How it works

OutreachSphere

Sales CRM. Turns a cold lead list into deals: it fills in missing contacts, runs email and LinkedIn sequences, and sorts replies so only real leads reach a person.

Live · Formwork and its clientsVisit the site ↗

Fig.Cold outreach for Formwork and its clients, from a raw lead list to a deal in the CRM.

Architecture

APeople· 4Campaign managers · SDR desk · Client portal · Claude
- Campaign managersNext.js 15 · React 19UI
  UI · Next.js 15 · React 19
  Formwork’s team: lead lists, campaigns, sequences and the CRM, across every client, each client’s data kept apart.
  Talks to
  → Lead lists (CSV)
- SDR deskcalls · follow-upsUI
  UI · calls · follow-ups
  Where reps work the follow-up queue, approve drafted replies and log calls.
  Talks to
  → Reply approvals (approve)
- Client portalper clientUI
  UI · per client
  Each client sees their own campaigns, leads, pipeline and campaign health.
  Talks to
  → CRM (their pipeline)
- ClaudeMCP clientEXTERNAL
  EXTERNAL · MCP client
  Claude, connected with a personal token, working the same data through MCP.
  Talks to
  → MCP server (MCP · token)
BApp· 10Lead lists · Enrichment · Sequences · Webhook intake · MCP server · CRM · Opportunities · Reply approvals · Reply triage · Research & prep
- Lead listsCSV · domain dedupeSERVICE
  SERVICE · CSV · domain dedupe
  Uploaded lists, cleaned and matched to companies by web domain. Uploading never marks anyone as contacted.
  Talks to
  ← Campaign managers (CSV)
  → Enrichment (gaps)
  → Sequences (filtered)
- Enrichmentwaterfall per fieldSERVICE
  SERVICE · waterfall per field
  Fills each missing field (email, phone, title, location) by trying providers in priority order, with rate limits and caching.
  Talks to
  ← Lead lists (gaps)
  ← Enrichment drain (queued)
  → Data providers (in turn)
- Sequencesemail · LinkedInSERVICE
  SERVICE · email · LinkedIn
  A sequence filters a live list into the leads it will contact, then hands them to the sender for its channel.
  Talks to
  ← Lead lists (filtered)
  → Smartlead (push)
  → Valley
- Webhook intakeevents · repliesSERVICE
  SERVICE · events · replies
  Receives the senders’ events. Only these can mark a contact as reached, which keeps the numbers honest.
  Talks to
  ← Smartlead (webhooks)
  ← Valley (webhooks)
  ← Nylas (webhooks)
  → Reply triage (replies)
- MCP server100 tools by roleAI
  AI · 100 tools by role
  Tools grouped by area and composed per role: an admin sees all of them, other roles only their own. Tokens are stored hashed.
  Talks to
  ← Claude (MCP · token)
- CRMcompanies · contactsSERVICE
  SERVICE · companies · contacts
  Warm contacts and their companies, with status, temperature, notes and a relationship score from 0 to 100.
  Talks to
  ← Reply approvals (promote)
  → Opportunities (deal)
  ← Client portal (their pipeline)
  → PostgreSQL
- Opportunitiesproposal → won / lostSERVICE
  SERVICE · proposal → won / lost
  Deals, from proposal to won or lost.
  Talks to
  ← CRM (deal)
- Reply approvalsdrafted answersSERVICE
  SERVICE · drafted answers
  Real leads queue here with a reply drafted. A person approves it before it goes.
  Talks to
  ← Reply triage (real leads)
  ← Reply pre-drafts (drafts)
  ← SDR desk (approve)
  → Smartlead (reply)
  → CRM (promote)
- Reply triagerules → ClaudeAI
  AI · rules → Claude
  Cheap rules catch bounces, unsubscribes and warmup mail first. Claude sorts the rest into six kinds, and says unsure rather than guess.
  Talks to
  ← Webhook intake (replies)
  → Claude · OpenAI (classify)
  → Slack (alert)
  → Reply approvals (real leads)
- Research & prepClaude · FirecrawlAI
  AI · Claude · Firecrawl
  Researches a contact or their company and preps a sales meeting, and answers questions about the CRM.
  Talks to
  → Vector store
CJobs· 3Enrichment drain · Reply pre-drafts · Sender sync
- Enrichment draincronJOB
  JOB · cron
  Works through queued enrichment in the background.
  Talks to
  → Enrichment (queued)
- Reply pre-draftscronJOB
  JOB · cron
  Drafts answers ahead of time for confident real leads, so the queue is ready when someone opens it.
  Talks to
  → Reply approvals (drafts)
- Sender synccronJOB
  JOB · cron
  Pulls campaign stats from Smartlead and sends replies scheduled for later.
  Talks to
  → Smartlead
DData· 2PostgreSQL · Vector store
- PostgreSQLPrismaSTORE
  STORE · Prisma
  Every client’s leads, lists, campaigns and CRM, scoped by client.
  Talks to
  ← CRM
- Vector storePostgres · embeddingsSTORE
  STORE · Postgres · embeddings
  A separate database of contact embeddings for semantic search in the assistant.
  Talks to
  ← Research & prep
EOutside· 6Data providers · Smartlead · Valley · Nylas · Claude · OpenAI · Slack
- Data providersProxycurl · Findymail …EXTERNAL
  EXTERNAL · Proxycurl · Findymail …
  Proxycurl, Findymail, Apollo and Hunter, among others, tried in turn for each missing field.
  Talks to
  ← Enrichment (in turn)
- SmartleademailEXTERNAL
  EXTERNAL · email
  Sends the email sequences, and sends approved replies on the same thread.
  Talks to
  ← Sequences (push)
  → Webhook intake (webhooks)
  ← Reply approvals (reply)
  ← Sender sync
- ValleyLinkedInEXTERNAL
  EXTERNAL · LinkedIn
  Runs the LinkedIn sequences.
  Talks to
  ← Sequences
  → Webhook intake (webhooks)
- NylasmailboxesEXTERNAL
  EXTERNAL · mailboxes
  Connected mailboxes, for replies that arrive outside a sequence.
  Talks to
  → Webhook intake (webhooks)
- Claude · OpenAImodelsEXTERNAL
  EXTERNAL · models
  Claude for triage, drafting and research; OpenAI for embeddings.
  Talks to
  ← Reply triage (classify)
- Slacktriage alertsEXTERNAL
  EXTERNAL · triage alerts
  Triage posts real leads to the team’s channels.
  Talks to
  ← Reply triage (alert)

