Sending an email

Before proceeding, make sure you understand how to send basic notifications.

For new processes, use the Send Notification action instead. It provides typed configuration fields and validation, and runs through the same notification backend. This Kafka-based guide is preserved for existing flows and advanced cases where the payload must be hand-crafted.

Overview

This guide explains how to send emails with document attachments through the notification plugin. You’ll learn how to:

Configure email templates with dynamic content
Reference generated documents as attachments
Implement the complete email notification flow in your processes

Prerequisites

A configured notification template (see Managing notification templates)
Properly defined Kafka topics for the notification plugin
Files to attach (such as generated documents or uploaded files)

Implementing email notifications with attachments

Let’s walk through a common scenario: sending a customer a copy of their account details document via email.

Document Generation

If you need to generate the document first, see the document generation guide.

Understanding document references

When you generate a document, as explained in the Generating documents guide, you need to reference two key pieces of information:

minioPath: The storage location of the generated document
documentType: The type identifier used to create the attachment filename

These values are stored in the process instance with the following structure:

generatedDocuments.generatedFiles.{{customId}}.{{templateName}}.minioPath
generatedDocuments.generatedFiles.{{customId}}.{{templateName}}.documentType

For example, if your document generation used:

customId: “ClientsFolder”
templateName: “AccountCreation”

The paths would be:

...
  "attachments": [
    {
      "path": "${generatedDocuments.generatedFiles.ClientsFolder.AccountCreation.minioPath}",
      "filename": "${generatedDocuments.generatedFiles.ClientsFolder.AccountCreation.documentType}.pdf"
    }
  ]

You can verify these values in the process instance details:

Process instance details showing document paths

Step-by-step implementation

Prepare your email template (notification template)

Configure the template you’ll use for the email:

Define subject line, body text, and placeholders for dynamic content
Set proper HTML formatting if needed
Test the template to ensure it displays correctly

See Managing notification templates for detailed instructions.

Verify Kafka topic configuration

Confirm that the required Kafka topics are properly defined:

Navigate to FlowX Designer → Platform Status
Select notification-plugin-mngt
Expand kafkaTopicsHealthCheckIndicator → details → configuration → topic → notification → internal
Verify that the input and output topics for email notifications are listed

Add a Send Message Task (Kafka) and Receive Message Task (Kafka)

In your process definition:

Open the process definition in your project in FlowX Designer
Add a Send Message Task (Kafka) after the document generation step
Add a Receive Message Task (Kafka) after the Send Message Task

Configure the email request payload (Send Message Task)

On the Send Message Task, add a Kafka send action, add the corresponding Kafka topic and create the JSON payload containing all information needed for the email:

{
  "templateName": "accountDetails",
  "receivers": ["something@email.com"],
  "language": "en",
  "data": {
    "firstInput": "${application.client.firstName}",
    "secondInput": "${application.client.lastName}"
  },
  "attachments": [
    {
      "path": "${generatedDocuments.generatedFiles.ClientsFolder.AccountCreation.minioPath}",
      "filename": "${generatedDocuments.generatedFiles.ClientsFolder.AccountCreation.documentType}.pdf"
    }
  ]
}

Key parameters:

templateName: The name of your configured email template
language: The language code matching your template’s language version
receivers: Array of email addresses (can use process data variables)
ccReceivers: Array of email addresses to be added as CC (can use process data variables)
bccReceivers: Array of email addresses to be added as BCC (can use process data variables)
data: Values to replace template placeholders (the older contentParams key is still accepted but deprecated)
attachments: Array of files to attach, with filename and minioPath/storage path

Configure the email success handler (Receive Message Task)

On the Receive Message Task, add a Kafka receive action, add the corresponding Kafka topic and configure the node with the following properties:

Go to Node config tab
Under Data stream topics select Custom
Add the topic name
Click Save

Run the process

Run the process and check the result in the process instance details:

Process instance details showing email success

Request payload reference

Required fields

Field	Description	Example
templateName	The unique identifier of your email template	”accountDetails”
channel	The delivery channel (use “MAIL” for email)	“MAIL”
language	Language code (must match a template language)	“en”
receivers	List of email addresses to receive the message	[“customer@example.com”]

Optional fields

Field	Description	Example
contentParams	Key-value pairs for template variable replacement	`{"firstName": "John"}`
attachments	List of files to attach to the email	See below

Attachment structure

Each attachment requires:

{
  "path": "${path.to.file.in.storage}",
  "filename": "desired_filename.extension"
}

path: References the storage location (usually a MinIO path from document generation)
filename: The name recipients will see for the attached file (can include process variables)

Testing and troubleshooting

After configuring your email notification:

Verify that variables resolve correctly in the template and attachment references
Check email delivery to test recipients
Review notification plugin logs if issues occur

Common issues

Problem	Solution
Email not received	Verify template name, receiver address, and SMTP configuration
Missing attachment	Check that the MinIO path is correct and the file exists
Template errors	Ensure all variables in template have corresponding values in contentParams
Variable resolution	Confirm process variables use the correct path (check in process instance view)

For further assistance, check the notification plugin logs in your environment.

Getting Started

Concepts

FlowX.AI Designer

Building projects

Building blocks

Platform deep dive

Resources

API reference

Sending an email

Overview

Prerequisites

Implementing email notifications with attachments

Document Generation

Understanding document references

Step-by-step implementation

Request payload reference

Required fields

Optional fields

Attachment structure

Testing and troubleshooting

Common issues

​Overview

​Prerequisites

​Implementing email notifications with attachments

Document Generation

​Understanding document references

​Step-by-step implementation

​Request payload reference

​Required fields

​Optional fields

​Attachment structure

​Testing and troubleshooting

​Common issues

Overview

Prerequisites

Implementing email notifications with attachments

Understanding document references

Step-by-step implementation

Request payload reference

Required fields

Optional fields

Attachment structure

Testing and troubleshooting

Common issues