Cold Email Outreach

The final mile of the outbound pipeline. Takes qualified leads from Supabase, builds email sequences using the email-drafting skill, loads campaigns into the user's chosen outreach tool, and logs everything back to Supabase.

Tool-agnostic: Asks the user which outreach platform they use. Defaults to Smartlead if they have MCP tools configured. Falls back to CSV export for any other tool or manual workflow.

When to Auto-Load

Load this skill when:

• User says "launch a campaign", "send outreach", "email these leads", "set up cold email"
• An upstream skill connects with "create email campaign" or "passes: supabase-eligible-leads"
• User completes lead-qualification and wants to act on the results

Supported Outreach Tools

This skill does NOT assume a specific tool. It asks first, then adapts.

Tool selection logic:

1. Ask user in Phase 0: "Which outreach tool do you use?"
2. If Smartlead → use MCP tools for full automation
3. If Instantly / Lemlist / Apollo → generate tool-specific import CSV
4. If Other or unknown → generate generic CSV (email, first_name, last_name, company, title, subject, body per touch) and ask user for their tool's import requirements

Prerequisites

Supabase

People must be stored in Supabase with the schema from tools/supabase/schema.sql. The people and outreach_log tables must exist. Run python3 tools/supabase/setup_database.py if setting up fresh.

Environment variables in .env:

SUPABASE_URL=https://xxx.supabase.co
SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY=eyJ...

Outreach Tool

• Smartlead: MCP tools available via mcp__smartlead__*. No additional setup.
• All others: Just need CSV export — no API keys required.

Phase 0: Intake

Ask all questions at once. Organize by category. Skip any already answered by an upstream skill.

Campaign Goal

1. What's the objective? (book meetings, drive demo requests, get replies, nurture)
2. What's the outreach angle or hook? (hiring signal, competitor displacement, event-based, pain-based, cold database)
3. What should we name this campaign?

Outreach Tool

4. Which outreach tool do you use? (Smartlead / Instantly / Lemlist / Apollo / Other / Just give me a CSV)

Lead Selection

5. Which leads should we target? Options:
   • All leads for a specific client_name
   • Specific icp_segment
   • Title patterns (e.g., "VP Operations", "Director of Sales")
   • Industry or location filters
   • qualification_score above a threshold
   • Specific source (crustdata, apollo, linkedin, etc.)
   • Custom filter (describe what you want)
6. Any exclusions? (specific companies, recently contacted leads, certain titles)
7. Max campaign size? (default: 200)

Sequence Design

8. How many touches? (default: 3)
9. Timing between touches? (default: Day 1 / Day 5 / Day 12)
10. Personalization tier? (Tier 1: merge fields only / Tier 2: segment-specific / Tier 3: unique per lead)

Sending Config (skip if CSV export)

11. Which email accounts should send? (list accounts or "use all available")
12. Sending schedule? (default: Mon-Fri 8am-5pm in recipient's timezone)
13. Daily send limit per account? (default: 30/day)
14. Track opens and clicks? (default: opens yes, clicks no)

Phase 1: Lead Selection from Supabase

Connect

Use the shared Supabase client:

import sys, os
sys.path.insert(0, os.path.join("tools", "supabase"))
from supabase_client import SupabaseClient
 
client = SupabaseClient(os.environ["SUPABASE_URL"], os.environ["SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY"])

Build Filters

Map user criteria to PostgREST query parameters on the people table:

Cooldown Filter (Mandatory)

Always exclude people contacted within 84 days (12 weeks). This is not optional.

Use the shared client's check_cooldown() method:

in_cooldown = client.check_cooldown(client_name="happy-robot", cooldown_days=84)
# Returns set of person_id strings still in cooldown

Or query directly:

1. Query outreach_log for person_ids with sent_date in the last 84 days:

   GET /rest/v1/outreach_log?select=person_id&sent_date=gte.{84_days_ago}&status=neq.bounced&client_name=eq.{client}

2. Collect those person_ids into an exclusion set
3. Add id=not.in.({excluded_ids}) to the people query

Present & Confirm

Show a sample table (10-15 leads) with:

• Name, Title, Company, Industry, Score, Email, Last Contacted

Tell user: total eligible leads, how many excluded by cooldown, how many have verified emails.

Ask user to confirm or adjust filters before proceeding.

Phase 2: Sequence Design

Present the sequence plan as a table before writing any copy:

Get user approval on the structure before generating copy in Phase 3.

Phase 3: Email Generation

Load the email-drafting skill and pass it:

• Campaign context (goal, angle, product, proof points)
• Sequence structure from Phase 2
• 3-5 sample leads from the selected list
• Personalization tier
• Tone preference

By Personalization Tier

Tier 1 (Generic): Generate one template per touch with merge fields ({first_name}, {company}, {title}). Same template for all leads.

Tier 2 (Segment): Generate one template per segment per touch. Segments are defined by role, industry, or signal type. Swap pain points and proof points between segments.

Tier 3 (Deep): Generate unique email per lead per touch. Cap at 50 leads — recommend Tier 2 above that volume.

