Add a drag and drop email builder to your React app (full tutorial)
Your users want to design their own emails. You don't want to spend months building an editor. In this post we add a complete drag and drop email builder to a fresh Vite + React app, step by step. It's the written version of a 9 minute video where every step is filmed for real. 🎥 Watch the video: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7519114078284562432 What you need: a React app…
Adding a drag and drop email builder to your React app can be accomplished in just a few steps. This tutorial demonstrates how to implement a complete drag and drop email builder in a fresh Vite + React app, similar to a short video that walks through each step.
To begin, you'll need a React app (using Vite in this example) and Node.js version 18 or newer. Start by creating an account and obtaining a token on MailKaro.com. Sign up using a passwordless method that requires a one-time code sent to your email, and ensure only one device can be signed in at a time. After creating a token, you'll receive two keys: a publishable key for your frontend and a secret key for your server-side code.
Next, install the `react-email-craft` package and add your publishable key to a `.env.local` file. Render the editor by importing `EmailEditor` from `react-email-craft` and setting the publishable key in the `token` prop. The editor will occupy the entire page, with blocks and settings on the right side.
To save and reopen a design, add a ref and two buttons for saving and opening the email. Use `exportHtml` to get the design and HTML, and store the design in local storage for later use.
Merge tags can be added to the editor by specifying a label, value, and sample for each tag. In a text block, users can insert a merge tag, which appears as a labeled pill indicating where each field should go.
Finally, render email-safe HTML on your server using the `email-craft-sdk` and `express`. Install these packages and set up an Express app to handle email rendering. Use the `renderDesign` and `renderMjml` functions to generate HTML from the saved design, ensuring it's safe for email delivery.
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