Integrate Unlayer Editor

Overview

Unlayer provides official wrappers for React, Vue, and Angular, plus a plain JavaScript embed. All wrappers share the same underlying API — only the editor access pattern differs.

Which Framework?

⚠️ Before installing any Unlayer package, verify the version exists on npm:

npm view react-email-editor version   # check latest published version

Never pin a version number you haven't verified. Use npm install <package> --save without a version to get the latest, or run npm view <package> versions --json to see all available versions.

React (Complete Working Example)

npm install react-email-editor --save

import React, { useRef, useState } from 'react';
import EmailEditor, { EditorRef, EmailEditorProps } from 'react-email-editor';

const EmailBuilder = () => {
  const emailEditorRef = useRef<EditorRef>(null);
  const [saving, setSaving] = useState(false);

  // Save design JSON + export HTML to your backend
  const handleSave = () => {
    const unlayer = emailEditorRef.current?.editor;
    if (!unlayer) return;

    setSaving(true);
    unlayer.exportHtml(async (data) => {
      try {
        const response = await fetch('/api/templates', {
          method: 'POST',
          headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
          body: JSON.stringify({
            design: data.design,  // Save this — needed to edit later
            html: data.html,      // The rendered HTML output
          }),
        });
        if (!response.ok) throw new Error('Save failed');
        console.log('Saved successfully');
      } catch (err) {
        console.error('Save error:', err);
      } finally {
        setSaving(false);
      }
    });
  };

  // Load a saved design when editor is ready
  const onReady: EmailEditorProps['onReady'] = async (unlayer) => {
    try {
      const response = await fetch('/api/templates/123');
      if (response.ok) {
        const saved = await response.json();
        unlayer.loadDesign(saved.design); // Pass the saved design JSON
      }
    } catch (err) {
      console.log('No saved design, starting blank');
    }
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <button onClick={handleSave} disabled={saving}>
        {saving ? 'Saving...' : 'Save'}
      </button>
      <EmailEditor
        ref={emailEditorRef}
        onReady={onReady}
        options={{
          projectId: 123456, // Dashboard > Project > Settings
          displayMode: 'email',
        }}
      />
    </div>
  );
};

export default EmailBuilder;

Your backend should accept and return:

// POST /api/templates — save
{ design: object, html: string }

// GET /api/templates/:id — load
{ design: object, html: string, updatedAt: string }

React Props:

Docs: https://docs.unlayer.com/builder/react-component GitHub: https://github.com/unlayer/react-email-editor

Vue (Complete Working Example)

npm install vue-email-editor --save

<template>
  <div id="app">
    <button v-on:click="handleSave" :disabled="saving">
      {{ saving ? 'Saving...' : 'Save' }}
    </button>
    <EmailEditor ref="emailEditor" v-on:load="editorLoaded" />
  </div>
</template>

<script>
import { EmailEditor } from 'vue-email-editor';

export default {
  components: { EmailEditor },
  data() {
    return { saving: false };
  },
  methods: {
    async editorLoaded() {
      try {
        const response = await fetch('/api/templates/123');
        if (response.ok) {
          const saved = await response.json();
          this.$refs.emailEditor.editor.loadDesign(saved.design);
        }
      } catch (err) {
        console.log('No saved design, starting blank');
      }
    },
    handleSave() {
      this.saving = true;
      this.$refs.emailEditor.editor.exportHtml(async (data) => {
        try {
          await fetch('/api/templates', {
            method: 'POST',
            headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
            body: JSON.stringify({ design: data.design, html: data.html }),
          });
        } catch (err) {
          console.error('Save error:', err);
        } finally {
          this.saving = false;
        }
      });
    },
  },
};
</script>

Props: minHeight, options, tools, appearance, locale, projectId.

Docs: https://docs.unlayer.com/builder/vue-component GitHub: https://github.com/unlayer/vue-email-editor

Angular (Complete Working Example)

npm install angular-email-editor --save

Module (app.module.ts):

import { EmailEditorModule } from 'angular-email-editor';

@NgModule({ imports: [EmailEditorModule] })
export class AppModule {}

Component (app.component.ts):

import { Component, ViewChild } from '@angular/core';
import { EmailEditorComponent } from 'angular-email-editor';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-root',
  templateUrl: './app.component.html',
})
export class AppComponent {
  @ViewChild(EmailEditorComponent)
  private emailEditor: EmailEditorComponent;
  saving = false;

  async editorLoaded() {
    try {
      const response = await fetch('/api/templates/123');
      if (response.ok) {
        const saved = await response.json();
        this.emailEditor.editor.loadDesign(saved.design);
      }
    } catch (err) {
      console.log('No saved design');
    }
  }

  handleSave() {
    this.saving = true;
    this.emailEditor.editor.exportHtml(async (data) => {
      try {
        await fetch('/api/templates', {
          method: 'POST',
          headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
          body: JSON.stringify({ design: data.design, html: data.html }),
        });
      } catch (err) {
        console.error('Save error:', err);
      } finally {
        this.saving = false;
      }
    });
  }
}

Template (app.component.html):

<div>
  <button (click)="handleSave()" [disabled]="saving">
    {{ saving ? 'Saving...' : 'Save' }}
  </button>
  <email-editor (loaded)="editorLoaded($event)"></email-editor>
</div>

Docs: https://docs.unlayer.com/builder/angular-component

Plain JavaScript

<script src="https://editor.unlayer.com/embed.js"></script>
<div id="editor-container" style="height: 700px;"></div>

<script>
  unlayer.init({
    id: 'editor-container',
    projectId: 1234,
    displayMode: 'email',
  });

  unlayer.addEventListener('editor:ready', async function () {
    try {
      const response = await fetch('/api/templates/123');
      if (response.ok) {
        const saved = await response.json();
        unlayer.loadDesign(saved.design);
      }
    } catch (err) {
      console.log('Starting blank');
    }
  });

  function handleSave() {
    unlayer.exportHtml(async function (data) {
      await fetch('/api/templates', {
        method: 'POST',
        headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
        body: JSON.stringify({ design: data.design, html: data.html }),
      });
    });
  }
</script>

Docs: https://docs.unlayer.com/builder/installation

Multiple Editor Instances

Use createEditor() instead of init():

const editor1 = unlayer.createEditor({ id: 'email-editor', displayMode: 'email' });
const editor2 = unlayer.createEditor({ id: 'web-editor', displayMode: 'web' });

editor1.loadDesign(emailDesign);
editor2.loadDesign(webDesign);

Common Mistakes

Troubleshooting

Resources

• Installation Guide
• React Component
• Vue Component
• Angular Component