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ResearchSkill

List Clearance

Checks a lead list against seven pass or fail gates and returns a go, fix, or no-go verdict along with the usable rows and every rejected row's reason.

Matteo Fois
Matteo Fois

Co-Founder at Kinetyca

About this Skill

When to use it

Use this Skill when you need to know whether a lead list is ready to send, why a list bounced, or how many rows are actually usable before it reaches a sequencer. It reports a single verdict per list based on the worst gate, not an average, and hands back the usable rows plus every rejected row with its reason. Avoid using it for finding or verifying emails, merging duplicate records, building the list itself, or judging a campaign that has already sent.

What it delivers

You get a clear go, fix, or no-go verdict, a usable-rows file, and a rejects file with a reason for every removed row. The verdict never averages the seven checks; one failing gate is enough to hold the list back, and any gate it cannot measure keeps it from clearing to go.

SKILL.md preview

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How someone would prompt this

Check this 2,000-row EdTech lead export against our buyer and firm definitions before we load it into the sequencer, and tell me if it's ready to send.

Inputs & outputs

What someone provides before the Skill runs, and the reviewable artifacts it returns.

Inputs

  • 01List source and scope
    • The CSV export or Clay table to check
    • optionally limit to a filtered subset of rows
  • 02Buyer and firm definitions
    • Who counts as the buyer (titles, seniority floor, disqualifying titles)
    • what counts as an in-scope firm (industry, size, geography, exclusions)
    • optional keywords used only when there is no usable industry column
  • 03Column mappingConfirm or correct which columns hold name, title, company, email, verification status, and other checked fields
  • 04Suppression and live-campaign lists
    • Files or tables for customers, competitors, pipeline, closed-lost, do-not-contact, and prior sends
    • the export or table of contacts currently in live sequences
  • 05Gate settings and targets
    • Pass thresholds for each gate, or accept the author's defaults
    • the per-company contact cap
    • sample size for manual review
    • an optional volume target to compare against

Outputs

  • 01Go, fix, or no-go verdictStates the single overall verdict for the list and the rule that produced it, so you know whether to ship, filter, or rebuild.
  • 02Gate-by-gate resultsShows each of the seven checks separately as pass, fail, or unmeasured, so you can see exactly which requirement is holding the list back.
  • 03Rejection reason countsLists how many rows each reason removed, ordered largest first, so you know where to focus cleanup effort.
  • 04Sample rows for reviewGives a small mix of usable and rejected rows so you can eyeball whether the calls look right before trusting the full result.
  • 05Coverage summary lineSummarizes rows read, rows usable, rows rejected, and any checks that could not run, so you know how complete the assessment is.

Representative output

Verdict

Fix. 2,140 rows read; 612 usable (29%). Gate 1 at 71% (line 80%), gate 3 at 58% (line 70%), gate 4 with 3 suppressed rows still in, gate 5 not checked. Gates 2, 6 and 7 pass.

Gate board

GateLineMeasuredVerdict
1. Buyer title80% or more71% (1,519 of 2,140)fail
2. Firm fit80% or more, measured rows91% (1,780 of 1,956 measured; 184 unmeasured on size)pass
3. Verified email70% or more58% (1,241 of 2,140); 640 unverified, 259 invalidfail
4. Suppression03 (customers); not checked: closed-lostfail
5. Live overlap0not checkedunmeasured
6. Required fields90% or more, columns present96%; industry, size, country presentpass
7. Cap and junk0 over cap, junk under 5%41 over cap; junk 3.2%pass

Reason counts (a row can carry several)

ReasonRows
email unverified640
not the buyer512
email invalid259
firm unmeasured: size184
disqualified: associate74
over cap41
no title35
personal domain22
role address12
suppressed: customers3

Sample (25 usable, 25 rejected; 4 shown)

RowTitleCompanyEmail statusReasons
118Managing PartnerContoso Advisorsdeliverableusable
902FounderFabrikam Brokeragedeliverableusable
233Senior AssociateNorthwind M&Adeliverabledisqualified: associate
1,471OwnerLitware Partnerscatch-allemail unverified

Coverage line

2,140 rows read in 22 pages · 612 usable · 1,528 rejected · 0 cells unmeasured · sets not checked: closed-lost, live campaigns.

How the Skill runs

Follow the steps in order. Each row includes the full instruction.

01
Confirm the list source works

Checks whether the list is a readable file or Clay table, reports any access problems plainly, and tells you the skill only reads and reports, changing nothing.

Step
02
Collect buyer and firm definitions

Asks you for the buyer titles, firm criteria, suppression lists, thresholds, and cap before looking at a single row, since a definition based on the list itself would be meaningless.

Step
03
Map and confirm columns

Matches your declared fields to actual columns, flags any that are missing or mostly blank, and stops to have you confirm or correct the map before continuing.

Step
04
Read the full list

Reads every row and every page of the source rather than a sample, and flags any rows whose values are still processing or unavailable.

Step
05
Run every check on every row

Applies all seven checks to each row and records every reason that applies, without deleting or altering any row.

Step
06
Score gates and review a sample

Calculates each gate's pass, fail, or unmeasured result over the whole list, then stops and shows you a mixed sample of usable and rejected rows to confirm the calls look right.

Output
07
Decide the verdict

Applies a fixed order of rules that picks one verdict, go, fix, or no-go, based on which gates failed or which gates it could not measure.

Step
08
Deliver the report and files

Writes the report, the usable-rows file, and the rejects file to your working directory, leading with the verdict and usable count.

Step

Connections required

No connections listed.

Install Clay and run it

Sign in once, install the Skill, then run the prompt.

  1. 1Install ClayUse the connector or official plugin in your coding-agent environment.
  2. 2Sign up or log inAuthorize Clay access and return when the connection is ready.
  3. 3Install the SkillRun the one-line install command from the Add this Skill card.
  4. 4Run the SkillPaste the example prompt and review the result.

Version history

Version 2From submitted SKILL.mdCurrent

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