Sending emails directly from your Next.js app? Yes, you heard that right! In this post, I’ll explain how I used Next.js and Nodemailer to send personalized score reports for my Circle Clicker Game. The twist? The emails are so polished that they’ll have your players coming back for more!
Oh, and the best part? The entire project is hosted for free on Vercel!
Ready to dive in? Let’s go!
Imagine this: A fast-paced browser game where players click circles for points while racing against the clock. Once the game ends, the scores are saved and showcased in a sleek leaderboard. But I didn’t stop there. I wanted players to receive their scores directly in their inboxes — complete with a polished HTML email showcasing their performance.
Here’s a glimpse of what we’re building:
▪️Front-end: A game UI built with Next.js, Material UI, and Framer Motion.
▪️Back-end: A Next.js App Router API that uses Nodemailer to send email reports.
▪️Hosting: Deployed on Vercel with its free Hobby plan.
For tasks like sending emails, Nodemailer is a no-brainer. It’s:
▪️Easy to set up with any SMTP provider (I used Gmail).
▪️Flexible for crafting stunning HTML emails.
▪️Reliable for production use.
With Nodemailer, I was able to generate an eye-catching HTML email complete with:
▪️Player name.
▪️Detailed score report.
▪️Dynamic star ratings are based on their performance.
Players can trigger the email directly from the game’s leaderboard using a Material UI dialog:
Explanation:
▪️This snippet makes a POST request to /api/sendEmail, sending the player’s email and scores as JSON.
▪️It uses await to ensure the request completes before proceeding.
The backend uses Nodemailer to send the emails. Here’s a key part of the implementation:
Explanation:
▪️This sets up the SMTP connection using Gmail.
▪️EMAIL_USER and EMAIL_PASS are stored in environment variables for security.
▪️Gmail requires an app password (not your regular password) for sending emails via Nodemailer.
Next, we define the email’s content:
Explanation:
▪️The email includes a heading and a dynamic table with rows generated from the scores array.
▪️scores.map() loops through the scores and generates a row for each player.
Finally, send the email:
Explanation:
▪️from: The sender’s email address.
▪️to: The recipient’s email (provided by the user).
▪️subject: The email subject line.
▪️html: The body content we created earlier.
▪️sendMail triggers the email to be sent to the specified recipient.
The emails include:
▪️Dynamic Score Tables: A detailed breakdown of player performance.
▪️Polished Design: Styled with inline HTML and CSS.
▪️Call to Action: Encourages players to replay the game.
Thanks to Vercel’s Hobby Plan, this entire app, including the Nodemailer integration, is hosted for free! Deployment was as simple as running:
And just like that, the app will be live at the link provided by Vercel.
▪️Next.js App Router simplifies backend and API development.
▪️Nodemailer makes it easy to craft and send professional emails.
▪️Vercel’s free hosting is perfect for deploying small apps with minimal effort.
Whether you’re building a game, a dashboard, or an app that needs email integration, this approach will take your project to the next level. Give it a try!
Building personalized email reports using Nodemailer and Next.js not only enhances the user experience but also adds a polished touch to your app’s communication. From designing engaging score reports to sending them seamlessly, this approach showcases the power of combining front-end interactivity with backend automation. Whether you’re making a game or a utility tool, this integration can make your project stand out. And the best part? You can do it all for free with Vercel.
If you’re planning to implement similar features, this setup offers a great starting point. With simple API routes, secure SMTP setup, and HTML email templates, you can deliver real-time, branded updates to your users. Nodemailer handles the heavy lifting while Next.js ties it all together. So go ahead—bring your app to life with smart, automated email experiences!
The team at Mindbowser was highly professional, patient, and collaborative throughout our engagement. They struck the right balance between offering guidance and taking direction, which made the development process smooth. Although our project wasn’t related to healthcare, we clearly benefited...
Founder, Texas Ranch Security
Mindbowser played a crucial role in helping us bring everything together into a unified, cohesive product. Their commitment to industry-standard coding practices made an enormous difference, allowing developers to seamlessly transition in and out of the project without any confusion....
