raw	true
title	Language Bindings
description	Official Inky bindings for Node.js, PHP, Python, Ruby, and Go. Transform Inky markup to email HTML in any language.
nav_group	Guides
nav_order	2

Language Bindings

Inky provides official bindings for Node.js, PHP, Python, Ruby, and Go. All bindings expose the same core transform/validate/migrate API, and PHP, Python, Ruby, and Go additionally expose the full build pipeline in-process (see Build Pipeline below).

For complete working examples with build scripts and email sending, see: Node.js | PHP | Python | Ruby | Go

Common API

Every binding provides these functions:

Function	Description
`transform(html, columns?)`	Transform Inky HTML into email-safe table markup
`transformInline(html)`	Transform and inline CSS from `<style>` blocks
`transformWithData(html, dataJson)`	Transform with JSON data merge, then inline CSS
`transformHybrid(html)`	Transform using hybrid output (div + MSO ghost tables)
`toPlainText(html)`	Convert HTML to plain text for multipart email
`migrate(html)`	Migrate v1 syntax to v2 (returns HTML string)
`migrateWithDetails(html)`	Migrate v1 syntax, returns `{html, changes[]}`
`validate(html)`	Validate template, returns array of diagnostics
`version()`	Get the Inky engine version

Diagnostics from validate() are objects/dicts with severity ("warning" or "error"), rule, and message fields.

PHP, Python, Ruby, and Go also provide build, described below.

Build Pipeline

build runs the same pipeline as inky build: layout resolution, custom <ink-*> components, includes, template data merge, framework SCSS compilation and injection, component transform, CSS inlining, and output cleanup. A library consumer calling build produces byte-identical output to the CLI.

Every language's build takes the same three inputs — html, an optional basePath, and an options object/map — and the option keys are identical across languages:

Option	Type	Default	Same as CLI flag
`inline_css`	bool	`true`	`--no-inline-css` (inverted)
`framework_css`	bool	`true`	`--no-framework-css` (inverted)
`components_dir`	string	`"components"`	n/a (config `components`)
`columns`	int	`12`	`--columns`
`hybrid`	bool	`false`	`--hybrid`
`bulletproof_buttons`	bool	`false`	`--bulletproof-buttons`
`plain_text`	bool	`false`	`--plain-text`
`data`	object/map	none	`--data` (as parsed JSON, not a file path)

basePath resolution: basePath is a single directory. Every src/href the pipeline resolves — the layout, includes, custom components, and linked SCSS/CSS files — resolves relative to basePath, regardless of which file references it. A partial included from a layout, and a <link> inside that partial, both resolve against basePath, not against the layout's or partial's own directory. Pass null/nil/None/"" to disable filesystem resolution entirely (stdin-style input with no layouts/includes/components).

On failure, build raises a language-specific typed exception carrying the non-fatal warnings collected before the failure (e.g. an unreadable linked SCSS file) — the same warnings a successful build would report. See each language's section for the exact exception type.

Node.js/WASM does not expose build — it has no filesystem access, so it can't resolve layouts, includes, or linked SCSS/CSS. Use the inky CLI for the full pipeline from a Node project (e.g. shell out to inky build), or the Node/WASM binding directly for transform/transformInline/transformWithData/transformHybrid/toPlainText/migrate/validate, which remain available in-process. A resolver-callback design for in-process pipeline support in Node is planned but not yet implemented.

Node.js

Package: inky on npm Engine: WASM (compiled from Rust via wasm-bindgen) Requires: Node.js (any recent version)

No build — see Build Pipeline above for why, and shell out to the inky CLI when you need the full pipeline from Node.

Install

npm install inky

API

const inky = require("inky");

// Transform
const html = inky.transform('<button href="#">Click</button>');
const html16 = inky.transform('<row><column>Wide</column></row>', { columns: 16 });

// Transform + inline CSS
const inlined = inky.transformInline(`
  <style>.button { background: blue; }</style>
  <button href="#">Click</button>
`);

// Transform with data merge
const merged = inky.transformWithData(
  '<button href="{{ url }}">{{ text }}</button>',
  JSON.stringify({ url: "https://example.com", text: "Click" })
);

// Migrate v1 to v2
const migrated = inky.migrate('<columns large="6">Content</columns>');

// Migrate with change details
const result = inky.migrateWithDetails('<columns large="6">Content</columns>');
// result.html    => '<column lg="6">Content</column>'
// result.changes => ['<columns> -> <column>', ...]

