Email Service Integration

Guide to configuring SMTP email services for notifications, appointment reminders, and user invites.

Overview

Email integration is critical for:

• User account activation & password resets
• Appointment confirmations & reminders
• Billing notifications & receipts
• Secure messaging notifications

Configuration

Ciyex EHR uses standard Spring Boot Mail configuration, compatible with any SMTP provider (SendGrid, AWS SES, Mailgun, Gmail, etc.).

Application Properties

Add these settings to your application.yml or environment variables:

spring:
  mail:
    host: smtp.example.com
    port: 587
    username: ${SMTP_USERNAME}
    password: ${SMTP_PASSWORD}
    properties:
      mail:
        smtp:
          auth: true
          starttls:
            enable: true

AWS SES Example

To use Amazon SES:

1. Verify your domain in SES.
2. Create SMTP credentials in IAM.
3. Configure:
   • Host: email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
   • Port: 587
   • Username/Password: (From IAM)

Templates

Emails are generated using Thymeleaf templates located in src/main/resources/templates/email/.

Example Template (appointment-reminder.html)

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns:th="http://www.thymeleaf.org">
<body>
    <h3>Appointment Reminder</h3>
    <p>Dear <span th:text="${patientName}">Patient</span>,</p>
    <p>You have an upcoming appointment with <span th:text="${providerName}">Dr. Smith</span>.</p>
    <p><strong>Date:</strong> <span th:text="${appointmentDate}">Jan 1, 2024</span></p>
    <p><strong>Time:</strong> <span th:text="${appointmentTime}">10:00 AM</span></p>
    <p>Please arrive 15 minutes early.</p>
</body>
</html>

Testing

Local Development

For local testing without sending real emails, usage of MailHog or GreenMail is recommended.

Using MailHog with Docker

services:
  mailhog:
    image: mailhog/mailhog
    ports:
      - "1025:1025" # SMTP port
      - "8025:8025" # Web UI

Configure backend to point to localhost:1025.

Best Practices

• Asynchronous Sending: The email service runs asynchronously to prevent blocking API responses.
• Retry Logic: Failed emails are retried up to 3 times (configured via @Retryable).
• SPF/DKIM: Ensure your domain DNS is configured with SPF and DKIM records to prevent emails going to spam.