Email reminders

PetHealth can email each user a short digest of what’s coming up. It works with any SMTP server: Gmail, Fastmail, your provider’s SMTP, or a relay such as Mailgun, Brevo or Amazon SES.

1. Configure SMTP on the server

Add these to your .env and restart the container:

SMTP_HOST=smtp.example.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_SECURE=false
SMTP_USER=[email protected]
SMTP_PASS=********
SMTP_FROM=PetHealth <[email protected]>
APP_URL=http://192.168.1.50:3000  # optional, adds an "Open PetHealth" button
NOTIFY_HOUR=8                      # optional
TZ=America/New_York                # the hour above is in this time zone

On startup the log says either Recordatorios por correo: cada día desde las 8:00 (email on) or Recordatorios por correo: desactivados (sin SMTP_HOST) (email off).

Gmail

1. Turn on 2-Step Verification on the Google account.
2. Create an app password.
3. Use:

SMTP_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
SMTP_PORT=465
SMTP_SECURE=true
SMTP_USER=[email protected]
SMTP_PASS=the-16-character-app-password
SMTP_FROM=PetHealth <[email protected]>

2. Turn it on for your user

In My account → Email reminders:

1. Enter your email address.
2. Tick Send me reminders by email.
3. Click Save, then Send test email to check that it arrives.

Each user chooses their own address. The email is written in the user’s language (English or Spanish), and it includes reminders for the pets shared with them as well as their own.

When emails are sent

• The server checks every hour. From NOTIFY_HOUR onwards, each user is processed once per day.
• An email goes out only on days when at least one item hits a trigger:
  • due in 7 days,
  • due tomorrow,
  • due today, or
  • overdue by 3 days.
• On other days nothing is sent, so an overdue item doesn’t trigger an email every single day.

Items that count: the next vet visit (from the most recent checkup of each pet), vaccine boosters (latest dose of each vaccine) and parasite treatments (latest of each type).

What the email contains

• Overdue: everything that’s past due.
• Next 7 days: everything coming up in the next week.
• Ongoing treatments: active medications with their frequency and end date.
• An Open PetHealth button if APP_URL is set.

The subject reads like “PetHealth: 3 care items due”.

Troubleshooting

• “Send test email” says email isn’t configured: SMTP_HOST is empty or the container wasn’t restarted.
• “Could not send the email”: check the container logs (docker logs pethealth) for the SMTP error, usually wrong credentials, wrong port/SMTP_SECURE combination, or the provider blocking the sender address.
• Emails arrive at the wrong hour: set TZ on the container; NOTIFY_HOUR uses it.
• Nothing arrives on a normal day: that’s expected. Emails are only sent on trigger days (see above). Use Send test email to see today’s digest anyway.