# [Foundation for Emails](https://get.foundation/emails)
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Foundation for Emails (previously known as Ink) is a framework for creating responsive HTML emails that work in any email client — even Outlook. Our HTML/CSS components have been tested across every major email client to ensure consistency. And with the [Inky](https://github.com/foundation/inky) templating language, writing HTML emails is now even easier.
## Getting Started
The main way to get started is with our [email template stack](https://github.com/foundation/foundation-emails-template). To use the stack, you'll need [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/en/) no greater than version 10 installed on your machine.
`nvm` installation instructions can be found [here](https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm#install--update-script)
To set up the emails template, run these commands:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/foundation/foundation-emails-template project
cd project
nvm install 10
nvm use 10
npm install
```
Then run `npm start` to run the project. A new browser window will open with a BrowserSync server showing the finished files.
Run `npm run build` to do a full email inlining process.
#### Using the Ruby gem
**foundation_emails** is a gem that enables you to use Foundation for Emails assets within a Rails project. To install in your app:
1. Add the following line to your Gemfile:
```ruby
gem 'foundation_emails'
```
2. Then execute:
```bash
bundle install
```
3. Import Foundation for Emails in your emails' stylesheet(s):
```scss
// app/assets/stylesheets/your_emails_stylesheet.scss
@import "foundation-emails";
```
Adding Inky's templating capabilities to Rails is easy thanks to the [**inky-rb**](https://github.com/foundation/inky-rb) gem, which bundles `foundation_emails` by default.
## Documentation
**Check out our [Migration Guide](https://github.com/foundation/foundation-emails/blob/master/migration.md) for upgrading an existing template or for more in-depth code examples.**
Foundation for Emails 2.0 documentation and framework are on the `develop` branch and you can compile it on your own machine.
Run these commands to set up the documentation:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/foundation/foundation-emails.git
cd foundation-emails
```
Foundation for Emails 2.0 documentation is on the `develop` branch.
```bash
git fetch
git checkout develop
npm install
```
Then run `npm start` to compile the documentation. When it finishes, a new browser window will open pointing to a BrowserSync server displaying the documentation.
## Testing
Run `npm run test:visual` to compile the visual regression tests. All of the pages under `test/visual/pages` are compiled and inlined. From there, they can be uploaded to Litmus for testing.
## Inky
[Inky](https://github.com/foundation/inky) is our new templating language that converts simple HTML into the complex tables required for email layout.
The parser converts a set of custom HTML tags, expanding them out into full HTML syntax. Below is a list of every custom element.
### Grid
```html
```
### Block Grid
```html
```
### Components
```html
```
```html
```
## Future Plans
Foundation for Emails will be merging into the [Inky](https://github.com/foundation/inky) project starting with Inky v2.0. Inky will become a complete email framework — combining the templating engine and the styling framework (currently Foundation for Emails) into a single project.
**What this means:**
- The styling portion of Foundation for Emails will live on as **Inky Styles** within the Inky repo
- The Inky templating engine is being rewritten in Rust, with bindings for JavaScript (via WASM), PHP, Python, Ruby, and Go
- This repo will continue to receive maintenance updates but new feature development will happen in Inky v2
Follow progress on the [Inky repo](https://github.com/foundation/inky).
## Contributing
As an open source project, we love our community support. Please file issues, or better yet pull requests on the [Foundation for Emails Repo](https://github.com/foundation/foundation-emails). We're stoked to hear your feedback, make improvements, and keep evolving Foundation for Emails!
Copyright (c) 2026 Foundation, inc.