Future: data-machine-newsletters — replace Sendy with native newsletter management

[chubes4]

Context

Extra Chill currently uses Sendy (self-hosted on mail.extrachill.com) for newsletter management, sending via AWS SES. As we migrate Extra Chill into the fleet, the agent will initially manage Sendy as a separate app.

Long-term, a standalone extension (data-machine-newsletters) could replace Sendy entirely — giving DM-powered agents native newsletter capabilities.

What Sendy provides today

• Bulk email sending via SES API
• Subscriber list management (segments, double opt-in, bounce handling)
• Campaign creation and scheduling
• Analytics (open rates, clicks, unsubscribes)
• CAN-SPAM compliance (unsubscribe links, physical address)

Vision

A standalone DM extension (data-machine-newsletters) that:

• Sends campaigns via SES (or other providers)
• Manages subscribers as a custom post type or custom table
• Handles bounces/complaints via SES SNS notifications
• Tracks opens/clicks
• Integrates with DM flows for AI-generated campaigns and scheduling
• Lets the agent manage the full newsletter lifecycle autonomously

Notes

• This is a future consideration, not a current priority
• Would be a separate plugin (like ai-http-client), not built into DM core
• Sendy migration to fleet VPS happens first (tracked in star-fleet-command)
• The agent managing newsletters through DM flows is the end goal

[rupert61622-blip]

Have you looked at Listmonk? It's probably the strongest self-hosted Sendy replacement right now:

• Single Go binary, very lightweight to deploy
• PostgreSQL backend (no more MySQL dependency)
• Full REST API for programmatic list management and campaign sending
• Template engine with analytics tracking
• Handles bounce processing and subscriber management

It's actively maintained and has a solid community. The API would integrate well with a custom data-machine module.

If you need something more enterprise-grade, Mautic is the other major open source option but it's heavier and probably overkill if you just need newsletter management.

More email/newsletter tools compared at indiestack.fly.dev/category/email.

[chubes4]

@rupert61622-blip the issue is about rebuilding the functionality inside of a WordPress plugin. Not using something else.