Free snippet: put your latest blog posts into FluentCRM emails with customizable smart codes
I send daily 80k emails with our newest daily post on marriageaftergod.com, and I wanted more control over what went out and how it looked than the built-in options gave me. So I created a small snippet that adds a Recent Posts group to FluentCRM's smart codes. Paste it into FluentSnippets (or your theme's functions.php) and it shows up in the smart code picker in the email editor.
What it adds
{{recent_posts.list}}: your 5 latest posts with thumbnail, title, excerpt and date. There's alsolist_3andlist_10.{{recent_posts.latest_title}},latest_excerpt,latest_image,latest_link,latest_link_htmlandlatest_button: the parts of your newest post, so you can build your own layout.{{recent_posts.latest_full}}: a ready-made card with image, title, date, author, excerpt and a "Read More" button.{{recent_posts.latest_body}}: the full post content inside the email. This is the one I built it for. Our daily email is the post itself, not a teaser.
Filter by category. Add _category_yourcategory to any code, for example {{recent_posts.latest_body_category_prayers}}. Category IDs work too.
Style it your way. The HTML is table-based and uses inline styles, so it holds up in Gmail and Outlook. There are filters to change the query, the styles and the final HTML without touching the core code, for example fluentcrm_latest_post_body_styles and fluentcrm_recent_posts_html.
There's also a [fluentcrm_recent_posts] shortcode with count, category, show_image, show_excerpt and show_date options, if you prefer shortcodes.
Pair it with a daily recurring campaign or an automation and your newsletter builds itself.
Code below. Use it, tweak it, and let me know what you'd add.
/**
* Recent Posts SmartCodes for FluentCRM
*
* Adds a "Recent Posts" smart code group so you can drop your latest
* blog posts (or the full latest post) into any FluentCRM email.
*
* Smart codes:
* {{recent_posts.list}} 5 latest posts (thumbnail, title, excerpt, date)
* {{recent_posts.list_3}} 3 latest posts
* {{recent_posts.list_10}} 10 latest posts
* {{recent_posts.latest_title}} Latest post title
* {{recent_posts.latest_excerpt}} Latest post excerpt
* {{recent_posts.latest_link}} Latest post URL (without https://)
* {{recent_posts.latest_link_html}} Latest post title as a link
* {{recent_posts.latest_button}} "Read Latest Post" button
* {{recent_posts.latest_image}} Latest post featured image
* {{recent_posts.latest_full}} Latest post as a card
* {{recent_posts.latest_body}} Full content of the latest post
*
* Filter by category: append _category_{slug-or-id} to any code.
* {{recent_posts.latest_body_category_daily-prayers}}
* {{recent_posts.list_3_category_12}}
* Underscores in slugs become hyphens (_category_daily_prayers also works).
*
* Shortcode (also works inside FluentCRM emails):
* [upfluent_recent_posts count="5" category="news" show_image="yes" show_excerpt="yes" show_date="yes" post_type="post"]
*
* Install: paste into FluentSnippets (PHP snippet) or a code snippets plugin.
*/
defined( 'ABSPATH' ) || exit;
/* -------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Register smart codes
* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- */
add_action( 'fluent_crm/after_init', function () {
if ( ! function_exists( 'FluentCrmApi' ) ) {
return;
}
$codes = array(
'list' => 'Recent Posts List (5 posts)',
'list_3' => 'Recent Posts List (3 posts)',
'list_10' => 'Recent Posts List (10 posts)',
'latest_title' => 'Latest Post Title',
'latest_excerpt' => 'Latest Post Excerpt',
'latest_link' => 'Latest Post URL (raw)',
'latest_link_html' => 'Latest Post Link (clickable)',
'latest_button' => 'Latest Post Button',
'latest_image' => 'Latest Post Featured Image',
'latest_full' => 'Latest Post (Full Card)',
'latest_body' => 'Latest Post Full Content',
);
FluentCrmApi( 'extender' )->addSmartCode( 'recent_posts', 'Recent Posts', $codes, function ( $code, $value_key, $default, $subscriber ) {
$category = '';
if ( preg_match( '/^(.+?)_category_(.+)$/', $value_key, $m ) ) {
$value_key = $m[1];
$category = $m[2];
}
$list_counts = array( 'list' => 5, 'list_3' => 3, 'list_10' => 10 );
if ( isset( $list_counts[ $value_key ] ) ) {
return upfluent_list_html( $list_counts[ $value_key ], $category );
}
switch ( $value_key ) {
case 'latest_title':
case 'latest_excerpt':
case 'latest_link':
case 'latest_link_html':
case 'latest_button':
case 'latest_image':
return upfluent_latest_field( substr( $value_key, strlen( 'latest_' ) ), $category );
case 'latest_full':
return upfluent_latest_card( $category );
case 'latest_body':
return upfluent_latest_body( $category );
}
return $default;
} );
} );
/* -------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Helpers
* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- */
if ( ! function_exists( 'upfluent_get_posts' ) ) {
/**
* Fetch published posts. $context lets filters target one output
* (list, latest, card, body).
