Email Attachments Not Sending in Windsurf App
Emails sent from your Windsurf-generated app arrive without their attachments, with empty attachments, or with corrupted files that can't be opened. The email itself sends successfully, but the attached file is missing or broken.
This commonly happens with invoice PDFs, receipt exports, user-uploaded files, and generated reports that your app needs to send via email. Cascade may have configured the attachment incorrectly, pointing to a file that doesn't exist in production, using wrong encoding, or hitting size limits.
The issue is hard to debug because the email send operation typically succeeds without errors — the problem only becomes apparent when the recipient opens the email and finds the attachment missing or corrupted.
Error Messages You Might See
Common Causes
- File path doesn't exist in production — Cascade used a local file path (/tmp/report.pdf) that exists during development but not in the serverless production environment
- Wrong content encoding — Binary file content passed as a UTF-8 string instead of a Buffer, corrupting binary attachments
- Attachment size exceeds SMTP limit — Most SMTP providers limit messages to 10-25MB total including base64 encoding overhead (which increases file size by ~33%)
- Missing content-type header — The attachment doesn't specify the correct MIME type, causing email clients to ignore or mishandle it
- Async file generation not awaited — The PDF or report is generated asynchronously but the email sends before the file is ready
How to Fix It
- Use Buffer content instead of file paths — Pass attachment content as a Buffer instead of a file path: attachments: [{ filename: 'report.pdf', content: pdfBuffer }]
- Set content-type explicitly — Always include contentType in attachments: { filename: 'report.pdf', content: buffer, contentType: 'application/pdf' }
- Await file generation before sending — If generating a PDF or report, await the generation and verify the buffer is not empty before attaching
- Check total message size — Calculate base64 size (file size * 1.37) and ensure total message stays under your SMTP provider's limit
- Log attachment details — Before sending, log the attachment filename, content type, and buffer length to verify the attachment is properly formed
- Test with a simple file first — Attach a small text file to verify the attachment mechanism works, then move to binary files
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Get HelpFrequently Asked Questions
Why does the email send successfully but the attachment is missing?
Nodemailer silently ignores attachment errors in some cases. If the file path doesn't exist or the content is undefined, the email sends without the attachment. Always verify the attachment content exists and has length > 0 before calling sendMail().
What is the maximum attachment size for email?
Most SMTP providers limit total message size to 10-25MB. Since attachments are base64-encoded (adding ~33% overhead), a 7MB file becomes ~9.3MB in the email. For large files, include a download link instead of attaching the file directly.