// Validate
const diagnostics = inky.validate('<button>No href</button>');
// [{ severity: "error", rule: "button-no-href", message: "..." }]

const diagnostics16 = inky.validate(html, { columns: 16 });

// Version
console.log(inky.version()); // "2.0.0"

TypeScript

Type definitions are included. Key types:

interface TransformOptions { columns?: number; }
interface ValidateOptions { columns?: number; }
interface Diagnostic { severity: "warning" | "error"; rule: string; message: string; }
interface MigrateResult { html: string; changes: string[]; }

PHP

Package: foundation/inky on Packagist Engine: Native shared library via FFI (or PECL extension) Requires: PHP >= 8.1

Install

composer require foundation/inky

You also need the libinky shared library available. Build it from source:

cargo build -p inky-ffi --release
# produces target/release/libinky.dylib (macOS) or libinky.so (Linux)

Driver Setup

The PHP package auto-detects the best available driver:

Priority	Driver	Mechanism	Best For
1	PECL Extension	`ext-inky`	Shared hosting, production
2	FFI	`ext-ffi` + `libinky`	Local dev, self-managed servers

FFI setup -- enable in php.ini:

# Option A: Enable globally (dev)
ffi.enable = true

# Option B: Preload mode (production, more secure)
ffi.enable = preload
opcache.preload = /path/to/vendor/inky/preload.php

Note: ffi.enable is a PHP_INI_SYSTEM directive and cannot be changed with ini_set().

The FFI driver's stubs/inky.h header is regenerated from cbindgen on every cargo build, so it can't drift from inky-ffi's actual exports.

API

use Inky\Inky;

// Transform
$html = Inky::transform('<button href="#">Click</button>');
$html = Inky::transform('<row><column>Content</column></row>', columns: 16);

// Transform + inline CSS
$html = Inky::transformInline('<style>...</style><button href="#">Click</button>');

// Transform with data merge
$html = Inky::transformWithData(
    '<button href="{{ url }}">{{ text }}</button>',
    json_encode(['url' => 'https://example.com', 'text' => 'Click'])
);

// Migrate
$html = Inky::migrate('<columns large="6">Content</columns>');

// Migrate with details
$result = Inky::migrateWithDetails('<columns large="6">Content</columns>');
// $result['html']    => '<column lg="6">Content</column>'
// $result['changes'] => ['<columns> -> <column>', ...]

// Validate
$diagnostics = Inky::validate('<button>No href</button>');
// [['severity' => 'error', 'rule' => 'button-no-href', 'message' => '...']]

// Version
echo Inky::version(); // "2.0.0"

Build

use Inky\Inky;
use Inky\BuildException;

try {
    $result = Inky::build(
        file_get_contents('src/emails/welcome.inky'),
        'src/emails',                       // basePath — resolves layouts, includes, components, linked SCSS/CSS
        ['data' => ['user' => ['name' => 'Alice']], 'hybrid' => false],
    );
    echo $result->html;
    echo $result->text;      // null unless 'plain_text' => true was passed
    print_r($result->warnings);
} catch (BuildException $e) {
    echo $e->getMessage();
    print_r($e->warnings);   // non-fatal notes collected before the failure
}

Inky::build(string $html, ?string $basePath, array $options = []): BuildResult throws BuildException (a RuntimeException) on pipeline failure. See Build Pipeline for the option keys and basePath resolution rule.

Errors

General functions (transform, migrate, validate, …) throw a plain RuntimeException if the native call fails. build throws BuildException instead, which carries ->warnings.