*/
function upfluent_get_posts( $count = 5, $category = '', $context = 'list', $post_type = 'post' ) {
$args = array(
'post_type' => $post_type,
'post_status' => 'publish',
'posts_per_page' => max( 1, (int) $count ),
'orderby' => 'date',
'order' => 'DESC',
'ignore_sticky_posts' => true,
'no_found_rows' => true,
);
$category = trim( (string) $category );
if ( '' !== $category ) {
if ( is_numeric( $category ) ) {
$args['cat'] = (int) $category;
} else {
$args['category_name'] = sanitize_title( str_replace( '_', '-', $category ) );
}
}
return get_posts( apply_filters( 'upfluent_query_args', $args, $context ) );
}
}
if ( ! function_exists( 'upfluent_excerpt' ) ) {
function upfluent_excerpt( $post, $words ) {
$text = $post->post_excerpt ? $post->post_excerpt : $post->post_content;
return esc_html( wp_trim_words( strip_shortcodes( $text ), $words, '…' ) );
}
}
if ( ! function_exists( 'upfluent_empty' ) ) {
function upfluent_empty() {
return apply_filters( 'upfluent_empty_html', '<p style="color:#666666;font-style:italic;">No recent posts available.</p>' );
}
}
if ( ! function_exists( 'upfluent_list_html' ) ) {
/**
* Email-safe list of posts (table layout, inline styles).
*/
function upfluent_list_html( $count = 5, $category = '', $opts = array(), $post_type = 'post' ) {
$opts = wp_parse_args( $opts, array( 'image' => true, 'excerpt' => true, 'date' => true ) );
$posts = upfluent_get_posts( $count, $category, 'list', $post_type );
if ( empty( $posts ) ) {
return upfluent_empty();
}
$html = '<table role="presentation" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%" style="border-collapse:collapse;margin:20px 0;">';
foreach ( $posts as $post ) {
$url = esc_url( get_permalink( $post ) );
$title = get_the_title( $post );
$thumb = $opts['image'] ? get_the_post_thumbnail_url( $post, 'thumbnail' ) : '';
$html .= '<tr><td style="padding:15px 0;border-bottom:1px solid #e5e5e5;vertical-align:top;">';
$html .= '<table role="presentation" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%"><tr>';
if ( $thumb ) {
$html .= '<td width="80" style="padding-right:15px;vertical-align:top;">'
. '<a href="' . $url . '" style="text-decoration:none;">'
. '<img src="' . esc_url( $thumb ) . '" alt="' . esc_attr( $title ) . '" width="80" height="80" style="display:block;border-radius:4px;object-fit:cover;" />'
. '</a></td>';
}
$html .= '<td style="vertical-align:top;">';
$html .= '<a href="' . $url . '" style="color:#333333;text-decoration:none;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;line-height:1.4;display:block;margin-bottom:5px;">' . esc_html( $title ) . '</a>';
if ( $opts['excerpt'] ) {
$html .= '<p style="color:#666666;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;margin:0 0 8px 0;">' . upfluent_excerpt( $post, 20 ) . '</p>';
}
if ( $opts['date'] ) {
$html .= '<span style="color:#999999;font-size:12px;">' . esc_html( get_the_date( 'M j, Y', $post ) ) . '</span>';
}
$html .= '</td></tr></table></td></tr>';
}
$html .= '</table>';
return apply_filters( 'upfluent_list_html', $html, $posts, $count );
}
}
if ( ! function_exists( 'upfluent_latest_field' ) ) {
/**
* A single field from the latest post.
*/
function upfluent_latest_field( $field, $category = '' ) {
$posts = upfluent_get_posts( 1, $category, 'latest' );
if ( empty( $posts ) ) {
return '';
}
$post = $posts[0];
$url = get_permalink( $post );
$title = get_the_title( $post );
switch ( $field ) {
case 'title':
return esc_html( $title );
case 'excerpt':
return upfluent_excerpt( $post, 30 );
case 'link':
return preg_replace( '#^https?://#', '', $url );
case 'link_html':
return '<a href="' . esc_url( $url ) . '" style="color:#0073aa;text-decoration:underline;">' . esc_html( $title ) . '</a>';
case 'button':
$label = apply_filters( 'upfluent_button_label', 'Read Latest Post' );
return '<a href="' . esc_url( $url ) . '" style="display:inline-block;background-color:#0073aa;color:#ffffff;text-decoration:none;padding:12px 24px;border-radius:4px;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;">' . esc_html( $label ) . '</a>';
case 'image':
$img = get_the_post_thumbnail_url( $post, 'medium' );
return $img
? '<img src="' . esc_url( $img ) . '" alt="' . esc_attr( $title ) . '" style="max-width:100%;height:auto;border-radius:4px;display:block;" />'
: '';
}
return '';
}
}
if ( ! function_exists( 'upfluent_latest_card' ) ) {
/**
* Latest post as a card: image, title, date, author, excerpt, button.