Connections · 24

→ request · ⇢ webhook, queue or schedule

Campaign managers → Lead lists · CSV
Lead lists → Enrichment · gaps
Enrichment drain ⇢ Enrichment · queued
Enrichment → Data providers · in turn
Lead lists → Sequences · filtered
Sequences → Smartlead · push
Sequences → Valley
Smartlead ⇢ Webhook intake · webhooks
Valley ⇢ Webhook intake · webhooks
Nylas ⇢ Webhook intake · webhooks
Webhook intake → Reply triage · replies
Reply triage → Claude · OpenAI · classify
Reply triage ⇢ Slack · alert
Reply triage → Reply approvals · real leads
Reply pre-drafts ⇢ Reply approvals · drafts
SDR desk → Reply approvals · approve
Reply approvals → Smartlead · reply
Reply approvals → CRM · promote
CRM → Opportunities · deal
Client portal → CRM · their pipeline
Claude → MCP server · MCP · token
Sender sync ⇢ Smartlead
Research & prep → Vector store
CRM → PostgreSQL

Inside: reply triage

Most replies to cold email are noise. Triage stores every reply first, lets cheap rules catch the obvious, has Claude sort the rest, and only ever lets a person send, with the CRM updated before the one step that can’t be undone.

AArrive· 3Smartlead · Nylas · Webhook event
- Smartleadreply webhooksEXTERNAL
  EXTERNAL · reply webhooks
  Replies to the email sequences, including ones from a colleague of the person emailed.
  Talks to
  → Webhook event
- Nylasmailbox webhooksEXTERNAL
  EXTERNAL · mailbox webhooks
  Replies that land in connected mailboxes.
  Talks to
  → Webhook event
- Webhook eventstored firstSTORE
  STORE · stored first
  Every reply is saved before it is classified, so nothing is lost and anything can be reclassified later.
  Talks to
  ← Smartlead
  ← Nylas
  → Field extraction
BSort· 5Field extraction · Rules · Classifier · Confidence floor · Kill switch
- Field extractionevery known aliasSERVICE
  SERVICE · every known alias
  Smartlead has used several names for each field over time; extraction tries all of them.
  Talks to
  ← Webhook event
  → Rules
- Ruleswarmup · bounces · vendorsSERVICE
  SERVICE · warmup · bounces · vendors
  Catch warmup mail, auto-replies, unsubscribes and bounces without a model call. Vendor domains an admin pins are a hard rule.
  Talks to
  ← Field extraction
  → Classifier (undecided)
- ClassifierClaude Haiku · six kindsAI
  AI · Claude Haiku · six kinds
  Sorts what the rules can’t decide into a real lead, unsure, vendor mail, automated, spam or warmup noise, with a confidence and a one-line reason. A bid invitation from a platform counts as real money.
  Talks to
  ← Rules (undecided)
  → Confidence floor
- Confidence floorlow → unsureSERVICE
  SERVICE · low → unsure
  A low-confidence answer becomes unsure, so a person sees it.
  Talks to
  ← Classifier
  → Hot channel (lead · unsure)
  → Vendor channel (vendor)
  → Firehose
  → Review queue (real leads)
- Kill switcheverything to peopleSERVICE
  SERVICE · everything to people
  One setting sends every reply to the hot channel for a person to read.
  Talks to
  → Hot channel (override)
CRoute· 4Hot channel · Vendor channel · Firehose · Review queue
- Hot channelreal leads · unsureEXTERNAL
  EXTERNAL · real leads · unsure
