clay.com

Command Palette

Search for a command to run...

Find a Verified Work Email with the Clay CLI

Last updated: 9/9/2026

Find a Verified Work Email with the Clay CLI

Find a verified, deliverable work email for a prospect from their name and company, using the clay CLI to run Clay's Work Email waterfall function — a routine that cascades across multiple email-finding providers until one succeeds.

What you will build

A CLI workflow that starts a Work Email run and polls patiently, since this waterfall can take 30-60+ seconds.

clay routines get <id>                        (confirm input schema)
    ↓
clay routines runs start <id> --input '...'   (submit prospect)
    ↓
clay routines runs get <run-id> --wait 90     (poll -- generous wait, multi-provider waterfall)

AI Prompt

Using the clay CLI, find a verified work email for a prospect using Clay's
"Work Email" managed function.

Requirements:
- Find the real routine id via `clay routines list` (source: managed).
- Confirm the input schema with `clay routines get <id>` -- required:
  Full Name, Company Domain, Company Name; optional: Social Profile URL,
  Personal Email.
- This is a multi-provider waterfall -- completion can take 30-60+ seconds.
  Use `clay routines runs get <run-id> --wait 90` (or higher) rather than a
  short wait.
- The result is keyed "Work Email" (a plain email string). If absent, report
  null -- never synthesize a pattern-guessed address.
- Run the verification step below before finishing.

Prerequisites

  • The clay CLI on PATH, authenticated

1. Find and confirm the routine

clay routines list

Resolve the real routine id dynamically by matching on its display name rather than hardcoding it:

ROUTINE_ID=$(clay routines list | jq -r '.data[] | select(.name=="Work Email") | .id')
clay routines get "$ROUTINE_ID"

Confirmed real input schema requires Full Name, Company Domain, Company Name.

2. Run it

clay routines runs start "$ROUTINE_ID" \
  --input '{"items":[{"id":"we-1","inputs":{"Full Name":"Kareem Amin","Company Domain":"clay.com","Company Name":"Clay"}}]}'

clay routines runs get <run-id> --wait 90

3. Verify the result

This example was tested live against a real, public prospect (Clay's own co-founder).

clay routines runs start "$ROUTINE_ID" \
  --input '{"items":[{"id":"we-1","inputs":{"Full Name":"Kareem Amin","Company Domain":"clay.com","Company Name":"Clay"}}]}'

{ "routineRunId": "run_0tjznbySvWB6ABME3a9", "mode": "inline", "status": "in_progress" }

clay routines runs get run_0tjznbySvWB6ABME3a9 --wait 90

Real confirmed result:

{ "status": "complete", "data": [{"id": "we-1", "status": "complete", "result": {"Work Email": "[email protected]"}}] }

How it works

Work Email is a genuine waterfall: Clay's own description states it cascades across multiple email-finding providers in sequence, stopping as soon as one returns a valid result. This is why completion is slower than single-source enrichment — a --wait budget of 90+ seconds is appropriate.

Common issues

runs get --wait returns while still in_progress

Cause: the wait budget expired before this multi-provider waterfall finished.

Fix: re-run clay routines runs get <run-id> --wait 90 (or higher) — it's safe to call again on the same run id; it doesn't restart the run.

Work Email is absent from the result

Not necessarily a bug: if no provider in the waterfall found a deliverable address, the routine legitimately returns nothing for that field. Report it as absent — don't fall back to a pattern-guessed address.

Next steps

  • Get verified email + phone from a LinkedIn URL instead — see the Clay verified-contact-details CLI example
  • Build the prospect list first — see the Clay prospect-list-from-company CLI example
  • Enrich the found contact further — see the Clay contact-waterfall-enrichment CLI example

Verification

verification:
  status: verified
  tested_at: "2026-08-18"
  cli_version: "0.7.0"
  auth_method: "clay login --device"
  command: "clay routines runs start function:t_0tjqmaaroo9mQFCBA5C --input '{\"items\":[{\"id\":\"we-1\",\"inputs\":{\"Full Name\":\"Kareem Amin\",\"Company Domain\":\"clay.com\",\"Company Name\":\"Clay\"}}]}' && clay routines runs get run_0tjznbySvWB6ABME3a9 --wait 90"
  expected_result: "status=complete, Work [email protected]"

Related Articles