*/
function upfluent_latest_card( $category = '' ) {
$posts = upfluent_get_posts( 1, $category, 'card' );
if ( empty( $posts ) ) {
return upfluent_empty();
}
$post = $posts[0];
$url = esc_url( get_permalink( $post ) );
$title = get_the_title( $post );
$author = get_the_author_meta( 'display_name', $post->post_author );
$img = get_the_post_thumbnail_url( $post, 'large' );
$html = '<table role="presentation" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%" style="border-collapse:collapse;margin:20px 0;background-color:#ffffff;border:1px solid #e5e5e5;border-radius:8px;overflow:hidden;">';
if ( $img ) {
$html .= '<tr><td style="padding:0;"><a href="' . $url . '" style="text-decoration:none;">'
. '<img src="' . esc_url( $img ) . '" alt="' . esc_attr( $title ) . '" width="100%" style="display:block;max-width:100%;height:auto;" />'
. '</a></td></tr>';
}
$meta = esc_html( get_the_date( 'F j, Y', $post ) );
if ( $author ) {
$meta .= ' • By ' . esc_html( $author );
}
$html .= '<tr><td style="padding:20px;">';
$html .= '<a href="' . $url . '" style="color:#333333;text-decoration:none;font-size:22px;font-weight:700;line-height:1.3;display:block;margin-bottom:10px;">' . esc_html( $title ) . '</a>';
$html .= '<p style="color:#999999;font-size:13px;margin:0 0 12px 0;">' . $meta . '</p>';
$html .= '<p style="color:#555555;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6;margin:0 0 15px 0;">' . upfluent_excerpt( $post, 40 ) . '</p>';
$html .= '<a href="' . $url . '" style="display:inline-block;background-color:#0073aa;color:#ffffff;text-decoration:none;padding:10px 20px;border-radius:4px;font-size:14px;font-weight:600;">Read More →</a>';
$html .= '</td></tr></table>';
return apply_filters( 'upfluent_card_html', $html, $post );
}
}
if ( ! function_exists( 'upfluent_latest_body' ) ) {
/**
* Full content of the latest post in a styled wrapper.
*/
function upfluent_latest_body( $category = '' ) {
$posts = upfluent_get_posts( 1, $category, 'body' );
if ( empty( $posts ) ) {
return '';
}
$post = $posts[0];
$content = apply_filters( 'the_content', $post->post_content );
$styles = apply_filters( 'upfluent_body_styles', 'font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,"Helvetica Neue",Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:1.6;color:#333333;' );
return apply_filters( 'upfluent_body_html', '<div style="' . esc_attr( $styles ) . '">' . $content . '</div>', $post );
}
}
/* -------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Shortcode: [upfluent_recent_posts]
* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- */
add_shortcode( 'upfluent_recent_posts', function ( $atts ) {
$atts = shortcode_atts( array(
'count' => 5,
'category' => '',
'show_image' => 'yes',
'show_excerpt' => 'yes',
'show_date' => 'yes',
'post_type' => 'post',
), $atts, 'upfluent_recent_posts' );
return upfluent_list_html(
(int) $atts['count'],
$atts['category'],
array(
'image' => 'yes' === $atts['show_image'],
'excerpt' => 'yes' === $atts['show_excerpt'],
'date' => 'yes' === $atts['show_date'],
),
sanitize_key( $atts['post_type'] )
);
} );
// Run the shortcode inside FluentCRM emails.
add_filter( 'fluent_crm/parse_campaign_email_text', function ( $content ) {
return has_shortcode( $content, 'upfluent_recent_posts' ) ? do_shortcode( $content ) : $content;
} );
/* -------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Optional customizations (uncomment and edit)
* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- */
// Always pull {{recent_posts.latest_body}} from one category (slug):
// add_filter( 'upfluent_query_args', function ( $args, $context ) {
// if ( 'body' === $context ) {
// $args['category_name'] = 'daily-prayers';
// }
// return $args;
// }, 10, 2 );
// Change the full-content email styling:
// add_filter( 'upfluent_body_styles', function () {
// return 'font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:18px;line-height:1.8;color:#222222;background:#ffffff;padding:30px;';
// } );
// Change the button text:
// add_filter( 'upfluent_button_label', function () {
// return 'Read today\'s post';
// } );
I love the thinking behind this. I was looking for something like this a couple of weeks ago but for CPT since I don't use posts. Ended up using n8n to pull and compile my most recent posts with a certain status and change the status once it's sent. But being able to style the posts is so helpful! Wish I'd encountered this sooner!
Thanks !
Ps I saw someone else post code on this forum and it showed up in a code box. How do I do that lol
Aaron Smith Just start with a slash and select the code block :)
Unfortunately this "slash-command option" was only announced once, it is still not mentioned in docs
Oh awesome thank you. I think I got it to work lol