Python

Package: inky-email on PyPI Engine: Native shared library via ctypes Requires: Python >= 3.8

Install

pip install inky-email

You also need the libinky shared library. Build from source:

cargo build -p inky-ffi --release

The library searches these paths automatically:

target/release/ (development)
Bundled with the package
/usr/local/lib/
/usr/lib/

API

import inky

# Transform
html = inky.transform('<button href="#">Click</button>')
html = inky.transform('<row><column>Content</column></row>', columns=16)

# Transform + inline CSS
html = inky.transform_inline('<style>...</style><button href="#">Click</button>')

# Transform with data merge
html = inky.transform_with_data(
    '<button href="{{ url }}">{{ text }}</button>',
    '{"url": "https://example.com", "text": "Click"}'
)

# Migrate
html = inky.migrate('<columns large="6">Content</columns>')

# Migrate with details
result = inky.migrate_with_details('<columns large="6">Content</columns>')
# result['html']    => '<column lg="6">Content</column>'
# result['changes'] => ['<columns> -> <column>', ...]

# Validate
diagnostics = inky.validate('<button>No href</button>')
# [{'severity': 'error', 'rule': 'button-no-href', 'message': '...'}]

# Version
print(inky.version())  # "2.0.0"

Note: Python uses snake_case -- transform_inline, migrate_with_details.

Build

import inky
from inky import InkyBuildError

try:
    result = inky.build(
        open("src/emails/welcome.inky").read(),
        base_path="src/emails",   # resolves layouts, includes, components, linked SCSS/CSS
        data={"user": {"name": "Alice"}},
        hybrid=False,
    )
    print(result.html)
    print(result.text)      # None unless plain_text=True was passed
    print(result.warnings)
except InkyBuildError as e:
    print(str(e))
    print(e.warnings)       # non-fatal notes collected before the failure

inky.build(html, base_path=None, **options) returns a BuildResult dataclass (html, text, warnings) and raises InkyBuildError on pipeline failure. See Build Pipeline for the option keys and base_path resolution rule.

Errors

General functions raise InkyError (a RuntimeError subclass) if the native call fails. build raises InkyBuildError (a subclass of InkyError) instead, which carries .warnings.

Ruby

Package: inky-email on RubyGems Engine: Native shared library via Fiddle Requires: Ruby >= 2.7

Install

gem install inky-email

Or in your Gemfile:

gem "inky-email"

You also need the libinky shared library. Build from source:

cargo build -p inky-ffi --release

The library searches these paths automatically:

target/release/ (development)
Bundled with the gem
/usr/local/lib/
/usr/lib/

API

require "inky"

# Transform
html = Inky.transform('<button href="#">Click</button>')
html = Inky.transform('<row><column>Content</column></row>', columns: 16)

# Transform + inline CSS
html = Inky.transform_inline('<style>...</style><button href="#">Click</button>')

# Transform with data merge
html = Inky.transform_with_data(
    '<button href="{{ url }}">{{ text }}</button>',
    '{"url": "https://example.com", "text": "Click"}'
)

# Migrate
html = Inky.migrate('<columns large="6">Content</columns>')

# Migrate with details
result = Inky.migrate_with_details('<columns large="6">Content</columns>')
# result[:html]    => '<column lg="6">Content</column>'
# result[:changes] => ['<columns> -> <column>', ...]

# Validate
diagnostics = Inky.validate('<button>No href</button>')
# [{severity: "error", rule: "button-no-href", message: "..."}]

# Version
puts Inky.version  # "2.0.0"

Passing a non-String (e.g. nil) to any function raises TypeError rather than segfaulting.

Build

require "inky"

begin
  result = Inky.build(
    File.read("src/emails/welcome.inky"),
    base_path: "src/emails",   # resolves layouts, includes, components, linked SCSS/CSS
    data: { user: { name: "Alice" } },
    hybrid: false,
  )
  puts result.html
  puts result.text          # nil unless plain_text: true was passed
  puts result.warnings
rescue Inky::BuildError => e
  puts e.message
  puts e.warnings           # non-fatal notes collected before the failure
end

Inky.build(html, base_path: nil, **options) returns a BuildResult struct (html, text, warnings) and raises Inky::BuildError on pipeline failure. See Build Pipeline for the option keys and base_path resolution rule.

