2 files changed, 7 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/generators.rb b/railties/lib/rails/generators.rb
index e3d79521e7..330bd7ec5d 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/generators.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/generators.rb
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ module Rails
 
     # Configure generators for API only applications. It basically hides
     # everything that is usually browser related, such as assets and session
-    # migration generators, and completely disable views, helpers and assets
+    # migration generators, and completely disable helpers and assets
     # so generators such as scaffold won't create them.
     def self.api_only!
       hide_namespaces "assets", "helper", "css", "js"
@@ -116,6 +116,10 @@ module Rails
         helper: false,
         template_engine: nil
       )
+
+      if ARGV.first == 'mailer'
+        options[:rails].merge!(template_engine: :erb)
+      end
     end
 
     # Remove the color from output.
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb
index 248ad20019..885f0c20f6 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb
@@ -276,9 +276,9 @@ module Rails
         end
       end
 
-      def delete_app_views_if_api_option
+      def delete_application_layout_file_if_api_option
         if options[:api]
-          remove_dir 'app/views'
+          remove_file 'app/views/layouts/application.html.erb'
         end
       end