Crafting.email Mautic Theme Library | 15 free, open-source MJML email themes

Overview

The Crafting.email Mautic Theme Library is a free, open-source collection of 15 ready-to-use email themes built specifically for Mautic and its GrapeJS/MJML workflow. Launched in February 2024 with Runner and expanded through May 2025, it addresses a practical adoption barrier: marketers can understand Mautic’s automation power yet still lack polished, modern email starting points they can install and adapt without designing from scratch.

The collection covers promotional, newsletter, event, survey, ecommerce and transactional use cases, including abandoned cart, delivery, appointment, loyalty and welcome communications. Every theme includes editable MJML/Twig source, Mautic configuration and wrappers, packaged assets and a visual preview. All themes are publicly available on GitHub under the MIT licence for personal and commercial use.

The project’s goal is larger than providing attractive layouts. It lowers time-to-value for marketers, offers developers reusable reference code and turns community feedback into practical resources. The library has grown into a recognisable community resource, supported by public documentation, six forks and a companion installer independently developed by another Mautic contributor. Five of its designs are also featured, with Crafting.email attribution, in MJML’s official template gallery.

Background and context

Crafting.email is a Portugal-based practice specialising in email design, development and marketing automation, with a strong focus on Mautic. The library serves Mautic marketers, small organisations, agencies, implementers and developers worldwide - especially people who need professional email foundations but cannot justify designing and coding every message from zero.

The project began when Ricardo Freire converted portfolio concepts into native Mautic themes and released the first four to the community in March 2024. The opportunity was clear: Mautic offered powerful automation, but modern MJML themes compatible with its current builder were comparatively scarce. Community replies called out a “distinct lack” of MJML templates and described the contribution as “very much needed”. A non-technical user explained that viable themes were essential for Mautic to remain a practical option while they learned the platform.

That need was later formalised by Mautic itself. A September 2024 product discussion stated that builder changes had left new users with a limited theme selection, described the platform as developer-centric and identified ready-to-use themes as important to competitiveness and adoption. Crafting.email had already begun addressing that gap six months earlier with a growing, independent, free library.

Implementation

Each theme starts with a specific communication problem rather than a generic layout: recovering a cart, confirming a delivery, requesting feedback, welcoming a subscriber, promoting an event or presenting editorial content. This purpose-led approach produced 15 visually distinct themes rather than simple colour variations.

Every theme is hand-coded in MJML and packaged using Mautic’s native theme structure. The repositories include config.json with the email feature and GrapeJS Builder declared, editable email.mjml.twig and Mautic-compatible email.html.twig templates, base and message wrappers, local assets, a thumbnail, README and licence. Mautic’s asset helper is used for packaged imagery, while Mautic tokens support web-view, personalisation and unsubscribe behaviour where appropriate. MJML provides responsive table-based output and email-client fallbacks; extensive use of live text keeps copy, links, colours and calls to action editable.

The workflow combines visual design, MJML development, Mautic installation and builder checks, previews and tests in major email clients. Each theme has its own public repository so users can inspect, fork and adapt the source. Crafting.email also created a visual catalogue and a step-by-step installation guide.

Implementation evolved in response to real friction. Manual GitHub ZIPs contain a parent folder that users may need to repackage before uploading to Mautic. Lenon Leite, another Mautic contributor, responded by creating the free Crafting.email Bundle, which discovers the theme repositories and installs the collection into Mautic in one activation.

Community input also became part of the delivery process. In September 2024, Crafting.email publicly asked which themes users needed. When a member requested broader ecommerce coverage, Lost Cart was created and shared back in the same discussion fifteen days later. Later releases continued to incorporate submitted ideas.

Impact and results

As of 4 September 2026, the library contains 15 themes and 60 public commits. Across the 15 repositories it has received 25 GitHub stars and 6 forks from 3 external accounts, with 0 open issues. Runner, the original theme, remains the most-starred with 6 stars and 2 forks.

Five related Mautic Forum discussions have generated 1,945 views and 27 likes in aggregate. The qualitative feedback is equally important: community members described the themes as filling a clear MJML shortage, praised their quality, and explained that ready-to-use themes reduce the barrier for non-coders. Feedback did not remain anecdotal; it directly shaped releases such as Lost Cart.

The strongest signs of ecosystem value come from outside Crafting.email. Another contributor built infrastructure around the collection: the open-source Crafting.email Bundle automatically installs the themes and has received 2 GitHub stars with no open issues. The library has also been referenced independently by WebAnyOne, a French Mautic specialist, as a source of free themes.