Errors

General functions raise Inky::Error (a StandardError subclass) if the native call fails. build raises Inky::BuildError instead, which carries #warnings.

Go

Package: github.com/foundation/inky-go Engine: Native shared library via cgo Requires: Go with cgo enabled; a C toolchain

Install

You need the libinky shared library installed where cgo's linker can find it:

cd /path/to/inky
cargo build -p inky-ffi --release

# macOS
cp target/release/libinky.dylib /usr/local/lib/

# Linux
sudo cp target/release/libinky.so /usr/local/lib/
sudo ldconfig

go get github.com/foundation/inky-go

API

import inky "github.com/foundation/inky-go"

// Transform
html := inky.Transform(`<button href="#">Click</button>`)
html16 := inky.TransformWithColumns(`<row><column>Wide</column></row>`, 16)

// Transform + inline CSS
inlined := inky.TransformInline(`<style>.button{background:blue}</style><button href="#">Click</button>`)

// Transform with data merge
merged := inky.TransformWithData(
    `<button href="{{ url }}">{{ text }}</button>`,
    `{"url": "https://example.com", "text": "Click"}`,
)

// Migrate
migrated := inky.Migrate(`<columns large="6">Content</columns>`)
result, err := inky.MigrateWithDetails(`<columns large="6">Content</columns>`)
// result.HTML, result.Changes

// Validate
diagnostics, err := inky.Validate(`<button>No href</button>`)
// []Diagnostic{{Severity: "error", Rule: "button-no-href", Message: "..."}}

// Version
fmt.Println(inky.Version()) // "2.0.0"

Build

inlineCSS := false
result, err := inky.Build(
    templateHTML,
    "src/emails", // basePath — resolves layouts, includes, components, linked SCSS/CSS
    &inky.BuildOptions{
        InlineCSS: &inlineCSS,
        Data:      map[string]any{"user": map[string]any{"name": "Alice"}},
    },
)
if err != nil {
    var buildErr *inky.BuildError
    if errors.As(err, &buildErr) {
        fmt.Println(buildErr.Message)
        fmt.Println(buildErr.Warnings) // non-fatal notes collected before the failure
    }
    return err
}
fmt.Println(result.HTML)
fmt.Println(result.Text) // "" unless PlainText: true was set
fmt.Println(result.Warnings)

Build(html, basePath string, options *BuildOptions) (BuildResult, error) returns a *BuildError on pipeline failure (satisfies the error interface; carries .Warnings). BuildOptions.InlineCSS and .FrameworkCSS are *bool — nil means "use the engine default (true)"; a pointer to false disables the feature. See Build Pipeline for the remaining option keys and the basePath resolution rule.

Errors

Transform, TransformInline, TransformWithData, TransformHybrid, ToPlainText, Migrate, and Version return bare strings with no error (a native failure yields an empty string). MigrateWithDetails and Validate return (T, error) for JSON-decode failures. Build returns (BuildResult, error), where the error is *BuildError on pipeline failure.

Building the Shared Library

PHP, Python, Ruby, and Go bindings all depend on the libinky shared library from inky-ffi. To build it:

cd /path/to/inky
cargo build -p inky-ffi --release

This produces:

macOS: target/release/libinky.dylib
Linux: target/release/libinky.so
Windows: target/release/inky.dll

For production, copy the library to a system path (/usr/local/lib/) or bundle it with your package. The Go binding's cgo LDFLAGS link against /usr/local/lib specifically (-linky), so libinky must live there (or on the linker's search path) for go build/go test to succeed — it can't be bundled inside the Go module.

Building the WASM Module

The Node.js binding uses the WASM module from inky-wasm:

cd crates/inky-wasm
wasm-pack build --target nodejs

This generates the .wasm file and JS/TS wrapper in pkg/.

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Language Bindings

Common API

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Install

API

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PHP

Install

Driver Setup

API

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Install

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Ruby

Install

API

Build

Errors

Go

Install

API

Build

Errors

Building the Shared Library

Building the WASM Module