Precleared

Docs · Sellbird

Precleared in Sellbird

Sellbird (formerly Harvey) is an open-source AI sales agent that finds prospects, writes cold emails and sends them on its own. It has a Precleared check built in, off by default. Turn it on and Sellbird asks Precleared about each new recipient before the first cold email goes out, and holds back anything that isn't allowed.

Sellbird is an independent project. For anything about Sellbird itself, see its GitHub repository.

Turn it on

1. In sellbird.yaml, or sellbird.local.yaml if you trained Sellbird (that file wins), set:

Installs from before the rename use harvey.yaml instead.

compliance:
  precleared:
    enabled: true
    sender_country: "GB"        # any covered country (GB, US, CA, DE, FR, AU, IE, NL, ES, IT, LV, AE, EG or QA): where your business is based
    address_source: "unknown"   # published | bought | scraped | given | unknown
    prospect_country: ""        # e.g. "GB" if all your prospects are in one country

sellbird setup asks the same questions. If you installed it as Harvey, the harvey commands keep working until February 2027.

2. Run sellbird precleared-key, or say yes when sellbird setup offers a key. Sellbird saves PRECLEARED_API_KEY in .env for you. Or get a free key on our site and add it yourself:

PRECLEARED_API_KEY=pc_live_...

3. Run Sellbird as usual. The check happens in the outbox, just before a cold email is sent.

Choosing address_source

Say where your addresses really come from, because it can change the verdict. If they come from the businesses' own websites or listings, that is published. Sellbird can also work an address out from a company's email pattern, and an address made that way was never published. Unless every address comes straight from the business, leave it as unknown.

Setting prospect_country

If all your prospects are in one country, put its two-letter code here, in quotes (YAML reads an unquoted NO, Norway's code, as false). Precleared uses it only when it can't tell the recipient's country from the address, company records or the company's website, so fewer checks come back unknown. Sellbird also sends the recipient's country itself when the company's location makes it certain.

What Sellbird does with the answer

  • ok_to_email: the email goes out and the signed receipt id is logged with the send. The rule still sets footer requirements, such as who you are, a postal address and a simple way to opt out, so make sure your emails meet them.
  • consent_needed, blocked or unknown: Sellbird doesn't send it. The Outbox shows the rule that decided it and the next step.
  • Replies are never checked. Only cold email is.
  • One check per address, reused for 30 days, so a three-email sequence costs one check. Changing sender_country, address_source, prospect_country or your product description triggers a fresh check.
  • If a check can't be made (allowance used up, network trouble, a rejected key or an odd response), new cold emails wait for a later cycle. Email to people Precleared has already cleared keeps going, and replies still go out.
  • It applies to Sellbird's own mail providers (Gmail, Microsoft 365 and SMTP). Instantly campaigns aren't checked.

What Sellbird sends us

For each new address, Sellbird sends:

  • The address, your sender country and address source, that the person isn't an existing customer, and the first 200 characters of your product description.
  • The recipient's country: the one Sellbird is sure of from the company's location, or otherwise your prospect_country (or, if you haven't set one, the single country your target geography is in).
  • The company's name, when Sellbird has it.
  • The person's first and last name, when Sellbird has them. A company inbox such as info@ has no person, so no name goes with it.

The names help Precleared find UK companies on Companies House when the domain alone doesn't, which turns many consent_needed answers into a confirmed company. Precleared doesn't store the person's name. Sellbird never sends the email's subject or body, the person's job title or the company's location itself, and nothing is sent to the recipient. See privacy.

Allowances

Every new key gets 14 days at 100 checks a day, starting with the first check. Keep 100 a day for £15 a month at /buy, or return to the normal free allowance below. Unused daily checks do not roll over. Packs are used after the day's free, trial or plan allowance.

  • No key: 10 checks a day, shared by everyone on the same IP address.
  • Free key: 25 a day.
  • Packs: £9 for 300 checks (a key's first purchase) or £39 for 2,000 checks, used after the day's free checks. Packs never expire.

Days run on UK time. If the Outbox says the daily allowance is used up and you already have a key, today's free checks have gone. Buy a pack to keep sending today, or wait until tomorrow.

Receipts

Every check has a signed receipt. Open precleared.dev/r/ followed by the receipt id from Sellbird's log to see it, or verify it yourself.

Decision support with sources, not legal advice.

Back to the docs