Recognition extends beyond the Mautic ecosystem. Five Crafting.email designs: Appointment Alert, Food Delivery, Loyalty Client, Street Expo and Tech Geek - were accepted into and are publicly featured in the official MJML template gallery, with Crafting.email named as their creator. Their MJML sources are maintained in the official mjmlio/email-templates repository. This is independent recognition by the project behind the responsive-email framework on which the library is built and introduces the work to email developers outside Mautic.

Usage is intentionally frictionless and requires no registration. Because users download source archives or install through open-source tooling, total installations, end-campaign conversions and ROI are not observable centrally. The project therefore reports verifiable public reach and reuse metrics rather than inventing campaign-performance figures it cannot responsibly attribute.

Lessons learned

The first lesson was that a theme library must be organised around real jobs, not visual variety alone. Transactional messages, promotions, surveys and newsletters require different hierarchies and content patterns. Community suggestions helped prioritise those use cases and showed the value of releasing incrementally.

The second lesson was that distribution is part of usability. A good theme is not useful if installation is confusing. The installation guide solved the immediate packaging problem, while the independently developed Bundle demonstrated the value of one-step installation and dynamic discovery.

The third lesson was to test beyond the builder canvas. Mautic’s GrapeJS preview can differ from final rendering, particularly around fonts and spacing, so previewing and testing real sends across email clients is essential.

Finally, responsive code is only one part of inclusive email. The collection uses live text and adaptable MJML structures, but a systematic accessibility pass is still needed to standardise alternative text, decorative-image treatment, colour-contrast validation and compliance footers. This is now a defined improvement programme rather than an unsupported claim of full WCAG compliance.

Future plans

The next phase will strengthen the library as maintained community infrastructure:

1. Complete a collection-wide accessibility review covering image alternatives, decorative semantics, contrast, link clarity, reading order and footer requirements.

2. Provide versioned, install-ready ZIP releases so every theme can be uploaded without repackaging, while modernising the one-click installer for current Mautic versions.

3. Build cohesive lifecycle packs requested by the community, beginning with a visually consistent ecommerce journey spanning welcome, promotion, cart recovery, order, shipping and follow-up.

4. Add clearer design tokens and documentation so organisations can rebrand a theme consistently and developers can use the code as a reference.

5. Continue the public suggestion loop and release additional themes for underserved industries and lifecycle moments.

Community contributions

The principal contribution is 15 free, inspectable and reusable Mautic theme repositories under an open licence. Together they provide finished designs and practical MJML/Twig examples that developers can study, fork and adapt. The work is distributed publicly, includes installation documentation and accepts feedback and bug reports without requiring a commercial relationship.

The library also created a two-way contribution loop. Early community feedback informed refinements; public requests led to new use cases; the repositories have been forked six times; and Lenon Leite contributed an independent Mautic plugin that automates installation of the collection. Five themes were additionally contributed to and accepted by the official MJML template library. This extended the project beyond one creator and one ecosystem, demonstrating how open assets can generate complementary tools and reusable community resources.

The themes have not been presented as Mautic Core work. Their value comes from expanding the wider ecosystem: more starting points for marketers, more reference implementations for developers and a lower practical barrier for people adopting an open-source marketing platform.

Supporting materials

- Library and live previews: https://crafting.email/templates/

- GitHub repositories: https://github.com/ricfreire?tab=repositories&q=mautic-theme&type=source

- Representative Runner repository: https://github.com/ricfreire/mautic-theme-runner

- Initial community release: https://forum.mautic.org/t/introducing-free-mjml-email-templates-for-the-mautic-community/31291

- Community feedback and suggestions: https://forum.mautic.org/t/you-suggest-i-create-the-email-theme-free-of-charge/33448

- Later community-led releases: https://forum.mautic.org/t/new-free-email-templates-inspired-by-you/35619

- Installation guide: https://crafting.email/how-to-easily-add-crafting-email-themes-to-mautic/

- Companion Crafting.email Bundle: https://github.com/lenonleite/mautic-crafting-email-bundle

- Official MJML template gallery: https://mjml.io/templates

- Official MJML template repository: https://github.com/mjmlio/email-templates

- Independent reference: https://www.webanyone.net/theme-email-mautic/

Inclusion as a Case Study

Yes. We are happy for this submission to be included as a case study on mautic.org and in the Mautic Pitch Deck.

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