Gap: Email & SMS Template Management

Status: 🔴 Not Started Priority: Important (Pre-Scale) Estimated Effort: 2-3 days

What's Missing

Complete email and SMS system documentation including:

• Template Management

  • How templates are stored (files vs. database)
  • Template versioning
  • Organization-specific templates
  • Multi-language support
  • Preview/testing mechanism

• Template Engine

  • Which templating engine (Go templates, Handlebars, etc.)
  • Variable interpolation syntax
  • Conditional logic
  • Loops and helpers
  • HTML vs. plain text emails

• Available Templates

  • Welcome email
  • Appointment confirmation
  • Appointment reminder
  • Password reset
  • Form completion request
  • Marketing emails (if any)

• Variable Catalog

  • Available variables per template type
  • Patient variables (name, email, etc.)
  • Appointment variables (time, specialist, etc.)
  • Organization variables (name, logo, etc.)

• Email Service Integration

  • Which service (SendGrid, AWS SES, Postmark, etc.)
  • Authentication and configuration
  • Error handling and retries
  • Bounce and complaint handling
  • Unsubscribe mechanism

• SMS Service Integration

  • Which service (Twilio, AWS SNS, etc.)
  • Phone number validation
  • International SMS support
  • Character limits and encoding
  • Opt-out handling

Why Important

1. Automations Feature - References sending emails/SMS but no templates
2. User Communication - Critical for user engagement
3. Compliance - GDPR requires unsubscribe mechanism
4. Branding - Templates represent organization's brand

Current State

• Automations feature references send_email and send_sms actions
• No template system documented
• No email/SMS service specified
• No variable catalog

Recommended Location

docs/features/communications/ directory with:

• README.md - Communications overview
• email-templates.md - Email template system
• sms-templates.md - SMS template system
• variables.md - Available variables
• integrations.md - Email/SMS service integration

Success Criteria

• [ ] Template storage strategy decided
• [ ] Template engine selected
• [ ] Available templates documented
• [ ] Variable catalog created
• [ ] Email service integration documented
• [ ] SMS service integration documented
• [ ] Unsubscribe mechanism implemented