Who this is for: self-serve plans (Free, Starter, Pro, Enterprise). If you bought a CluGTM AppSumo lifetime deal, your features, limits, and pricing are different. See the AppSumo documentation instead. Support agent: confirm whether the user is self-serve or AppSumo before giving plan-specific advice.
TL;DR: Agents → New agent → describe the job → answer Clu → Review on canvas → Accept → set Limits → Try it (paid, 5 records) → Looks good or Turn on. Needs Pro or Enterprise to turn on; the Pro trial can build. Reference: Agents.
Build your first agent
This guide walks through one agent from an empty page to its first live run. The example is the Weekly ICP leads starter: every Monday, find new people who match your ICP, get their verified work emails, and send the list to Slack.
Looking for the Research, Qualification or Custom skills on a lead list? See Skills.
Before you start
- Plan. Pro or Enterprise to turn agents on. On the Pro trial you can do every step below except Try it and Turn on. See Agents: who can use Agents.
- Connections. Connect the apps your agent will use from Integrations: HubSpot or Salesforce for CRM work, Slack (Clu) for Slack messages, Google Sheets for sheet exports. You can also connect later; Clu tells you what is missing.
- Credits. Live runs and Try it spend credits. Check your balance on Settings → Plans & billing.
Open Agents and set up your profile
Click Agents in the sidebar (or press G then A). If nobody in your workspace has done it yet, you’ll see a one-time setup: enter your Company website and, optionally, your Company LinkedIn, and click Build my profile. It takes a few minutes and you can keep working. Review the draft under Looks right? and click Looks good, save my profile. This is free and only needs doing once per workspace.
Click New agent
On the Agents tab, click New agent. CluGTM creates a draft agent and opens it on the guided screen, “What should this agent take care of?”
Describe the job
Type the job in Describe the job, or pick a starter. For this example, pick Weekly ICP leads under Prospecting, which sends Clu: “Every Monday, find new people who match my ICP, get their verified work emails, and send me the list in Slack.”
Be specific about the three things Clu needs: when (every Monday, when a deal stalls, when a form is submitted), who (titles, industries, company size, locations, or a CRM list), and where results go (a Slack channel, your CRM, a sequence, a Google Sheet).
Answer Clu’s questions
Clu asks what it still needs in one card of up to four questions, for example which Slack channel, how many people a week, and a credit limit. It sizes the audience for free so you can see how many people match before anything runs.
Review and accept the play
Clu’s proposal appears in the chat as Play change for review. Click Review on canvas to see the trigger and every step on the Play tab, each with its cost per record. Then:
- Click Accept to save it, or Discard to throw it away.
- Or tell Clu what to change (“only VPs and directors”, “post to #sales-leads instead”) and review the new proposal.
Clu never changes a play without your Accept. While Clu is filling in the panel, the panel is read-only.
Check the agent’s settings
Open the Agent tab and check:
- Instructions: what the agent is for. With Clu keeps these updated on, Clu maintains them as you chat.
- Connections and Delivery: where results go (Slack channel, Daily summary, Direct message me, Email, Results list, Sync to CRM).
- Limits: the credit limit for each period (for example Credits per week) and Records per run. These cap what the agent can spend, even if a search matches more people than expected.
Try it on 5 real records
From the header menu, choose Try it (it’s also on the Play tab). The Try it dialog shows the quote: Starting records, Maximum Try cost, each step’s cost, Available organization credits and Try budget. Click Confirm to start.
The Try runs the play on up to 5 real records from its real source and charges each step’s normal price: real emails found, real skill output. Every outside effect is held, so nothing is sent and nothing is written to your CRM; the results show what would happen (“Would create”, “Would update”, “Would send”). A Try never spends more than the workspace’s Try it budget per Try (60 credits unless an admin changes it on Settings → Organization); if 5 records would cost more, it runs as many as fit.
When it finishes, check Actual spend and the records. If they look right, click Looks good: it finishes the held work for those records, shows the “Remaining charge” first, and turns the play on.
Turn the agent on
Click Turn on in the header (or Looks good after a Try). The agent’s status changes to Active and its trigger starts runs on schedule. If you changed the play since its last Try, Turn on asks Try it on 5 records first?: click Try it, or Turn on to start it on everything now. For the weekly example, the first run starts within 30 minutes of the time you set on Monday. Need results now? Ask Clu in the agent’s chat to run it now; click Run on the Run agent now card for an immediate live run.
Watch the first runs
Open the Runs tab to see each run’s status, records and credits. Click a run for Record results, and open a step to see its records with links into your CRM. If your play has an Approve step, pending records appear on the Approvals tab and in the Approvals inbox on the Agents tab.
If something goes wrong
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Turn on disabled: “Add a play first” | The agent has no play | Ask Clu to build one, or Add a play on the Play tab |
| Turn on disabled: “Finish the play first” | A step or the trigger still needs settings | Open the Play tab and fix the flagged step, or ask Clu what is missing |
| Start Pro to launch | You’re on the Pro trial | Start a Pro plan from View plans; your draft stays saved |
| “Your plan allows 5 active agents. Pause one to activate another.” | Pro’s active-agent limit | Pause another agent, or move to Enterprise |
| “Insufficient organization credits” | Your balance is below the Try’s Maximum Try cost | Add credits on Settings → Plans & billing |
| “Over the Try budget · N credits short” | Even one record costs more than the workspace’s Try it budget per Try | An admin raises it on Settings → Organization |
| “Agent credit limit exceeded” | The Try would pass the agent’s credit limit | Raise the limit in Limits |
| “Quote changed. Confirm the refreshed price.” | The price changed after you opened the Try, for example because the play was saved | Check the new price and click Confirm again |
| The play shows Paused: with a reason | Three failed checks in a row, for example a disconnected CRM | Fix the cause, then turn the play or agent back on. See Trigger health and auto-pause |
| The Runs tab shows Credit limit reached | The agent used its credits for the period | Wait for the next period or raise the limit |
Next steps
- Change it later: ask Clu in the agent’s chat, or edit the play and click Save. Turning the agent on or off and running a Try always need your confirmation.
- Add a second play: on the Play tab, Add a play (up to 10 per agent). Plays of one agent can pass records to each other with Hand off.
- Put a person in the loop: ask Clu to add an Approve step before records reach your CRM or a sequence. See Approvals.
- Try more jobs: Agent recipes has sentences to give Clu for common agents.
Related
- Agents: the full reference
- Plays and triggers: every trigger, schedules and the Runs tab
- Play steps reference: every step and its price
- Agent recipes
- Using Clu
- Skills: Research, Qualification, Custom and Employment check on lead lists