# Verified email finder Human Guide

## What This Is For
Builds a list of verified business emails from Google Maps, Google SERPs, or a user-supplied URL list. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for email marketing: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Verified email finder agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for verified email finder.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Verified email finder guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- `.env` file with `APIFY_TOKEN`
- Node.js 20.6+ (for native `--env-file` support)
- **What do you have to start with?** — `location query` / `SERP keyword` / `URL list`. This drives the routing decision.
- **The actual input** — the location string, the keyword(s), or the URLs themselves.
- **Max contacts per domain / business** — passed as `maximumLeadsEnrichmentRecords`. Default `3`, but ask every time.
- **Output format** — `CSV` or `JSON`. Ask every time.
- **Result scope** — which leads to keep in the deliverable. The Actor always runs the same way (verification always on); this only controls post-run filtering. Pick one:
- `verified-only` (default) — only leads with `emailVerification.result == "ok"`. Safest for cold email.
- `verified-plus-catchall` — `ok` plus `catch_all`. Catch-all is often deliverable but unprovable.
- `all-emails` — any lead with a non-empty `email`, regardless of verification.
- `with-phone` — any lead with a non-empty phone number, regardless of email status. Use for call campaigns.
- `everything` — every lead the Actor returned, even incomplete ones.

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Prerequisites, Workflow, Step 1: Collect the Six Required Anchor Inputs, Step 2: Route to the Correct Actor, Step 3: Build the Actor Input, Step 4: Run the Actor, Step 5: Filter, Deduplicate, and Render, Worked Examples, Quality Rules (always enforce), Cost & Pricing.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- [ ] Step 1: Collect the six required anchor inputs
- Step 1: Collect the Six Required Anchor Inputs
- Ask all six as one block before any Actor call. Don't bundle Actor-specific optional fields (country code, language, max pages) into this round — surface those as follow-ups.
- **Ambiguity rule:** if anchor #1 is unclear, ask **one** follow-up before running. Never burn Actor compute on a guessed route.
- | `verifyLeadsEnrichmentEmails` | `true` (always) — guard rail, never set to `false` |
- **Guard rail:** never submit a run with `verifyLeadsEnrichmentEmails: false`.
- Run it via the MCP `call-actor` tool or the script (SKILL.md Step 4). `expected_leads = 20 × 3 = 60` — under the 200-lead warning threshold, no confirm needed.
- Run via MCP `call-actor` or the script (SKILL.md Step 4). `expected_leads ≈ 10 × 3 = 30` — well under the warning threshold.

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Verified email finder human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the apify/awesome-skills skill entry for `apify-verified-email-finder`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Verified Email Finder

Return a list of verified business emails by routing the user's input to the right Apify Actor and turning on the leads enrichment + email verification add-ons in a single run. No third-party verifier (Hunter, NeverBounce, Apollo) needed — verification happens inside the same Actor run.

## Prerequisites
(No need to check it upfront)

The skill supports two execution paths. Pick the one that matches your environment — Steps 4 and 5 show commands for both.

**MCP path (default in Claude sessions, recommended).** If the Apify MCP server is connected, no setup is needed — auth runs through the user's Apify account. Use the `call-actor` and `get-dataset-items` MCP tools.

**Script path (CLI / scheduled / non-Claude execution).** Requires:
- `.env` file with `APIFY_TOKEN`
- Node.js 20.6+ (for native `--env-file` support)

## Workflow

Copy this checklist and track progress:

```
Task Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Collect the six required anchor inputs
- [ ] Step 2: Route to the correct Actor (confirm if ambiguous)
- [ ] Step 3: Build the Actor input (verification always ON)
- [ ] Step 4: Run the Actor and wait
- [ ] Step 5: Apply the result-scope filter, deduplicate, and render
```

### Step 1: Collect the Six Required Anchor Inputs

Ask all six as one block before any Actor call. Don't bundle Actor-specific optional fields (country code, language, max pages) into this round — surface those as follow-ups.

1. **What do you have to start with?** — `location query` / `SERP keyword` / `URL list`. This drives the routing decision.
2. **The actual input** — the location string, the keyword(s), or the URLs themselves.
3. **Department filter** — one or more of: `c_suite`, `product`, `engineering_technical`, `design`, `education`, `finance`, `human_resources`, `information_technology`, `legal`, `marketing`, `medical_health`, `operations`, `sales`, `consulting`. Default is `any` (leave the array empty), but ask every time.
4. **Max contacts per domain / business** — passed as `maximumLeadsEnrichmentRecords`. Default `3`, but ask every time.
5. **Output format** — `CSV` or `JSON`. Ask every time.
6. **Result scope** — which leads to keep in the deliverable. The Actor always runs the same way (verification always on); this only controls post-run filtering. Pick one:
   - `verified-only` (default) — only leads with `emailVerification.result == "ok"`. Safest for cold email.
   - `verified-plus-catchall` — `ok` plus `catch_all`. Catch-all is often deliverable but unprovable.
   - `all-emails` — any lead with a non-empty `email`, regardless of verification.
   - `with-phone` — any lead with a non-empty phone number, regardless of email status. Use for call campaigns.
   - `everything` — every lead the Actor returned, even incomplete ones.


### Step 2: Route to the Correct Actor

Inspect anchor #1 and pick the Actor.

| User has to start with | Actor ID | Use when |
|---|---|---|
| Location + business type ("dentists in Berlin") | `compass/crawler-google-places` | Local leads list from Maps listings; best when user wants address / phone / hours too |
| Keyword / search query ("best CRM software") | `apify/google-search-scraper` | Contacts from whichever sites Google ranks for a topic |
| Pre-existing URL list (pasted, file path) | `vdrmota/contact-info-scraper` | User already has domains; cheapest route since no discovery step |

All three Actors share the same three add-on fields, so verification behavior is identical across routes.

**Decision examples**

| User says | Route |
|---|---|
| "Dentists in Munich" / "Lawyers in Prague" | Maps |
| "Marketing contacts at the top results for 'AI agent builder'" | Search |
| "Find emails for these 5 URLs: acme-co.example, demo-co.example..." | URL list |
| "Find HR contacts at Fortune 500 companies" | **Ask:** SERP for "Fortune 500 HR" or a URL list? |
| "Find contacts at SaaS companies in Berlin" | **Ask:** Maps for "SaaS companies in Berlin" or SERP for "SaaS companies Berlin"? Maps works best when businesses are Google-Maps-listed. |
| (User pastes both a SERP keyword AND a URL list) | **Ask:** run one route, the other, or both as separate deliverables? |

**Ambiguity rule:** if anchor #1 is unclear, ask **one** follow-up before running. Never burn Actor compute on a guessed route.

**Mixed deliverables:** if the user explicitly asks for two routes in one deliverable, run both Actors and concatenate. The `Source` column makes the mix clear; dedupe by email across the combined output.

### Step 3: Build the Actor Input

Always set these three fields, regardless of which Actor is selected.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| `maximumLeadsEnrichmentRecords` | anchor #4 (default `3`, min `1`) |
| `leadsEnrichmentDepartments` | anchor #3 as array, or `[]` if "any" |