# Email Notifications
Stakeholders are interested in the progress of samples as they move through a workflow. E-mail alerts of events can provide them with real-time notifications.
Some possible uses of notifications include the following:
* Completion of a workflow for billing department
* Manager review requests
* Notice of new files added via the Collaborations Lablink Interface
* Updates on samples that are not following a standard path through a workflow
Clarity LIMS provides a simple way of accomplishing this using a combination of the Clarity LIMS API, EPP / automation triggers, and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).
### Solution
The **send\_email()** method uses the Python **smptlib** module to create a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMPT) object to build and send the email. The attached script does the following:
1. Gathers relevant data from the Clarity LIMS API endpoints.
2. Generates an email body according to a template.
3. Calls the send\_email() function.
### Mail Server Configuration
Connect to Clarity SMTP with:
* host='localhost', port=25
Because of server restrictions, the script can send emails from only:
*
### Automation Parameters
The automation / EPP command is configured to pass the following parameters:
-u
The username of the current user (Required)
-p
The password of the current user (Required)
-s
The URI of the step that launches the script (Required)
Example command line:
{% code overflow="wrap" %}
```
python /opt/gls/clarity/customextensions/emails_from_Clarity.py -u {username} -p {password} -s {stepURI}
```
{% endcode %}
### User Interaction
* The script can be executed using a Clarity LIMS automation / EPP command, and trigged by one of the following methods:
* Manually, via a button on the **Record Details** screen.
* Automatically, at a step milestone (on entry to or exit from a screen).
* The script can also be triggered outside of a Clarity LIMS workflow, using a time-based job scheduler such as cron.
### Assumptions and Notes
* You are running a version of Python that is supported by Clarity LIMS, as documented in the *Clarity LIMS Technical Requirements*.
* The example code is provided for illustrative purposes only. It does not contain sufficient exception handling for use 'as is' in a production environment.
### Attachments
emails\_from\_clarity.py:
{% file src="" %}
emails\_attachmentPOC.py:
{% file src="" %}
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