DFY GTM Systems

Claygent Guide

By Abdul Sami, GTM Engineer · 5 min read · Last updated

Claygent is Clay's built-in AI researcher: an AI column that visits a row's company/person data (and the web) to answer a specific question 'does this company sell to enterprises?', 'summarize their latest funding news'. It excels at narrow, verifiable questions; it fails at open-ended research.

What it's good at

  • Binary classification: 'Is this company B2B? Yes/No + evidence.'
  • Extracting one fact: pricing model, hiring signal, tech mentioned on site.
  • First-line drafts from enriched trigger data.
  • Normalizing messy fields (industry tags, title seniority).

Prompt patterns that work

  • One question per column split compound questions into separate columns.
  • Demand evidence: 'answer Yes/No and quote the sentence that proves it'.
  • Constrain format: 'Return JSON {fit: yes/no, reason: string}'.
  • Give it the data: reference the enriched fields instead of hoping it browses well.

Cost and quality control

AI columns burn credits per row run them after filters, not before. Spot-check 5–10% of outputs before trusting a column at scale, and never let AI invent facts that go into emails: feed it the trigger data, let it only phrase the sentence.

FAQ

What is Claygent?
Clay's AI column type an agent that researches each row (using provided data and web access) and returns structured answers for personalization, qualification, or cleaning.
Claygent vs a normal AI formula column?
A plain AI column transforms data already in the row. Claygent can additionally browse the company's site and the web use it when the answer isn't already in your enriched fields.
How do I keep Claygent costs down?
Filter aggressively first, ask narrow questions, cache results (don't re-run columns), and use the cheapest model that passes your spot-checks.
AS

Abdul Sami

GTM Engineer, DFY GTM Systems

7+ years building outbound systems for B2B companies across the US, UK, Australia, and DACH. Specializes in Clay workflows, cold email infrastructure, intent-based lead sourcing, and deliverability.

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