> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.1club.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Compose > Send email, SMS, or WhatsApp to one contact, a list, or everyone matching a contact-type and tag filter. Block editor, templates, variables, file attachments, AI-drafted replies, and drafts. The composer is the single form behind every one-off message you write: new sends, drafts, and replies. You address one contact, a hand-picked group, or everyone matching a contact-type and tag filter. Owners and managers use it to send updates to a segment of members, and front desk staff and instructors use it to message and reply to individual members. ## When to use it Use the composer when a message is a one-off: an announcement, a personal follow-up, or an answer to a member's question. The **Recipients** count shows how many contacts you are about to reach before you send, templates save you rewriting repeatable emails, and **Generate with AI** drafts a reply from the conversation and your gym's data. For messages that should go out on a trigger or a schedule, use an [automation](/marketing/automations) instead. Typical uses: * **Tell a group about something new** - a tennis gym opens extra Saturday courts and emails every member tagged "Weekend player", starting from a template and attaching the updated court grid. * **Answer a member's question** - a boxing coach replies to a WhatsApp question about sparring gear, starting from an AI draft, and the reply goes back over WhatsApp. * **Welcome a new lead** - a climbing gym opens the composer from a lead's profile and sends just that person a welcome email. * **Win back lapsed members** - a yoga studio drafts a return offer to its lapsed contacts and saves it as a draft for a second look before sending. See [Worked examples](#worked-examples) for more detail on each. ## Pick recipients The composer lives inside the Inbox. Open it by clicking **Compose** in the Inbox header (route `/messages/new`), by selecting a draft from the conversation list, or by hitting **Reply** on an existing thread (route `/messages//reply`). Some flows open the composer pre-filled. The **Promote** button on an [event](/events/events) arrives with the cover image, title, when-and-where line, and a "view event" button already in the body, addressed to all members. Pick or adjust the audience and send. Above the editor, a **Recipients** header shows a running count of how many contacts the current selection resolves to. You build that audience two ways, which stack: * **Contact type** - One or more of `member`, `lead`, `staff`, `contact`, `lapsed`, `drop_in`. Leave it empty for no type filter. * **Filter by tag** - Any contact tags you have defined, picked from the tag input. Below the filters, the **Select Contacts** picker lists matching contacts. Pick individuals to send to exactly those people, or leave the picker empty to send to *every* contact the filter resolves at send time. A message is capped at 5,000 recipients. When you arrive from a contact's profile, the URL carries `contactId` (one recipient), `contactIds` (a comma-separated list), or `contactType` (pre-select a type filter), and the composer pre-fills the audience from those. Instructor-only accounts compose to members at their club: the audience filters and template picker are hidden, and they select from their club's contacts only. Staff limited to the `.own` compose scope can message specific contacts they pick, but cannot target an audience segment. ## Channels A new message starts as **email**. Switch to **SMS** once your gym has set up an [SMS sender](/settings/sms), or to **WhatsApp** once a WhatsApp number is connected; a channel that isn't ready isn't offered. The channel of a reply follows the conversation it belongs to: reply inside a WhatsApp thread and it goes out over WhatsApp. Each channel changes the editor and the payload. * **Email** uses a block editor: paragraphs, headings, lists, images, embeds, code, and quotes. A **subject** field is required, and the body is stored as block JSON, not HTML. Email supports templates and file attachments. * **SMS** uses a plain text area. No subject, no formatting, no attachments. A counter under the text shows how many SMS the message takes. It leaves from your gym's own sender name or toll-free number, and members in a country without a ready sender are skipped. Paid-plan only; see [SMS](/settings/sms). * **WhatsApp** is also plain text and requires a connected WhatsApp Business number plus a paid plan. Switching to a plain-text channel (SMS or WhatsApp) clears any applied template, since templates are an email construct. ## The email editor and attachments The email body is a block editor. Write directly, or apply a template and edit it in place. You can attach files to an email with **Attach files**. The limits: up to **5 files**, **10 MB** per file, and **25 MB** total. Attachments are not stored on our side; they ride along with the send, get encoded into the email, and are dropped. Because of that, **drafts cannot keep attachments** - saving a draft warns you and drops the files, so re-attach them when you reopen the draft to send. SMS and WhatsApp ignore attachments entirely. ## Templates If you have access to custom templates (admin and manager roles), a template picker sits beside the subject on email composes. It lists templates of type `message` (your "Marketing & Updates" templates). Selecting one populates the subject and body in place; edit either afterward without changing the original template. Templates carry `{{variable}}` placeholders. For message templates the available variables are `organizationName`, `organizationEmail`, `organizationPhone`, `contactName`, `contactFirstName`, `contactEmail`, `subject`, `senderName`, and `messageDate`. Legacy HTML templates predating the block editor are accepted, rendered, and converted to blocks on the next save. These manual message templates are distinct from the system (transactional) templates that drive receipts and event emails. See [Templates](/settings/templates) for the full variable reference and the picker. ## Generate with AI When you open the composer through **Reply**, a **Generate with AI** button appears above the editor. It calls `POST /v1/ai-messages/{messageId}/suggest`, which uses LangChain with pgvector retrieval to draft a response grounded in your organization and club details, the member's recent bookings and memberships, relevant FAQ/policy content, and the thread so far. The suggestion replaces the body with paragraph blocks and, for email, sets the subject (defaulting to `Re: `). Edit anything before sending. The action is only enabled on replies, because it grounds the response in the original message, and it requires the AI assistant to be enabled for your organization. ## Send, save draft, or reply The action row at the bottom of the form changes with the mode: * **Send Message** posts the message immediately (`POST /v1/messages`). Success shows a toast and navigates to the new conversation; errors surface inline. A successful send invalidates the Inbox list and the billing quota. * **Save Draft** posts the same payload with `isDraft: true`. Drafts show in the Inbox with a draft chip and reopen into the composer. (Drafts drop any attachments, as noted above.) * **Reply to Message** sends with `replyToMessageId` set so the message threads under the original, with the subject pre-filled as `Re: `. There is no scheduler in the composer. To schedule a future send, use an [automation](/marketing/automations) with a delay, or save a draft and send it manually when ready. ## Validation The form blocks a send until: * The subject is non-empty (email only). * The body has at least one block (email) or non-whitespace text (SMS and WhatsApp). * A reply resolves to at least one recipient. Field errors display under the relevant input, and both **Send Message** and **Save Draft** are disabled while a request is in flight. ## Worked examples **Racket sports - waitlist opened.** A tennis club opens extra Saturday courts. Compose an email to the `member` type filtered by the "Weekend player" tag, apply the "Court availability" template, adjust the times, attach the updated grid, and send. The counter confirms the audience size before you commit. **Martial arts - single-student reply.** A boxing coach gets an inbound WhatsApp question about sparring gear. Open the thread, tap **Generate with AI** for a grounded first draft, edit it, and hit **Reply to Message** - the reply goes out over WhatsApp automatically. **Climbing - lead onboarding.** A climbing gym arrives at the composer from a `lead` contact's profile (`contactId` pre-filled), writes a welcome email with a trial-pass button block, and sends to just that person. **Pilates/Yoga - filtered win-back with a draft.** A yoga studio filters to `lapsed` contacts, drafts a return offer, and saves it as a draft to get a second set of eyes before sending. Because it targets a segment, this needs organization-level compose access. ## Tips & best practices * Watch the **Recipients** count before sending a filtered blast; it is your last check that the audience is who you expect. * Keep attachments under the total 25 MB cap and remember drafts drop them - attach right before you send, not when you draft. * Apply a template for repeatable sends, then personalize the opening line so it does not read as a template. * Use **Generate with AI** to clear a reply backlog fast, but always read the draft before sending; it grounds on your data but can still miss nuance. ## Troubleshooting | Symptom | Cause | Fix | | - | - | - | | **Send Message** stays disabled | Missing subject (email), empty body, or a request already in flight | Fill the subject and body; wait for the current request to finish | | Attachments disappear after saving a draft | Drafts do not persist files; only sends carry them | Re-attach files when you reopen the draft to send | | **Generate with AI** button is missing | You are on a new compose, not a reply | The AI draft is reply-only; it needs an original message to ground on | | AI generation errors out | The AI assistant is not enabled for the organization | Enable the AI assistant, or write the reply manually | | Template picker is not shown | You are replying, on SMS/WhatsApp, or on an instructor (club-scoped) inbox | Templates apply to new email composes with template access | | SMS or WhatsApp isn't offered, or the send is blocked | Paid-plan channel, no approved SMS sender, or (WhatsApp) no connected number | Upgrade the plan, set up a sender under [SMS](/settings/sms), or connect a WhatsApp number | | "All recipients are unsubscribed or suppressed" | Every selected contact opted out or is suppressed | Adjust the recipient list and resend | ## Related * [Inbox overview](/inbox/overview) - Channels, the message model, and AI replies. * [Conversation list](/inbox/messages) - Where drafts, sent messages, and replies live afterward. * [Templates](/settings/templates) - Templates the picker reads from, plus the variable reference. * [Contacts](/members/overview) - Tag and segment the contacts you message. * [Automations](/marketing/automations) - Trigger-based and scheduled sends, instead of one-off compose. 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