Docs · Recipes

Recipes: check every lead before it reaches your sequencer

Put one Precleared check in the tool that feeds your campaigns, and only leads that are ok to cold email reach Instantly, Smartlead, lemlist or Apollo. Each recipe takes about 15 minutes to set up.

Pick your builder

Builder	How the check runs	Hands off to
Clay	An HTTP API column on each row	Instantly, Smartlead and lemlist through Clay's own Add Lead to Campaign; Apollo through two more HTTP API columns
Make	An HTTP module, then a router	Any of the four, through an HTTP module or Make's own app
Zapier	Webhooks by Zapier, then a filter	Instantly and lemlist through their Zapier apps; Smartlead and Apollo through an API step
n8n	A ready-made workflow you import	One download for each of the four

Calling a sequencer's API yourself? See Instantly, Smartlead, lemlist or Apollo.

Before you start

Get a key. These recipes run on Clay, Make, Zapier or n8n Cloud servers, which share IP addresses with other customers, so the keyless allowance won't last. A free key gives you 25 checks a day. A £39 pack gives you 2,000, about 2p a check, and never expires.
Know where each address came from. Send address_source with every check: published (on their website, profile or a directory), bought (a purchased list), scraped (collected by a tool), given (the person gave it to you) or unknown. It changes the verdict. A blank or missing value counts as unknown, so always send it when you know it.
Decide what happens to the rest. Only ok_to_email goes through.

Verdict	What the recipe does
`ok_to_email`	Adds the lead to your campaign and keeps the receipt id with it
`consent_needed`	Holds the lead back and records `next_step`, usually to get consent first
`blocked`	Holds the lead back
`unknown`	Holds the lead back. A fact couldn't be established, so add a company number or recipient country, or check again in a few minutes if Companies House was busy
No verdict (an error)	Holds the lead back. n8n tries again on its next run; in Clay, Make and Zapier, run the check again for that lead

The check, the same in every recipe

POST https://precleared.dev/api/v1/check
Authorization: Bearer pc_live_...
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "recipient_email": "jane@acme.co.uk",
  "address_source": "published",
  "sender_country": "GB",
  "pitch": "route-planning software for delivery firms"
}

The fields the recipes use from the answer: verdict, next_step, footer_text, receipt.id, confidence, facts.legal_form and facts.company_name. Optional inputs: company_number (confirms a UK company on the register and raises confidence), recipient_country, existing_customer and suppressed. Blank optional fields are ignored. The full reference is in the docs.

Footers

An ok_to_email answer still comes with footer_text: what the email must include, usually who you are, a postal address and a simple way to opt out. Set that up once in your campaign template. It describes the requirement; it isn't wording to paste.

Receipts

Every check has a signed receipt. Each recipe keeps its id with the lead, as precleared_receipt where the sequencer allows custom fields. Open precleared.dev/r/ followed by the id to show a client why an email went out.

Decision support with sources, not legal advice.