Marketing & Sales · Tip
Claude Code + Exa Lead Generation Workflow
Step-by-step terminal workflow for building scored B2B lead lists
This workflow pairs Claude Code's terminal agent with the Exa search API to automate prospecting from scratch. It reads an ideal customer profile from a local file, runs targeted web searches, scores company fit, finds decision-makers, and outputs clean CSVs ready for cold outreach.
How it works
The exact Claude Code + Exa workflow used to scrape 100 fit-scored leads in under 3 minutes. The prompts, in order:
1) Read a single claude.md file and define your ICP
2) Pull 100 companies from Exa and fit-score each 1 to 10
3) Find the right decision-maker at every account
4) Enrich verified email addresses
5) Push the final CSV straight into your sequencer as a draft campaign
Setup shown in video: a dedicated project folder (e.g. 'Claude-Code-List Builder') with a claude.md, running Claude Code in the terminal, Exa API key for web search.
Demo output: ColdIQ_target-companies_v1.csv with 100 companies + header, saved to CLAUDE_OUTPUTS/ColdIQ/. Breakdowns: Industry — B2B SaaS 31, FinTech 28, HRTech 16, MarTech 13, DevTools 12. Score — 9 (top fit) 26, 8 (strong fit) 33, 7 (good fit) 41. Geography — US 62, Germany/DACH 19, UK 8, Nordics 5, Other EU 6. Built by running 13 targeted Exa searches across 5 ICP industries, pulling 149 results, filtering out agencies/consultancies/blogs/job boards, deduplicating to 100, supplementing with known matches for UK/Nordics/DACH coverage.
Next step demoed: generating ColdIQ_target-contacts_v1.csv — 16 contacts across 10 companies (VP Sales, Head of Growth, CRO, CEO contacts pulled via Exa API). Both CSVs saved to CLAUDE_OUTPUTS/ColdIQ/ and pushed into the sequencer (Instantly) as a draft campaign.
What it's for
- Build a fit-scored list of target B2B companies from an ICP definition
- Identify specific decision-maker roles across qualified accounts using web search
- Export enriched lead and company data to CSV for cold email sequencers
Key points
- Uses a local claude.md file to define ICP criteria and scoring rubrics
- Executes targeted Exa API searches across specific industries and geographies
- Filters out agencies, job boards, and consultancies automatically
- Assigns a 1-to-10 fit score to each prospect before contact discovery
- Generates structured CSV files for both target accounts and specific contacts
- Prepares output files formatted for direct import into sequencers like Instantly
Pricing
Free
Details
- Type
- Tip
- Category
- Marketing & Sales
- Topic
- Lead Generation
- Open source
- No
- Platforms
- Command line
- For
- Founders, growth marketers, and sales development reps comfortable using terminal tools
- Alternative to
- Apollo.io, Clay, ZoomInfo
- Tags
- leadgen, claudecode, exa, prospecting, outbound, automation
Why it was saved
- @itsalexvacca: A replicable GTM automation recipe: empty folder to sendable campaign in one sitting.
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