enhance: improve actions e-mail template by silverwind · Pull Request #38396 · go-gitea/gitea

silverwind · 2026-07-10T09:17:09Z

declare color-scheme and drop the light-only colors, so mails follow the client theme
extract the shared <head> and footers into templates/mail/base/
use the Gitea primary color for links
workflow run mail: subject is now [owner/repo] Failure: build.yml (main - 35996c2c80)
workflow run mail: replace the job cards with a compact table, each status marked by an icon, a word and a color
use unicode glyphs as icons, (can't use svg because at least gmail does not support it)
preview both schemes side by side in /devtest/mail-preview, including the subject
assignment mails now show the "reply to this email" hint, they already carried a Reply-To

Screenshot from /devtest/mail-preview:

Mail templates hardcoded light-only colors without declaring a color scheme, so dark-mode clients force-inverted them: backgrounds flipped while text colors did not, leaving grey-on-grey headings and unreadable text after switching themes. Declare "color-scheme: light dark", drop the light-only backgrounds and text colors so mails inherit the client theme, and keep only scheme-aware accents. Extract the duplicated <head> and the two footer variants into templates/mail/base/, and exclude those partials from the preview list while keeping them in the compiled template set. Rework the workflow run mail: prefix the subject with the repository and ref, and replace the job cards with a compact bordered table that marks each status with an icon, a localized word and a color. Mail clients strip svg, so the icons are unicode glyphs. Render the mail preview in both schemes side by side. Since a page can force "color-scheme" on an embedded document but never "prefers-color-scheme", the devtest handler toggles the mail's dark media query instead, otherwise a pane would mix one scheme's colors with the other's canvas. Assisted-by: Claude:Opus 4.8

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Pull request overview

This PR modernizes and de-duplicates Gitea’s HTML email templates, adds explicit light/dark scheme support, and improves both the Actions workflow-run notification email and the /devtest/mail-preview experience.

Changes:

Extract common mail <head> and footer fragments into templates/mail/base/* and refactor existing templates to use them.
Rework the workflow-run email subject and job list rendering (compact table with status icon/text/color).
Improve mail preview to render light/dark variants side-by-side and to show the mock-data subject.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 29 out of 29 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
templates/mail/user/auth/reset_passwd.tmpl	Switch to shared base head + copyright footer.
templates/mail/user/auth/reset_passwd.devtest.yml	Add mock `Subject` for preview display.
templates/mail/user/auth/register_notify.tmpl	Switch to shared base head + copyright footer.
templates/mail/user/auth/register_notify.devtest.yml	Add mock `Subject` for preview display.
templates/mail/user/auth/activate.tmpl	Switch to shared base head + copyright footer.
templates/mail/user/auth/activate.devtest.yml	Add mock `Subject` for preview display.
templates/mail/user/auth/activate_email.tmpl	Switch to shared base head + copyright footer.
templates/mail/user/auth/activate_email.devtest.yml	Add mock `Subject` for preview display.
templates/mail/repo/transfer.tmpl	Switch to shared base head + shared footer block.
templates/mail/repo/transfer.devtest.yml	Update mock repo name.
templates/mail/repo/release.tmpl	Switch to shared base head + shared footer block.
templates/mail/repo/issue/default.tmpl	Switch to shared base head + shared footer block.
templates/mail/repo/issue/default.devtest.yml	Add mock `Subject` for preview display.
templates/mail/repo/issue/assigned.tmpl	Switch to shared base head + shared footer block.
templates/mail/repo/issue/assigned.devtest.yml	Update mock repo full name.
templates/mail/repo/collaborator.tmpl	Switch to shared base head + shared footer block.
templates/mail/repo/collaborator.devtest.yml	Update mock repo name.
templates/mail/repo/actions/workflow_run.tmpl	Redesign workflow-run mail body for theme inheritance and compact job table.
templates/mail/repo/actions/workflow_run.devtest.yml	Update mock subject + job presentation fields (icon/class/text).
templates/mail/org/team_invite.tmpl	Switch to shared base head + copyright footer.
templates/mail/org/team_invite.devtest.yml	Add mock `Subject` for preview display.
templates/mail/base/head.tmpl	New shared head partial with color-scheme meta + common styles.
templates/mail/base/footer.tmpl	New shared footer partial for “view it on” / optional reply link.
templates/mail/base/footer_copyright.tmpl	New shared copyright footer partial.
templates/devtest/mail-preview.tmpl	Render light/dark previews side-by-side; border uses theme variable.
services/mailer/mail_workflow_run.go	Update workflow-run subject format and job data mapping for new template.
services/mailer/mail_workflow_run_test.go	Add unit test for workflow job status icon/class mapping.
routers/web/devtest/mail_preview.go	Render mail HTML to a buffer for scheme manipulation and subject preview support.
modules/templates/mail.go	Exclude `mail/base/*` partials from the preview template list while still compiling them.