Review Loop

1. Generate sample emails for 3-5 leads first
2. Present to user for review
3. Iterate until approved (max 3 rounds)
4. Generate remaining emails after approval

Phase 4: Campaign Setup

If Smartlead (MCP Automation)

Full automation via MCP tools. Execute in this order:

Step 1: List email accounts

mcp__smartlead__get_email_accounts

Present available accounts. User selects which to use.

Step 2: Create campaign

mcp__smartlead__create_campaign
  name: {campaign_name}

Save the returned campaign_id.

Step 3: Add sequence steps

mcp__smartlead__save_campaign_sequences
  campaign_id: {campaign_id}
  sequences: [
    { seq_number: 1, subject: "...", email_body: "...", seq_delay_details: { delay_in_days: 0 } },
    { seq_number: 2, subject: "...", email_body: "...", seq_delay_details: { delay_in_days: 4 } },
    { seq_number: 3, subject: "...", email_body: "...", seq_delay_details: { delay_in_days: 7 } }
  ]

Merge variable mapping: Convert {first_name} → {{first_name}}, {company} → {{company}} (Smartlead uses double-brace syntax).

Step 4: Import leads (batch 100)

mcp__smartlead__add_leads_to_campaign
  campaign_id: {campaign_id}
  lead_list: [{ email: "...", first_name: "...", last_name: "...", company_name: "...", ... }]

Batch in groups of 100 if more than 100 leads.

Step 5: Assign sending accounts

mcp__smartlead__add_email_accounts_to_campaign
  campaign_id: {campaign_id}
  email_account_ids: [...]

Step 6: Set schedule

mcp__smartlead__update_campaign_schedule
  campaign_id: {campaign_id}
  schedule: { ... }

Step 7: Configure settings

mcp__smartlead__update_campaign_settings
  campaign_id: {campaign_id}
  settings: { track_opens: true, track_clicks: false, stop_on_reply: true }

If CSV-Based Tool (Instantly, Lemlist, Apollo, Other)

Step 1: Generate CSV

Columns depend on personalization tier:

Tier 1 (same template for all):

• CSV columns: email, first_name, last_name, company, title, custom_field_1 (signal/hook)
• Separate file with sequence templates (subjects + bodies with merge fields)

Tier 2/3 (per-segment or per-lead emails):

• CSV columns: email, first_name, last_name, company, title, touch_1_subject, touch_1_body, touch_2_subject, touch_2_body, touch_3_subject, touch_3_body

Step 2: Save file

skills/cold-email-outreach/output/{campaign-name}-{YYYY-MM-DD}.csv

Step 3: Provide tool-specific import instructions

Instantly:

• Upload CSV → Sequences → Create new sequence
• Map columns: Email → email, First Name → first_name, etc.
• Paste sequence templates into each step
• Set delays between steps

Lemlist:

• People → Import → Upload CSV
• Map custom variables to columns
• Create campaign → add email steps → insert variables

Apollo:

• Sequences → Create Sequence → add email steps
• Contacts → Import → Upload CSV
• Add imported contacts to sequence

Other / Manual:

• Provide the CSV path and explain the column structure
• Ask user what format their tool expects, adjust if needed

Phase 5: Review & Launch

Present campaign summary:

Campaign: {name}
Leads: {count}
Sequence: {touches} touches over {days} days
Sending: {accounts} accounts × {daily_limit}/day = {daily_volume} emails/day
Estimated completion: {date}
Tool: {smartlead/instantly/etc.}

Hard Approval Gate

Do NOT activate the campaign without explicit user confirmation. Present the summary, then ask: "Ready to launch? Type 'yes' to activate."

• Smartlead: mcp__smartlead__update_campaign_status → set to active
• CSV tools: Tell user the file is ready for import, provide the file path

Phase 6: Tracking & Logging

Database Write Policy

All database writes in this phase require the user's prior approval from the launch gate in Phase 5. The Phase 5 approval ("Ready to launch?") covers both the campaign activation AND the subsequent logging. However, if the campaign was exported as CSV (not launched via Smartlead), confirm with the user before logging — they may not have actually imported/sent yet.

Log to Supabase

After launch (or export), insert records into outreach_log:

POST /rest/v1/outreach_log
Prefer: return=minimal
 
[
  {
    "person_id": "{person_uuid}",
    "campaign_name": "{campaign_name}",
    "external_campaign_id": "{smartlead_campaign_id or null}",
    "channel": "email",
    "tool": "{smartlead/instantly/lemlist/apollo/manual}",
    "sent_date": "{ISO timestamp}",
    "status": "sent",
    "client_name": "{client_name}"
  },
  ...
]

Or use the shared client:

client.log_outreach(entries)

For CSV-based tools: Log with status = "exported". It changes to "sent" when user confirms they launched the campaign in their tool.

Update People Records

Update last_contacted on the people table for all people in this campaign:

PATCH /rest/v1/people?id=in.({person_ids})
{ "last_contacted": "{ISO timestamp}" }

Present Summary

{count} people logged to outreach_log
last_contacted updated for {count} people
Campaign ID: {id}
Cooldown active until: {date + 84 days}
Next eligible re-contact: {date}

Cooldown Enforcement Rules

Reference section for cooldown logic used throughout this skill.

Output Directory

Campaign exports are saved to:

skills/cold-email-outreach/output/

Create this directory if it doesn't exist. Files are named {campaign-name}-{YYYY-MM-DD}.csv.