Message Formats

Stoat renders Markdown on the client. The module builds that Markdown, or an embed, or both.

The three formats

Markdown message

A “Message only” notification is assembled in this order:

**[Invoice #1042 paid](https://billing.example.com/admin/invoices.php?id=1042)**

A payment of $49.00 has been received.

**Client:** [Jane Doe](https://billing.example.com/admin/clients.php?id=7)
**Invoice:** #1042
**Total:** $49.00

[View in WHMCS](https://billing.example.com/admin/invoices.php?id=1042)

If the notification has no URL the title is sent as bold text instead of a link. If it has no attributes, that block is omitted.

Supported Markdown

• Bold, italic and strikethrough
• Inline code and fenced code blocks
• Links
• Quotes and headings
• Lists

Stoat renders these in the client. The webhook transports the raw text, so a client that does not render a construct will show it literally rather than dropping content.

Message + Embed

The default format sends a short linked title as the message body and the detail as an embed. This keeps the push preview meaningful while the card carries the substance.

{
  "content": "**[Invoice #1042 paid](https://billing.example.com/...)**",
  "embeds": [
    {
      "title": "Invoice #1042 paid",
      "description": "A payment of $49.00 has been received.\n\n**Client:** Jane Doe\n**Invoice:** #1042\n**Total:** $49.00",
      "url": "https://billing.example.com/...",
      "colour": "#2ecc71"
    }
  ],
  "masquerade": { "name": "WHMCS" }
}

Embed fields

Stoat embeds are deliberately small. Only these properties are sent:

There is no fields[], no timestamp and no numeric color. Those belong to other chat platforms; Stoat rejects or ignores them, so the module never sends them.

Attributes

WHMCS supplies attributes such as Client, Invoice, Total, Department or Priority. Each becomes a Markdown line:

**Client:** Jane Doe
**Invoice:** #1042
**Total:** $49.00

• If an attribute has a URL, the value becomes a Markdown link.
• Only http and https URLs are linked; anything else is sent as text.
• Labels and values are collapsed to a single line so a multi-line address cannot break the layout.
• At most 15 attributes are rendered; the rest are summarised as “…and N more”.
• Attributes Inline joins them with dots instead of line breaks.

Limits and truncation

Truncation is Markdown-aware: if the cut lands inside a fenced code block, the module appends a closing fence so the rest of the message cannot be swallowed by an unclosed block.

Embed colours

Stoat accepts CSS colours. Valid examples:

Anything outside the grammar is rejected before a request is made, with an error naming the value.

Mentions

Notification text can include user-supplied values such as a ticket subject. To stop a subject like @everyone please read from pinging the server, @everyone, @here and @online are neutralised with a zero-width space before sending. The words remain readable; the mention does not trigger.

Sender identity

• Sender Name sets the masquerade name, for example WHMCS.
• Sender Avatar URL sets the masquerade avatar.
• Both require the webhook’s Masquerade permission.
• Clear the name to post as the webhook’s own identity and avoid the permission entirely.