# Clay × Claude Code — Credit Optimizer

A Claude Code skill that keeps your credit spend lean whenever you use Clay
and Claude Code together. Save this as
`.claude/skills/clay-claude-credit-optimizer/SKILL.md` in your project and
restart Claude Code.

## What this does
Whenever you build a list or campaign using Clay and Claude Code together,
this skill does the cheap, invisible work in Claude Code (free) and spends
Clay credits only on the prospect-facing final mile.

## The one rule
- If it's cheap, free, or nobody sees it   ->  Claude Code.
- If a prospect will read it               ->  Clay, QA'd.

Never let an unchecked pipeline touch what the prospect sees.

## Decision tree (run on every step)
1. Can Claude Code get this for free? (scrape a page, count titles, read a
   pricing page, classify, compute a ratio)  ->  do it in Claude Code.
2. Is it a qualification gate? (ICP fit, growth signal, a ratio)  ->  run it
   in Claude Code BEFORE any enrichment, so off-fit rows drop for free.
3. Is it a verified email or the line a prospect reads?  ->  Clay final mile.
   Spend credits here, on qualified rows only.

## Rules
1. Qualify first, enrich second. Never enrich the whole list — filter to the
   survivors, then enrich.
2. Do the free work in Claude Code: sourcing, scraping, counting, classifying,
   scoring, computing signals.
3. Dedupe and drop generic / off-ICP rows before anything hits Clay.
4. Reserve Clay credits for: verified email + the personalised message, on
   qualified rows only.
5. Store results (sheet, CRM, or DB). Never re-run the same enrichment twice.
6. Batch large runs on a schedule to respect rate limits.

## Pre-enrichment checklist (before spending a Clay credit)
- [ ] Qualified down to only the rows worth enriching?
- [ ] Every free data point already handled in Claude Code?
- [ ] Deduped and filtered?
- [ ] Only enriching final-mile fields (email, personalisation)?

If any box is unchecked, fix it before spending a credit.

## Why it works
Enriching 100 rows then filtering to 15 pays for 85 rows you throw away.
Qualifying to 15 first, then enriching, is the same pipeline at a fraction of
the credits — and it's faster.

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From RecruiterGTM · recruitergtm.com/clay-x-claude-code-for-recruiters