Email Blast Tool: give.aesthetic.computer #

Created: January 5, 2026 Updated: March 30, 2026 Status: Prepared, verified, and intentionally on hold Goal: Warmly email recent AC users about what feels alive in AC this year and invite support via give.aesthetic.computer

Quick Start #

cd /workspaces/aesthetic-computer

# 1. Preview the email
node artery/email-blast.mjs --preview

# 2. Test with your own email
node artery/email-blast.mjs --test me@jas.life

# 3. Use the current 60-day audience snapshot in reports/mail/
#    or re-fetch if you want a newer audience export
node artery/email-blast.mjs --fetch-all

# 4. Hold here unless Jeffrey explicitly wants to send
node artery/email-blast.mjs --send

# 5. Resume next day (Gmail caps at ~500/day)
node artery/email-blast.mjs --send --resume

Current recommendation:

Do not send the blast yet.
Use --preview and --test me@jas.life only until the audience and tone feel final.

March 30, 2026 Status #

Audience Snapshot #

183 verified users logged in within the last 60 days
182 emailable after unsubscribe filtering
139 have AC handles
99 logged in within the last 30 days
31 logged in within the last 7 days

Private working files were exported locally to reports/mail/ and should stay out of git.

Copy Status #

The blast copy is no longer an emergency ask.
Current subject: a little note from aesthetic computer
Current body: a softer note about what feels alive in AC this year so far, with links to:
- https://give.aesthetic.computer
- https://bills.aesthetic.computer
Current stats referenced in the copy came from the live metrics snapshot on March 30, 2026 around 04:20 UTC:
- 4448 paintings
- 17145 KidLisp programs
- 18723 chat messages
- 252 published pages

Verification Status #

Lith unsubscribe POST handling was fixed after the migration.
application/x-www-form-urlencoded requests now survive the lith adapter correctly.
artery/email-blast.mjs now loads the unsubscribe secret from Mongo if the env var is absent, matching the live unsubscribe endpoint.
Verified locally and on production:
- valid unsubscribe GET returns 200
- unsubscribe POST returns 200 and inserts the Mongo unsubscribe record
- resubscribe POST returns 200 and removes the record
- invalid tokens return 403

Test Sends #

Test sends were sent to me@jas.life only while validating the unsubscribe flow and updated copy.
No audience send has happened.

Next Move #

Keep the blast paused.
If Jeffrey wants to proceed later, start with the 99 users active within the last 30 days, not the full 182.

Architecture #

Credentials #

SMTP: Gmail via mail@aesthetic.computer (in at/.env)
Auth0 M2M: For listing all users (in at/.env)
UNSUBSCRIBE_SECRET: HMAC secret for unsubscribe tokens (in at/.env + Netlify)

Data Sources (MongoDB) #

@handles — users who have claimed a handle
email-blast-unsubscribes — users who unsubscribed via email link
chat-*-mutes — muted users (also excluded)

Unsubscribe System #

Each email contains a personalized unsubscribe link using HMAC tokens:

https://aesthetic.computer/api/unsubscribe?email=X&token=HMAC

Flow:

User clicks link → GET shows confirmation page
User clicks "Unsubscribe" button → POST records in MongoDB
Next blast run → checks email-blast-unsubscribes and skips those emails
Users can also resubscribe from the same page

Files:

system/netlify/functions/unsubscribe.mjs — Netlify endpoint
Token generated via HMAC-SHA256 of email + UNSUBSCRIBE_SECRET
Emails also include List-Unsubscribe header (Gmail native unsub button)

Commands #

Command	Description
`--fetch`	Fetch users (page-based, max 1k)
`--fetch-all`	Bulk export ALL users (16k+)
`--list`	Show cached users
`--export`	Export to CSV
`--preview`	Preview email content
`--test EMAIL`	Send test email
`--send`	Send to VERIFIED users only (default)
`--send --all`	Send to ALL users
`--send --resume`	Resume interrupted send
`--clear`	Clear cached data

Rate Limits #

Gmail SMTP: ~500 emails/day
Verified users (~5.3k): ~11 days to complete
All users (~18k): ~36 days to complete
Tool auto-pauses at 400 emails and supports --resume

February 2026 Updates #

Added unsubscribe system (HMAC tokens, Netlify function, MongoDB)
Updated email copy (removed stale "this month's" phrasing)
Made verified-only the default (--send = verified, --send --all = everyone)
Fixed import bug in getMutedUsers() (wrong relative path)
Added List-Unsubscribe headers for Gmail native unsub button
Added Gmail rate limit docs and day estimates in output

March 2026 Updates #

Verified the unsubscribe endpoint still works after the lith migration
Fixed lith form POST body adaptation for urlencoded unsubscribe requests
Updated the mailer to load the unsubscribe secret from Mongo when needed
Rewrote the blast copy to be cuter, softer, and more about what is cool in AC this year
Sent test emails to me@jas.life only
Kept the actual audience send paused

File Map #

File	Purpose
`artery/email-blast.mjs`	Main blast tool
`lith/server.mjs`	Lith request adapter fix for urlencoded unsubscribe POSTs
`system/netlify/functions/unsubscribe.mjs`	Unsubscribe/resubscribe endpoint
`system/netlify.toml`	Function config + routing
`system/public/give.aesthetic.computer/`	Give donation page
`reports/email-blast-give-ac-status-2026-02.md`	Status report