSpam); // true if score >= threshold
console.log(result.rules); // matched SpamAssassin rules
}Note: Requires a full RFC 2822 message (headers + body), not just HTML.
Static analysis of all links in an HTML email. No network requests.
import { validateLinks } from "@emailens/engine";
const report = validateLinks(html);
// { totalLinks: 12, issues: [...], breakdown: { https: 10, http: 1, mailto: 1, ... } }Checks: empty/placeholder hrefs, javascript: protocol, insecure HTTP, generic link text, missing accessible names, empty mailto/tel, very long URLs, duplicate links.
Audits an HTML email for accessibility issues. Returns a 0–100 score and detailed issues.
import { checkAccessibility } from "@emailens/engine";
const report = checkAccessibility(html);
// { score: 88, issues: [...] }Checks: missing lang attribute, missing <title>, image alt text, link accessibility, layout table roles, small text, color contrast (WCAG 2.1), heading hierarchy.
Analyzes images for email best practices.
import { analyzeImages } from "@emailens/engine";
const report = analyzeImages(html);
// { total: 5, totalDataUriBytes: 0, issues: [...], images: [...] }Checks: missing dimensions, oversized data URIs, missing alt, WebP/SVG format, missing display:block, tracking pixels, high image count.
Extracts subject line (from <title>) and preheader text from the email HTML. Returns per-client truncation data showing how subject and preheader will appear across 8 email clients.
import { extractInboxPreview } from "@emailens/engine";
const preview = extractInboxPreview(html);
// { subject: "Newsletter", preheader: "This week's highlights...",
// subjectLength: 10, preheaderLength: 28,
// truncation: [...], issues: [...] }Checks: missing <title>, subject too long, missing preheader, preheader too short/long, ‌ padding hack, emoji in subject.
Checks email HTML byte size for Gmail clipping issues. Gmail clips messages larger than ~102KB, hiding content behind a "View entire message" link.
import { checkSize } from "@emailens/engine";
const report = checkSize(html);
// { htmlBytes: 45230, humanSize: "44.2 KB", clipped: false, issues: [] }Checks: Gmail clipping threshold (102KB), approaching clip threshold warning (90KB).
Scans email HTML for unresolved template/merge variables in text content and key attributes (href, src, alt).
import { checkTemplateVariables } from "@emailens/engine";
const report = checkTemplateVariables(html);
// { unresolvedCount: 0, issues: [] }Detects: {{var}} (Handlebars/Mustache), ${var} (ES template literals), <%= %> (ERB/EJS), *|TAG|* (Mailchimp), %%tag%% (Salesforce), {merge_field} (single-brace).
Transforms HTML for a specific email client — strips unsupported CSS, inlines <style> blocks (for Gmail), removes unsupported elements.
Transforms HTML for all 15 email clients at once.
Simulates how an email client applies dark mode using luminance-based color detection.
- Full inversion (Gmail iOS, Outlook Classic, Thunderbird¹): inverts all light backgrounds and dark text
- Partial inversion (Gmail Android, Outlook.com, Outlook (New), Outlook iOS, Outlook Android, Samsung Mail², HEY, Superhuman): only inverts very light/dark colors
- Respects prefers-color-scheme (Apple Mail macOS/iOS): no forced inversion — honors
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark)if present - No content inversion (Gmail Web, Yahoo Mail): only the email client UI is darkened
¹ Thunderbird skips inversion when prefers-color-scheme is present in the email.
² Samsung Mail skips inversion when prefers-color-scheme is present in the email.
Returns a paste-ready code fix for a CSS property + client combination. Fixes are tiered:
- Framework + client specific (e.g.,
border-radius+ Outlook + JSX → VML component) - Framework specific (e.g.,
@font-face+ MJML →<mj-font>) - Client specific (e.g.,
border-radius+ Outlook → VML roundrect) - Generic HTML fallback
Compares two sets of analysis results to show what improved, regressed, or stayed the same.
