Harvey is now Sellbird. Same project, same history, new name. Already running Harvey? Your setup carries over: see Upgrading from Harvey.
Prefer not to run it yourself? sellbird.ai is the hosted version, with sending domains, inboxes and warmup set up for you. It's in early access.
The demo data is invented: "Bookwell" selling online booking to roofers, dental practices and HVAC shops, on .test domains.
What it does
Sellbird is a pipeline you can run end to end, or stop at any step.
| What happens | More |
|---|
| Find companies | Searches for businesses that match your customer: free on OpenStreetMap, or on a paid source you pick. Every paid search shows its cost before it runs. | Discovery |
| Learn why they'd buy | Reads each company's own website for the buying signals you confirmed, like no online booking, ads running or a role they're hiring for. No model calls, no cost. | Signals |
| Find who decides | Finds the owner or manager named on the company's own pages, two people per company at most. | Enrich |
| Check the address | Learns the company's email pattern and verifies one address. Every address is marked verified, risky, guess or invalid, and only deliverable ones are ever sent to. | Verify |
| Write and send | Writes a short sequence for each person from what it found, then sends from your Gmail, Microsoft 365 or SMTP mailbox inside your daily limit and their office hours. | Sending |
| Handle replies | Reads every reply, drafts an answer, sets auto-replies aside, honours opt-outs at once, and hands you anything it shouldn't answer alone. | Dashboard |
Only want the list? Stop after verifying and run sellbird export for a sequencer-ready CSV of everything it found.
$ sellbird run
============================================================
Sellbird is online.
============================================================
Checking pipeline state...
Decision: write_campaign (3 new prospects with no drafts)
handler → Elena Park, Harbor Dental Studio interested, answer drafted
handler → Priya Nair, Highline Roofing objection, answer drafted
writer → 2-email sequence: Phoenix HVAC hiring a dispatcher
outbox → 5 emails waiting for your approval
Cycle complete. Sleeping for 15 minutes.
No model API bill
Sellbird thinks through the Claude Code CLI on your Claude Pro or Max plan, or through Codex on a ChatGPT plan. There's no API key and no per-token billing, and Sellbird throttles itself to leave room for your own work.
| |
|---|
| Claude Pro or Max, or a ChatGPT plan with Codex | the subscription you already have |
| Finding businesses | $0 on the default source, or about $0.37 per 1,000 on the cheapest paid one |
| Reading their websites | $0: three HTTP requests each, no model call |
| Writing and sending | your subscription and a mailbox (about $7 a month for Google Workspace) |
| Prospecting tools | None. No Apollo, ZoomInfo, Clearbit or Clay. |
How the loop, the budget and the isolation work: How Sellbird works.
Quick start
You need:
- Python 3.11 or newer. macOS ships 3.9, so run
brew install [email protected] first if python3 --version says so.
- Claude Pro or Max with the CLI signed in (
claude login), or a ChatGPT plan with the Codex CLI (Codex setup).
- A mailbox to send from, ideally Google Workspace on a separate sending domain. Microsoft 365 and SMTP work too.
- Warmup on that mailbox. We recommend TrulyInbox: it warms a new mailbox before cold email and keeps it out of spam after, and Sellbird reads its inbox rate to tell you when you're ready.
Let Claude set it up
git clone https://github.com/ethanplusai/sellbird.git
cd sellbird
claude
Then say "set up Sellbird for me". The repo's CLAUDE.md turns Claude Code into the setup guide: it checks where you are, installs what's missing, asks what it needs and trains Sellbird on your product.
Or do it yourself
# 1. Install. Use python3.13, not python3: on macOS bare python3 is 3.9.
python3.13 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate && pip install -e .
# 2. Add credentials. Every variable is documented inline.
cp .env.example .env && $EDITOR .env
# 3. Learn your product from your website (writes sellbird.local.yaml).
sellbird train https://your-company.com
# 4. Confirm what makes a good prospect.
sellbird signals --confirm free
# 5. Find businesses. The default source is free and needs no account.
sellbird discover
# 6. Open the dashboard and start the loop.
sellbird dashboard # prints a private link to http://127.0.0.1:5555
sellbird run
On Linux you can also run it with Docker.
Nothing sends without you
Every outgoing email waits in the Outbox for your approval until you turn on autopilot yourself. Before anything leaves, a pre-send check with no model involved rejects unfilled merge tags, banned phrases, overlong emails, extra links and undeliverable addresses. Autopilot still holds back any email that links to a domain that isn't yours or quotes Sellbird's own instructions. sellbird sending pause stops everything at once.
Details: Approval and sending and Legal and deliverability.
Upgrading from Harvey
Harvey was renamed Sellbird in 0.4.0. Your configuration, data and dashboard sign-in carry over:
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
