/messages/new), by selecting a draft from the conversation list, or by hitting Reply on an existing thread (route /messages/<id>/reply). It is the single form behind new sends, drafts, and replies.
Some flows open the composer pre-filled. The Promote button on an event 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.
Overview
- Address a single contact, a hand-picked group, or a filtered audience segment.
- Choose a channel: email (the default for new sends), SMS, or WhatsApp for replies within those threads.
- Write email in a block editor with a subject, apply a custom template, and attach files.
- Draft a reply with Generate with AI, grounded in the conversation and your club’s data.
- Save a draft to finish later, or send immediately.
Pick recipients
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.
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 manual message is composed and sent as email. The channel of a reply follows the conversation it belongs to: reply inside an SMS thread and the reply goes out as SMS; 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. Sent through Twilio; paid-plan only.
- WhatsApp is also plain text and requires a connected WhatsApp Business number plus a paid plan.
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 typemessage (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 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 callsPOST /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: <original subject>). 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
replyToMessageIdset so the message threads under the original, with the subject pre-filled asRe: <original subject>.
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.
Worked examples
Racket sports - waitlist opened. A tennis club opens extra Saturday courts. Compose an email to themember 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
Related
- Inbox - The messaging hub, channels, and the message model.
- Message list - Where drafts, sent messages, and replies live afterward.
- Templates - Templates the picker reads from, plus the variable reference.
- Contacts - Tag and segment the contacts you message.
- Automations - Trigger-based and scheduled sends, instead of one-off compose.