Compile email templates from JSX, MJML, or Maizzle to HTML.
import { compile, detectFormat, CompileError } from "@emailens/engine/compile";
// Auto-detect format and compile
const format = detectFormat("email.tsx"); // "jsx"
const html = await compile(source, format);
// Or use specific compilers
import { compileReactEmail, compileMjml, compileMaizzle } from "@emailens/engine/compile";Compile source to HTML based on format. Lazily imports per-format compilers.
Compile React Email JSX/TSX to HTML. Pipeline: validate → transpile (sucrase) → sandbox execute → render.
import { compileReactEmail } from "@emailens/engine/compile";
const html = await compileReactEmail(jsxSource, {
sandbox: "isolated-vm", // "vm" | "isolated-vm" | "quickjs"
});Sandbox strategies:
"isolated-vm"(default) — Separate V8 isolate. True heap isolation. Requiresisolated-vmnative addon."vm"—node:vmwith hardened globals. Fast, zero-dependency, but NOT a true security boundary. Suitable for CLI/local use."quickjs"— Validates code in WASM sandbox, then executes innode:vm. Security is equivalent to"vm". No native addons needed.
Peer dependencies: sucrase, react, @react-email/components, @react-email/render. Plus isolated-vm or quickjs-emscripten depending on sandbox strategy.
Compile MJML to HTML. Peer dependency: mjml.
Compile Maizzle template to HTML. Peer dependency: @maizzle/framework.
Security: PostHTML file-system directives (<extends>, <component>, <fetch>, <include>, <module>, <slot>, <fill>, <raw>, <block>, <yield>) are rejected at validation time to prevent server-side file reads.
Auto-detect input format from file extension (.tsx/.jsx → "jsx", .mjml → "mjml", .html → "html").
Unified error class for all compilation failures. Available from both @emailens/engine and @emailens/engine/compile.
import { CompileError } from "@emailens/engine";
try {
await compile(source, "jsx");
} catch (err) {
if (err instanceof CompileError) {
console.log(err.format); // "jsx" | "mjml" | "maizzle"
console.log(err.phase); // "validation" | "transpile" | "execution" | "render" | "compile"
}
}The engine classifies every warning as either css (CSS-only swap) or structural (requires HTML restructuring). For structural issues, the engine can generate a prompt and delegate to an LLM.
import { generateAiFix, AI_FIX_SYSTEM_PROMPT } from "@emailens/engine";
const result = await generateAiFix({
originalHtml: html,
warnings,
scores,
scope: "all",
format: "jsx",
provider: async (prompt) => {
const msg = await anthropic.messages.create({
model: "claude-sonnet-4-6",
max_tokens: 8192,
system: AI_FIX_SYSTEM_PROMPT,
messages: [{ role: "user", content: prompt }],
});
return msg.content[0].type === "text" ? msg.content[0].text : "";
},
});Estimate tokens before making an API call.
Instant synchronous token estimate (~3.5 chars/token).
The engine internally parses HTML using Cheerio. For a typical 50–100KB email, each cheerio.load() call takes 5–15ms. Without optimization, calling multiple analysis functions on the same HTML would parse it repeatedly.
auditEmail() parses the HTML once and shares the DOM across all 8 analyzers (compatibility, spam, links, accessibility, images, inbox preview, size, template variables). Previously each analyzer parsed independently — this eliminates ~80% of parsing overhead in the audit path.
createSession() extends this optimization to any combination of calls. When you need to call analyzeEmail() + analyzeSpam() + validateLinks() + other checks on the same HTML, a session shares a single parse across all of them.
