Knowledge > Processes > Email Sending Flows

Email Sending Flows

Three email systems serve distinct purposes, all managed from churchwiseai-web/:

1. Resend transactional — one-to-one system-triggered emails (magic links, welcome, payment failed, trial ending, etc.)
2. Resend lifecycle — onboarding drips, win-back, cross-promo sequences via lifecycle-emails.ts + daily cron
3. MailerLite subscriber CRM — newsletter management and audience segmentation (subscriber CRM only; lifecycle automation has moved to the Resend lifecycle system)

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System 1: Transactional Email (Resend)

All transactional emails are sent via the Resend API, implemented in churchwiseai-web/src/lib/email.ts. The Resend client is lazily instantiated using RESEND_API_KEY.

Sender Addresses

Property	From Address
ChurchWiseAI	ChurchWiseAI <hello@churchwiseai.com>
PewSearch	PewSearch <hello@pewsearch.com>
IllustrateTheWord	IllustrateTheWord <hello@illustratetheword.com>

Email Types and Triggers

1. WELCOME EMAIL (sendPremiumWelcomeEmail)
   TRIGGER: Onboarding completes OR Stripe webhook activates church
   TO: admin_email from premium_churches
   CONTAINS:
     - Magic link: /auth/magic?t={admin_token}
     - Dashboard access instructions
     - If includesVoice=true: phone setup notice
       ("ready within 2 business days")
     - Feature list (voice, chatbot, care, team)

2. PAYMENT FAILED (sendPaymentFailedEmail)
   TRIGGER: Stripe invoice.payment_failed webhook
   TO: admin_email
   CONTAINS:
     - Warning about service suspension
     - Link to Stripe billing portal (portalUrl)
     - Support contact

3. TRIAL ENDING (sendTrialEndingEmail)
   TRIGGER: Scheduled job (3 days before trial_end)
   TO: admin_email
   CONTAINS:
     - List of features they'll lose
     - "No action needed if payment method on file"
     - Dashboard link via magic link

4. UPGRADE NOTIFICATION (sendUpgradeNotificationEmail)
   TRIGGER: Team member initiates plan change
   TO: admin_email
   CONTAINS:
     - Who initiated (name + email)
     - New plan label (e.g., "AI Chatbot Pro ($34.95/mo)")

5. COMMUNITY SUBMISSION (sendCommunitySubmissionEmail)
   TRIGGER: Church submits to community marketplace
   TO: founder notification address
   CONTAINS: Submission details for review

6. STARTER KIT DELIVERY (sendStarterKitDeliveryEmail)
   TRIGGER: AI Starter Kit purchase ($4.95 one-time)
   TO: purchaser email
   CONTAINS: Kit download/access links

7. VOICE SETUP ALERT (sendVoiceSetupAlertEmail)
   TRIGGER: Voice plan activated, phone number needed
   TO: founder/ops email
   CONTAINS: Church name, plan, setup instructions

8. PHONE READY (sendPhoneReadyEmail)
   TRIGGER: Agent manually triggers after Twilio setup
   TO: admin_email
   CONTAINS: Dedicated phone number, forwarding instructions

9. TEAM INVITE (sendTeamInviteEmail)
   TRIGGER: Admin adds team member
   TO: new team member email
   CONTAINS:
     - Role label (e.g., "Prayer Team")
     - Direct dashboard link with access_token
     - What tabs they can access (from ROLE_TABS)

Voice Agent Notifications (Python — core/notifications.py)

The voice agent sends real-time alerts for safety events and contact captures. These use Resend API directly from Python (not through the Node.js email.ts).

THREAT ALERTS:
   send_threat_alert_email → church notification_email
   send_threat_alert_sms → church notification_phone (Twilio)
   send_threat_alert_to_support → ChurchWiseAI support team
   TRIGGERED BY: check_threat() in moderation.py

CRISIS ALERTS:
   send_crisis_alert_email → church notification_email
   send_crisis_alert_sms → church notification_phone
   send_crisis_alert_to_support → ChurchWiseAI support team
   TRIGGERED BY: check_crisis() in moderation.py

PRAYER/VISITOR/CALLBACK:
   Notification emails sent when tools capture contact info
   TO: church notification_email
   CONTAINS: caller phone, request details, dashboard link

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System 2: Marketing Email (MailerLite)

MailerLite handles newsletter subscriptions, subscriber CRM, and cross-property subscriber sync. MailerLite is not used for subscriber lifecycle automation (that moved to the Resend lifecycle system). Implemented in churchwiseai-web/src/lib/mailerlite.ts.

Architecture

ALL PROPERTIES (ITW, PewSearch, CWA)
         |
         | POST /api/mailerlite/subscribe  (CWA proxy)
         | POST /api/newsletter            (CWA direct)
         v
   syncSubscriber(opts)
     |
     v
   MailerLite REST API
     POST /subscribers  (upsert by email)
     body: { email, fields: {name}, groups: [...], status: "active" }

KEY DESIGN DECISIONS:
   - All calls are fire-and-forget (non-blocking)
   - If MAILERLITE_API_KEY is not set, functions silently skip
   - MailerLite POST /subscribers is an idempotent upsert
   - Group membership controls which automations trigger

Subscriber Sync Triggers

1. ONBOARDING (api/onboard/route.ts)
   WHEN: Church completes onboarding form
   ACTION: syncSubscriber({
     email, name,
     groups: [ML_GROUPS.customers],
     fields: { church_name, plan }
   })

2. NEWSLETTER SIGNUP (api/newsletter/route.ts)
   WHEN: Visitor fills email capture form
   ACTION: syncSubscriber({
     email, name,
     groups: [ML_GROUPS.newsletter],
   })

3. CROSS-PROPERTY PROXY (api/mailerlite/subscribe/route.ts)
   WHEN: ITW or PewSearch newsletter form submits
   ACTION: syncSubscriber with property-specific group
   NOTE: ITW and PewSearch don't have their own MailerLite key;
         they POST to CWA's proxy endpoint

4. STRIPE WEBHOOK (api/stripe/webhook/route.ts)
   WHEN: Subscription created or cancelled
   ACTION: syncSubscriber with updated plan fields,
           add to customers group or move to churned group

Available Functions

syncSubscriber({ email, name?, groups?, fields?, status? })
   Add or update a subscriber (upsert by email)

removeFromGroup(subscriberId, groupId)
   Remove subscriber from a specific group

updateFields(email, fields)
   Update custom fields on existing subscriber

Proxy Pattern

ITW and PewSearch newsletter signups route through ChurchWiseAI's MailerLite proxy because there is ONE MailerLite account (churchwiseai@gmail.com) across all properties. The JWT key lives in churchwiseai-web/.env.local as MAILERLITE_API_KEY.

IllustrateTheWord signup form
   → POST https://churchwiseai.com/api/mailerlite/subscribe
   → body: { email, name, source: "itw" }
   → syncSubscriber with ITW-specific group

PewSearch signup form
   → POST https://churchwiseai.com/api/mailerlite/subscribe
   → body: { email, name, source: "pewsearch" }
   → syncSubscriber with PewSearch-specific group