What Is Claygent?
Claygent is an AI agent embedded in Clay -- the B2B data enrichment and workflow platform. Unlike static data enrichment that pulls existing records from databases, Claygent actively browses the web in real time to research each prospect or account in your list.
You define a research prompt -- for example, "find a recent announcement, blog post, or job posting that suggests this company is evaluating AI coding tools" -- and Claygent runs that prompt against every row in your Clay table, returning a relevant finding for each contact.
Claygent launched as part of Clay's 2026 product expansion, adding live web research to the platform's existing 150+ static data provider integrations.
How Claygent Works
Claygent operates within the Clay table interface. Each row in a Clay table represents a contact or account. You add a Claygent column and configure it with a research prompt. Clay runs the prompt against live web data for each row and populates the column with the finding.
Prompts can be simple ("what has this company announced in the last 30 days?") or complex and conditional ("if this company recently raised funding or made a senior engineering hire, what challenge does that suggest they are solving?"). The output is a natural language summary that can be used directly in outbound copy.
Claygent uses tokens from your Clay plan, so research cost scales with usage. The typical cost per row research is fractions of a cent for standard queries.
What Claygent Finds for B2B Outbound
For B2B outbound teams, Claygent is most useful for surfacing:
- Recent company announcements (fundraising, product launches, executive hires, expansions)
- Job posting signals (a company hiring for "AI Platform Engineer" is building an AI infrastructure layer)
- Executive LinkedIn activity (what the VP Engineering posted about in the last month)
- Public pain points (blog posts or conference talks where executives discussed challenges)
- Competitive intelligence (which tools the company uses based on job posting requirements and public mentions)
These signals transform generic outbound copy into genuinely specific outreach. "I noticed you are hiring three AI engineers and your CTO recently posted about AI code governance challenges" is a different opening than "I wanted to reach out about your developer workflow."
Claygent in the B2B Outbound Stack
Claygent is most effective as part of a larger outbound workflow:
- Build ICP list in Apollo (contacts + basic firmographic data)
- Enrich in Clay with static providers (Clearbit, LinkedIn, Bombora intent)
- Add Claygent column with account research prompt
- Score rows by ICP fit + intent + Claygent signal strength
- Use Claygent findings to write personalized invite or outbound copy
- Send via Apollo sequences or Instantly
LinkedOtter by Asaf Katz Advisory uses this stack to power event invite outreach. 754 webinar signups in 26 days. 100+ from target accounts. 43 qualified meetings in 60 days on average.
Claygent vs Manual Research
| Factor | Manual Research | Claygent |
|---|---|---|
| Time per account | 20-30 minutes | Under 3 minutes |
| Scalability | 10-20 accounts per day | 500+ accounts per day |
| Consistency | Variable | Consistent per prompt |
| Cost | High (researcher time) | Low (tokens per row) |
| Depth | Can go very deep | Targeted to prompt scope |
Take the free 60-second check to see how LinkedOtter uses Claygent in event-led outbound programs for your ICP.