create-newsletter

name

create-newsletter

description

Draft, revise, and render email newsletters in Markdown using emailmd. Use when a user asks to create a newsletter, email campaign, announcement email, internal update email, product/news roundup, or any reusable HTML email where the final deliverables should include both the Markdown source and the rendered HTML. Before rendering, verify the `emailmd` package is available; if not, install it with `npm install emailmd`.

Create Newsletter

Create polished newsletter emails as emailmd Markdown, then render them to HTML and plain text.

Workflow

1. Confirm the audience, tone, and goal from the user request or surrounding context.
2. Draft the newsletter as Markdown with YAML frontmatter for metadata such as subject, preheader, theme colors, and other snake_case theme keys.
3. Prefer emailmd features that improve email usability:
   • CTA buttons with {button}, {button.secondary}, semantic variants, and fallback
   • frontmatter theme customization
   • clear section hierarchy with short paragraphs and scannable lists
4. Save the source as a Markdown file. Use newsletter.md by default unless the user wants another name.
5. Render the Markdown to HTML and plain text. Use scripts/render_newsletter.mjs.
6. Final output must include both:
   • the Markdown source file
   • the rendered HTML file

Package Check

Before rendering, ensure emailmd is available in the working directory.

• Use the bundled render script, which checks for emailmd and runs npm install emailmd automatically if needed.
• If you are diagnosing render issues or working manually, read references/emailmd-llms-full.txt.

Newsletter Structure

Use this structure unless the user asks for something else:

• frontmatter with subject and preheader
• strong opening headline
• short intro paragraph
• 2 to 5 content sections with clear subheads
• one or more CTA buttons
• concise footer

Prefer content that reads well in email clients:

• short paragraphs
• short bullets
• one primary CTA per major message
• links with clear labels

Rendering

Run:

node ~/.codex/skills/create-newsletter/scripts/render_newsletter.mjs newsletter.md

This writes:

• newsletter.html
• newsletter.txt

If you need explicit output paths:

node ~/.codex/skills/create-newsletter/scripts/render_newsletter.mjs newsletter.md --html out/newsletter.html --text out/newsletter.txt

Deliverables

In the final response:

• point to the Markdown source path
• point to the rendered HTML path
• mention the plain-text fallback path when created

Reference

For supported syntax and theme options, read:

• references/emailmd-llms-full.txt