CEO, MarketsAI
I'm thrilled to be partnering with Mindbowser on our journey with TravelRite. The collaboration has been exceptional, and I’m truly grateful for the dedication and expertise the team has brought to the development process. Their commitment to our mission is...
Founder & CEO, TravelRite
The Mindbowser team's professionalism consistently impressed me. Their commitment to quality shone through in every aspect of the project. They truly went the extra mile, ensuring they understood our needs perfectly and were always willing to invest the time to...
CTO, New Day Therapeutics
I collaborated with Mindbowser for several years on a complex SaaS platform project. They took over a partially completed project and successfully transformed it into a fully functional and robust platform. Throughout the entire process, the quality of their work...
President, E.B. Carlson
Mindbowser and team are professional, talented and very responsive. They got us through a challenging situation with our IOT product successfully. They will be our go to dev team going forward.
Founder, Cascada
Amazing team to work with. Very responsive and very skilled in both front and backend engineering. Looking forward to our next project together.
Co-Founder, Emerge
The team is great to work with. Very professional, on task, and efficient.
Founder, PeriopMD
I can not express enough how pleased we are with the whole team. From the first call and meeting, they took our vision and ran with it. Communication was easy and everyone was flexible to our schedule. I’m excited to...
Founder, Seeke
We had very close go live timeline and Mindbowser team got us live a month before.
CEO, BuyNow WorldWide
If you want a team of great developers, I recommend them for the next project.
Founder, Teach Reach
Mindbowser built both iOS and Android apps for Mindworks, that have stood the test of time. 5 years later they still function quite beautifully. Their team always met their objectives and I'm very happy with the end result. Thank you!
Founder, Mindworks
Mindbowser has delivered a much better quality product than our previous tech vendors. Our product is stable and passed Well Architected Framework Review from AWS.
CEO, PurpleAnt
I am happy to share that we got USD 10k in cloud credits courtesy of our friends at Mindbowser. Thank you Pravin and Ayush, this means a lot to us.
CTO, Shortlist
Mindbowser is one of the reasons that our app is successful. These guys have been a great team.
Founder & CEO, MangoMirror
Kudos for all your hard work and diligence on the Telehealth platform project. You made it possible.
CEO, ThriveHealth
Mindbowser helped us build an awesome iOS app to bring balance to people’s lives.
CEO, SMILINGMIND
They were a very responsive team! Extremely easy to communicate and work with!
Founder & CEO, TotTech
We’ve had very little-to-no hiccups at all—it’s been a really pleasurable experience.
Co-Founder, TEAM8s
Mindbowser was very helpful with explaining the development process and started quickly on the project.
Executive Director of Product Development, Innovation Lab
The greatest benefit we got from Mindbowser is the expertise. Their team has developed apps in all different industries with all types of social proofs.
Co-Founder, Vesica
Mindbowser is professional, efficient and thorough.
Consultant, XPRIZE
Very committed, they create beautiful apps and are very benevolent. They have brilliant Ideas.
Founder, S.T.A.R.S of Wellness
Mindbowser was great; they listened to us a lot and helped us hone in on the actual idea of the app. They had put together fantastic wireframes for us.
Co-Founder, Flat Earth
Ayush was responsive and paired me with the best team member possible, to complete my complex vision and project. Could not be happier.
Founder, Child Life On Call
The team from Mindbowser stayed on task, asked the right questions, and completed the required tasks in a timely fashion! Strong work team!
CEO, SDOH2Health LLC
Mindbowser was easy to work with and hit the ground running, immediately feeling like part of our team.
CEO, Stealth Startup
Mindbowser was an excellent partner in developing my fitness app. They were patient, attentive, & understood my business needs. The end product exceeded my expectations. Thrilled to share it globally.
Owner, Phalanx
Mindbowser's expertise in tech, process & mobile development made them our choice for our app. The team was dedicated to the process & delivered high-quality features on time. They also gave valuable industry advice. Highly recommend them for app development...
Co-Founder, Fox&Fork