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The "base/" partials are excluded from MailRender.TemplateNames but must remain in the compiled template set, otherwise every mail that includes them fails to render. Guard the invariant with a test instead of a comment. Assisted-by: Claude:Opus 4.8

Appending the scheme override after </html> relied on the parser fostering it into the body. Insert it before </head> instead, and match the mail's dark media query with a pattern, so reformatting the stylesheet does not silently leave the preview showing one scheme's colors on the other's canvas. Assisted-by: Claude:Opus 4.8

wxiaoguang

No, never base/head templates

Such fragile trick only makes it is more difficult to maintain "web" base and "mail" base templates.

The status follows the repository in the subject, so it reads "[owner/repo] run failed: build.yml - main (35996c2c80)". Assisted-by: Claude:Opus 4.8

silverwind · 2026-07-10T09:43:59Z

No, never base/head templates

So what do you suggest instead? accept the duplications in header/footer? They already drifted.

wxiaoguang · 2026-07-10T09:46:34Z

No, never base/head templates

So what do you suggest instead? accept the duplications in header/footer? They already drifted.

I believe we should refactor all mail templates to be used as mail/xxx/yyy (mail/user/auth/activate), remove the strings.TrimPrefix(name, "mail/"), then at least: mail/head and mail/foot or mail/base/head

The mail renderer trimmed "mail/" from the template name and added it back when reading the file, so a mail template name no longer matched its asset path. The page renderer relies on that match, and so does the template error prettier, which resolves a name back to a file. With the prefix trimmed, the "mail/base/head" partial was named "base/head" and aliased the web template of the same name. Keep the full path as the name, like the page renderer does. Assisted-by: Claude:Opus 4.8

dismiss

silverwind · 2026-07-10T11:42:28Z

Will do more tweaks to the mail subject, not totally happy with it yet.

The subject now reads "[owner/repo] Failure: build.yml (main - 35996c2c80)", matching the "[owner/repo]" prefix of the issue mails and reusing the status word already shown in the mail body and the web UI. The dedicated mail.repo.actions.run.* strings are removed. Assisted-by: Claude:Opus 4.8

Mail partials carried their own base indentation, so an included partial's content rendered one level too deep. Start them at column 0 like the web partials, keeping the {{template}} includes at the HTML indentation level. Assisted-by: Claude:Opus 4.8

silverwind · 2026-07-14T08:35:50Z

Updated subject to [owner/repo] Failure: workflow.yml (main - sha), this is the most consistent format with existing mails and a strict improvement over the previous incomplete subjects.

TemplateNames only feeds the devtest mail preview list, and previewing a partial renders it harmlessly, so filtering the base partials out was not needed. Keep the test that asserts the partials stay compiled. Assisted-by: Claude:Opus 4.8

The preview now shows the mock Subject, so the placeholder subjects of the collaborator, transfer and assigned mails were misleading. Use the real subject format instead. Assisted-by: Claude:Opus 4.8

The job list was cached in one struct and then rebuilt into a second struct per recipient language, recomputing the locale-independent icon and class each time. Use a single struct built once and fill only the localized status text per language. Assisted-by: Claude:Opus 4.8

GiteaBot added the lgtm/need 2 This PR needs two approvals by maintainers to be considered for merging. label Jul 10, 2026

silverwind changed the title ~~Support dark mode in mails, redesign workflow run mail~~ Improve workflow mail template Jul 10, 2026

silverwind changed the title ~~Improve workflow mail template~~ Improve actions e-mail template Jul 10, 2026

silverwind changed the title ~~Improve actions e-mail template~~ enhance: improve actions e-mail template Jul 10, 2026

github-actions Bot added the type/enhancement An improvement of existing functionality label Jul 10, 2026

silverwind requested a review from Copilot July 10, 2026 09:21

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of silverwind July 10, 2026 09:21 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Jul 10, 2026

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Comment thread routers/web/devtest/mail_preview.go

silverwind added 2 commits July 10, 2026 11:29

wxiaoguang previously requested changes Jul 10, 2026

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GiteaBot added lgtm/blocked A maintainer has reservations with the PR and thus it cannot be merged and removed lgtm/need 2 This PR needs two approvals by maintainers to be considered for merging. labels Jul 10, 2026

fix(mail): lowercase the run status in the actions mail subject

cf55c3f

The status follows the repository in the subject, so it reads "[owner/repo] run failed: build.yml - main (35996c2c80)". Assisted-by: Claude:Opus 4.8

wxiaoguang reviewed Jul 10, 2026

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Comment thread modules/templates/mail.go Outdated

silverwind marked this pull request as draft July 10, 2026 10:08

GiteaBot added lgtm/need 2 This PR needs two approvals by maintainers to be considered for merging. and removed lgtm/blocked A maintainer has reservations with the PR and thus it cannot be merged labels Jul 10, 2026

silverwind added 2 commits July 14, 2026 10:34

silverwind marked this pull request as ready for review July 14, 2026 08:35

Merge branch 'main' into mail-template-color-scheme

31900ad

silverwind added 2 commits July 14, 2026 10:57

fix(devtest): make mock mail subjects match the real format

0b43442

The preview now shows the mock Subject, so the placeholder subjects of the collaborator, transfer and assigned mails were misleading. Use the real subject format instead. Assisted-by: Claude:Opus 4.8

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enhance: improve actions e-mail template#38396

enhance: improve actions e-mail template#38396
silverwind wants to merge 11 commits into
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