Email template placeholders and the placeholder catalog

Placeholders let an email template pull live data — a vehicle's plate, a booking's dates — into the subject and body. MobilityManager exposes a placeholder catalog that lists every entity and field you can reference, so you never have to guess a field name. This article explains how placeholders work and how to read the catalog.

Required permission

Reading the catalog and the list of context entity types requires email-templates:view. You use the same permission that lets you open a template.

How placeholders are written

Templates use Scriban syntax. A placeholder is the entity root followed by a field path in curly braces, for example:

• {{ vehicle.licensePlate }}
• {{ booking.startDate }}

The root is the context entity type in camelCase (a template whose context entity is Vehicle exposes a vehicle root). Field names are also camelCase. Nested objects are reachable with dots up to two levels deep.

Note: Rendering does not fail on an unknown variable — missing values simply render as empty text. That makes typos silent, so always confirm field names against the catalog and preview the result.

What the catalog contains

The catalog is generated automatically from the platform's data model. Every entity that has an identifier is registered and grouped, and its scalar fields become placeholders. Each placeholder entry carries:

• Path — what you type, such as vehicle.licensePlate.
• Display name — a readable label for the field.
• Data type — one of string, number, decimal, boolean, date, guid, or enum. A trailing ? marks an optional (nullable) field.

Browse the catalog

1. Open the placeholder panel while editing a template, or request the full catalog of all entity groups.
2. Select the entity that matches your template's context entity type.
3. Review the available paths and their data types.
4. Insert the placeholder into the subject or body.

You can also fetch placeholders for a single entity by its key, or list all registered entity types to see which contexts are available. Choosing the right context entity for a template determines which placeholders resolve to real data.

Tip: Match the template's context entity type to the data the notification is about. A booking confirmation should use the booking context so {{ booking.* }} placeholders resolve; referencing a vehicle field that is not on the booking context will render empty.

Data types and formatting

The data type tells you what to expect at render time. Dates render in ISO form, decimals as numbers, booleans as true/false, and enums as their text value. Use the type to decide whether extra wording is needed around a placeholder, for example a currency word next to a decimal amount.

Warning: The catalog reflects the current data model. If a field is renamed in a future release, an old placeholder path may stop resolving. Re-check paths against the catalog after major upgrades and preview affected templates.

Related

• Managing email templates
• Previewing and rendering an email template
• System configuration overview and access