# Set Up the Outbound Email Skill Give your AI agent a repeatable workflow for outbound email. The **Surface Campaign Pipeline** skill sets up three tasks in Surface: find prospects, qualify accounts, and prepare personalized outreach. Campaign context, research, and progress stay in your Surface Vault so each task can pick up where the last run left off. The skill prepares inactive drafts for review. It does not launch campaigns or send emails. You can start with setup only, test the tasks, then enable recurring runs when you are ready. ## What You Will Set Up [#what-you-will-set-up] | Task | What It Does | What It Saves | | ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Prospect** | Finds companies and contacts that match your ideal customer profile (ICP). | Account and contact records with their sources. | | **Qualify** | Checks account evidence against your campaign's qualification criteria. | Decisions, supporting evidence, and research still in progress. | | **Draft Outreach** | Uses qualified account evidence to personalize email sequences for eligible contacts. | Complete email copy and, where supported, inactive provider drafts. | The tasks use the providers available in your Surface environment. A specific provider is not required by the skill. If your outreach connection cannot support the draft workflow, the agent can save personalized copy in Vault and explain what needs to happen manually. ## Before You Start [#before-you-start] You will need: * An AI agent connected to Surface MCP. To install the ZIP for repeat use, your agent also needs local skill support. * A Surface environment with access to Vault, campaign tools, and scheduled tasks through MCP. Ask your agent to check that these tools are available. * Connected providers for the discovery and research you want to perform. Creating drafts in an external provider also requires a suitable outreach connection and a verified sender mailbox. * Your company website, target audience, and the criteria that make an account worth contacting. Connect your agent using [Surface MCP Setup](https://www.withsurface.com/docs/mcp-server/setup). The connection must allow the writes needed to create campaign files and tasks. ## Choose How to Use It [#choose-how-to-use-it] **Copy instructions** is the quickest way to start. Paste the combined Markdown into an agent connected to Surface MCP, then provide your campaign details. All supporting instructions are included, so you do not need to install any files. **Download skill** is the reusable installation option. Extract the ZIP and place the **entire `surface-campaign-pipeline` folder** in your agent's skills directory. Use your agent's skill installation instructions to choose the location. Keep these files together: ```text surface-campaign-pipeline/ SKILL.md agents/ openai.yaml references/ vault-contract.md task-instructions.md recovery.md ``` `SKILL.md` is the entry point. The reference files contain the campaign structure, task instructions, and recovery procedures it uses during setup. Copying only `SKILL.md` leaves the installation incomplete. ## Set Up Your First Campaign [#set-up-your-first-campaign] Copy this prompt into your agent and replace the bracketed values: ```text Use the Surface Campaign Pipeline instructions to set up an outbound email campaign. Company: [company name and website] Surface environment: [team and environment] Target accounts: [industry, geography, company size] Target contacts: [roles or personas] Qualification criteria: [evidence that makes an account a fit] Offer: [what we can help with] Exclude: [customers, competitors, domains, or other exclusions] Preferred providers: [names, or inspect my available Surface connections] Sender: [verified mailbox and sender first name, or leave unresolved] Timezone: [for example, America/Los_Angeles] Create the campaign files and three tasks. Use the skill's suggested starting limits and leave the tasks paused. Report missing connections or information. Do not run the tasks, enable recurring runs, or send any emails. ``` The agent checks your available connections and existing campaigns, builds the campaign files, and creates paused tasks. If it finds a matching campaign, it should resume that setup using the saved records. ### Suggested Starting Settings [#suggested-starting-settings] | Setting | Starting Value | | --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Schedule | Hourly: Prospect at :00, Qualify at :20, Draft Outreach at :40 | | Prospect Batch | Up to 5 new accounts and 10 contacts per run, with 2 contacts per account | | Qualify Batch | Up to 3 accounts per run | | Draft Outreach Batch | Up to 3 contacts per run | | Initial Account Limit | 30 accounts for initial testing | | Email Sequence | Four steps, on business days 0, 3, 7, and 11 | These are starting limits, not promised output. Your agent can adjust them for your campaign and provider capabilities. The scheduled offsets do not guarantee that an earlier task has finished; each task uses saved, eligible records from the previous stage. ## Review Your Setup [#review-your-setup] Open the campaign and task links returned by your agent. In `Campaigns/{Campaign}/`, review: * **The brief and ICP:** seller context, target accounts, personas, and qualification criteria. * **Exclusions:** the companies and contacts to leave out, and which checks your connections can support. * **The sequence:** every email step, its personalization sources, timing, and sender. * **The workflow and setup log:** task links, timezone, limits, paused state, and anything still blocked. A missing sender can hold up outreach while account discovery and research remain ready. Your agent should report readiness for each stage separately. ## Test the Pipeline [#test-the-pipeline] When you are ready to use your connected providers, ask: ```text Test the [campaign name] pipeline with bounded runs of Prospect, Qualify, and Draft Outreach, in that order where eligible records are available. I authorize the provider calls for these tests, which may use credits. Verify saved results after each stage. Keep recurring schedules paused and all outreach in inactive drafts. Report completed work and blockers. ``` Research may take more than one run. The agent should retain pending job IDs and resume that work instead of submitting it again. Check the results separately: accounts discovered, accounts qualified, contacts eligible for outreach, email copy saved, and provider drafts or memberships verified. Copy saved in Vault does not by itself mean a draft exists in your outreach provider. ## Enable Recurring Runs [#enable-recurring-runs] After reviewing successful tests, ask your agent to enable the stages that passed: ```text Enable recurring runs for the verified stages of [campaign name], using the agreed schedule, timezone, and limits. Leave blocked or unverified stages paused. Keep all outreach in inactive drafts and report which schedules are enabled. ``` Recurring tasks continue preparing prospects, research, and drafts within your campaign limits. Sending those drafts is a separate step outside this skill. Notifications stay in Vault unless you separately request Slack. ## When a Stage Is Blocked [#when-a-stage-is-blocked] Ask your agent to inspect the latest run and saved campaign records before retrying. A missing connection, pending research result, unresolved sender, or unsupported personalization method can each hold up a stage. If a run fails after changing something in a provider, that change may still exist. The skill directs the agent to reconcile it before making another attempt, so a retry does not create duplicate research or drafts.