| Operation | Complexity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
auditEmail() |
1 parse + 8 analyses | Shared DOM, most efficient for full reports |
createSession() |
1 parse upfront | Amortized across all subsequent analysis calls |
analyzeEmail() |
1 parse + CSS property scan | Scans <style> blocks + inline styles × 15 clients |
transformForAllClients() |
15 parses (1 per client) | Each client mutates its own DOM copy |
simulateDarkMode() |
1 parse per call | Mutates DOM for color inversion |
// Instead of this (6 separate HTML parses):
const warnings = analyzeEmail(html, "jsx");
const scores = generateCompatibilityScore(warnings);
const spam = analyzeSpam(html);
const links = validateLinks(html);
const a11y = checkAccessibility(html);
const images = analyzeImages(html);
// Do this (1 HTML parse):
const report = auditEmail(html, { framework: "jsx" });
// Or for selective analysis (1 HTML parse):
const session = createSession(html, { framework: "jsx" });
const warnings = session.analyze();
const scores = session.score(warnings);
const spam = session.analyzeSpam();
// ... pick only what you needAll public functions enforce a 2MB (MAX_HTML_SIZE) input limit. Inputs exceeding this limit throw immediately. The limit is exported so consumers can check before calling:
import { MAX_HTML_SIZE } from "@emailens/engine";
if (html.length > MAX_HTML_SIZE) {
// handle oversized input
}- React Email JSX: User code runs in a sandboxed environment. The
"isolated-vm"strategy provides true heap isolation. The"vm"and"quickjs"strategies usenode:vmwhich is NOT a security boundary — suitable for CLI use where users run their own code. For server deployments accepting untrusted input, use"isolated-vm". - Maizzle: PostHTML directives that access the filesystem (
<extends>,<fetch>,<include>,<raw>,<block>,<yield>, etc.) are rejected at validation time. - MJML: Compiled through the
mjmlpackage with default settings.
type SupportLevel = "supported" | "partial" | "unsupported" | "unknown";
type Framework = "jsx" | "mjml" | "maizzle";
type InputFormat = "html" | Framework;
type FixType = "css" | "structural";
interface CSSWarning {
severity: "error" | "warning" | "info";
client: string;
property: string;
message: string;
suggestion?: string;
fix?: CodeFix;
fixType?: FixType;
line?: number; // line number in <style> block
selector?: string; // element selector for inline styles
}
interface AuditReport {
compatibility: {
warnings: CSSWarning[];
scores: Record<string, { score: number; errors: number; warnings: number; info: number }>;
};
spam: SpamReport;
links: LinkReport;
accessibility: AccessibilityReport;
images: ImageReport;
inboxPreview: InboxPreview;
size: SizeReport;
templateVariables: TemplateReport;
}
interface EmailSession {
readonly html: string;
readonly framework: Framework | undefined;
audit(options?): AuditReport;
analyze(): CSSWarning[];
score(warnings): Record<string, ClientScore>;
analyzeSpam(options?): SpamReport;
validateLinks(): LinkReport;
checkAccessibility(): AccessibilityReport;
analyzeImages(): ImageReport;
extractInboxPreview(): InboxPreview;
checkSize(): SizeReport;
checkTemplateVariables(): TemplateReport;
transformForClient(clientId): TransformResult;
transformForAllClients(): TransformResult[];
simulateDarkMode(clientId): { html; warnings };
}
interface InboxPreview {
subject: string | null;
preheader: string | null;
subjectLength: number;
preheaderLength: number;
truncation: ClientTruncation[];
issues: InboxPreviewIssue[];
}
interface SizeReport {
htmlBytes: number;
humanSize: string;
clipped: boolean;
issues: SizeIssue[];
}
interface TemplateReport {
unresolvedCount: number;
issues: TemplateIssue[];
}
interface SpamReport {
score: number; // 0–100 (100 = clean)
level: "low" | "medium" | "high";
issues: SpamIssue[];
}
interface LinkReport {
totalLinks: number;
issues: LinkIssue[];
breakdown: { https: number; http: number; mailto: number; tel: number; ... };
}
interface AccessibilityReport {
score: number; // 0–100
issues: AccessibilityIssue[];
}
interface ImageReport {
total: number;
totalDataUriBytes: number;
issues: ImageIssue[];
images: ImageInfo[];
}
interface DeliverabilityReport {
domain: string;
checks: DeliverabilityCheck[];
score: number; // 0-100
issues: DeliverabilityIssue[];
}
interface DeliverabilityCheck {
name: "spf" | "dkim" | "dmarc" | "mx" | "bimi";
status: "pass" | "fail" | "warn" | "skip";
message: string;
detail?: string;
record?: string;
}
interface SpamAssassinResult {
score: number;
threshold: number;
isSpam: boolean;
rules: Array<{ name: string; score: number; description: string }>;
rawOutput: string;
}