  Slack, for replies a person should see now.
  Talks to
  ← Confidence floor (lead · unsure)
  ← Kill switch (override)
- Vendor channelSlackEXTERNAL
  EXTERNAL · Slack
  Vendor mail, kept apart.
  Talks to
  ← Confidence floor (vendor)
- Firehoseevery replyEXTERNAL
  EXTERNAL · every reply
  Every classification, whatever the category, as an audit trail.
  Talks to
  ← Confidence floor
- Review queueone per replySERVICE
  SERVICE · one per reply
  Real leads queue for a drafted answer; creating the entry twice for the same reply is impossible.
  Talks to
  ← Confidence floor (real leads)
  → Draft + suggestions
DAnswer· 5Pre-drafts · Draft + suggestions · Approve · Thread resolver · Send or schedule
- Pre-draftscronJOB
  JOB · cron
  Drafts ahead of time for confident real leads; everything else drafts when someone opens it.
  Talks to
  → Draft + suggestions
- Draft + suggestionsreply · tags · temperatureAI
  AI · reply · tags · temperature
  One call writes the reply and suggests tags (only from the client’s existing ones, never invented), a CRM status and a temperature from cold to burning.
  Talks to
  ← Review queue
  ← Pre-drafts
  → Approve
- ApproveCRM first, send lastUI
  UI · CRM first, send last
  The reversible work (status, temperature, tags) is applied first; the send, which can’t be undone, comes last.
  Talks to
  ← Draft + suggestions
  → Thread resolver
- Thread resolvercolleague repliesSERVICE
  SERVICE · colleague replies
  Finds the right thread even when the person replying was never in the campaign, using the id the original webhook carried.
  Talks to
  ← Approve
  → Send or schedule
- Send or scheduleSmartlead inboxSERVICE
  SERVICE · Smartlead inbox
  Sends now or at a set time on the same thread, logs it, and marks the contact as replied.
  Talks to
  ← Thread resolver

Connections · 16

→ request · ⇢ webhook, queue or schedule

Smartlead ⇢ Webhook event
Nylas ⇢ Webhook event
Webhook event → Field extraction
Field extraction → Rules
Rules → Classifier · undecided
Classifier → Confidence floor
Confidence floor → Hot channel · lead · unsure
Confidence floor → Vendor channel · vendor
Confidence floor ⇢ Firehose
Kill switch → Hot channel · override
Confidence floor → Review queue · real leads
Review queue → Draft + suggestions
Pre-drafts ⇢ Draft + suggestions
Draft + suggestions → Approve
Approve → Thread resolver
Thread resolver → Send or schedule

Two flows

A lead list becomes a pipeline

Walk through it and each step lights the parts it runs through in the drawings above.

By count

channels: email and LinkedIn: 2
kinds of reply, sorted: 6
actions Claude can take in it: 100

Notes

N.1Nobody counts as contacted until the email has actually gone out, so the numbers a client sees are real.
N.2An invitation to bid sent by a bid platform is automated, but it’s still real money. The sorter is told that, and when it isn’t sure it says so and a person looks.
N.3Clients get their own portal with their campaigns, leads and pipeline.

Built by

I design, architect and build software products like this one.

naram@hey.com·See the rest of my work

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