Accrue's branding config drives visual customization of transactional emails and invoice PDFs. This guide covers the full schema and the logo strategy across HTTPS vs PDF rendering contexts.
Use the nested :branding keyword list (see below); it is the supported schema.
Quickstart
# config/config.exs
config :accrue, :branding,
business_name: "Acme Corp",
from_name: "Acme Billing",
from_email: "billing@acme.example",
support_email: "support@acme.example",
company_address: "123 Main St, San Francisco, CA 94103",
logo_url: "https://cdn.acme.example/logo.png",
accent_color: "#1F6FEB",
secondary_color: "#6B7280",
font_stack: "-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif",
footer_html: nil,
footer_text: nil,
currency_symbol_override: nil,
list_unsubscribe_url: nilAll keys validate via nimble_options at boot — misconfig fails
loud via Accrue.ConfigError.
Schema reference
| Key | Type | Default | Required | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
business_name | string | "Acme" | no | Rendered as the sender name + used in {business} template interpolation |
from_name | string | business_name | no | From: display name on Swoosh emails |
from_email | string | "noreply@example.com" | yes (prod) | From: address |
support_email | string | nil | no | Rendered in Contact support at footer line |
company_address | string | nil | conditional | Physical postal address shown in email footer. Required for EU/CA audiences per CAN-SPAM/CASL transactional exemptions — see guides/email.md |
logo_url | string (HTTPS) | nil | no | HTTPS-accessible logo. Used in email <img> src + PDF URL mode |
accent_color | hex color (#RRGGBB) | "#1F6FEB" | no | Primary CTA button + link color |
secondary_color | hex color (#RRGGBB) | "#6B7280" | no | Muted text + borders |
font_stack | string | "-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif" | no | CSS font-family. Web-safe stack recommended |
footer_html | string (HTML) | nil | no | HTML footer appended below the standard Accrue footer |
footer_text | string | nil | no | Plain-text version of footer_html for text/plain email parts |
currency_symbol_override | string | nil | no | Overrides the CLDR-derived currency symbol. Usually leave nil |
list_unsubscribe_url | string | nil | no | Opt-in RFC 8058 List-Unsubscribe header URL. See guides/email.md "RFC 8058 opt-in" |
Hex color validation
accent_color and secondary_color accept the following formats:
#RGB— 3-digit shorthand (#1F6)#RRGGBB— 6-digit (#1F6FEB)#RRGGBBAA— 8-digit with alpha (#1F6FEBFF)
Case-insensitive. Invalid values fail at boot with Accrue.ConfigError
identifying the offending key.
Logo strategy
Emails and PDFs have different logo constraints, and the PDF posture depends on which renderer you chose:
| Format | Preferred source | Why |
|---|---|---|
| HTML email | logo_url (HTTPS) | Email clients load the configured logo URL directly |
| PDF (Rendro) | logo_url (HTTPS) or no logo | The current invoice renderer reads logo_url; if the render environment cannot reach that URL, verify the fallback text posture instead of assuming an embedded-logo config exists |
| PDF (ChromicPDF) | logo_url (HTTPS) | Chromium can fetch HTTPS assets at render time on the explicit compatibility path, but the host still owns network reachability and timeout behavior |
| PDF (restricted/offline) | no logo or text fallback | Accrue does not currently expose a separate embedded-logo branding key for offline PDF rendering |
Renderer-specific constraints
Rendro and ChromicPDF do not have the same asset and font behavior:
| Renderer | Assets | Fonts | Operational note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rendro | Uses the configured logo_url when present, otherwise falls back to text | Validate glyph coverage up front and verify logo reachability in the actual render environment | Best fit for deterministic invoice rendering without Chrome, but it does not add a separate offline logo embedding contract today |
| ChromicPDF | Uses the configured logo_url over HTTPS on the explicit compatibility path | Browser-like CSS and webfont behavior exist, but remote fetch timing can still fail | Only applies when the host explicitly opts into Accrue.InvoiceRenderer.ChromicPDF |
If you care about air-gapped deploys, reproducible CI output, or environments where outbound fetches are restricted, verify the no-logo/text fallback output explicitly. Accrue does not currently expose a dedicated embedded-logo setting for PDF rendering.
Per-template override
Host apps can inject branding overrides on a per-type basis via the
rung-3 override ladder (see guides/email.md). The default templates
read branding via @context.branding — pass an overridden map via
the mailer assigns pipeline.
Connect note
Stripe Connect platform branding always wins over per-connected-account
overrides today. Accrue does not ship first-class per-account branding;
use a rung-3 template override (see guides/email.md) that dispatches on
the Connect account id at render time if you need it.