# How to connect ContactOut to Hermes Agent (paste one key, 25 tools) > Connect ContactOut to Hermes with ClawLink: paste your ContactOut key once and 25 tools work from chat. No MCP server to run, nothing stored on your machine. Web version: https://claw-link.dev/hermes/contactout Most guides for giving Hermes Agent ContactOut access start with registering your own OAuth app or pasting API keys into env files, then leave the token refresh and tool wiring to you. ClawLink gives Hermes a more practical ContactOut setup: pair once in the browser and your always-on Hermes agent can act on ContactOut for you, reading and doing real work on your behalf with no auth, token refresh, or tool wiring to build yourself. ## Setup It takes three steps to connect Hermes to ContactOut. 1. **Install ClawLink** — add the plugin to Hermes Agent once. 2. **Connect ContactOut** — one-click OAuth in the ClawLink dashboard. 3. **Use it from chat** — ask Hermes Agent in plain English. **Paste this into Hermes to set up ClawLink:** > Set up ClawLink for Hermes and tell me when it's ready. > 1. Install the plugin: `hermes plugins install ClawLink-HQ/hermes-plugin --enable` > 2. Start pairing with `hermes clawlink begin`. It prints an approval link, so show me the link and stop, don't wait. > 3. I'll approve it in my browser, then reply "approved". > 4. When I say approved, finish setup: `hermes clawlink finish` > 5. Then run `hermes clawlink test` and tell me whether ClawLink is ready. **Alternative for any agent (no plugin needed):** if the Hermes Agent plugin route isn't available or doesn't work, any AI agent with shell access can use the ClawLink CLI instead: ```bash npx -y @useclawlink/cli login # sign in via browser — no API key to paste npx -y @useclawlink/cli connect contactout # connect ContactOut (browser OAuth) npx -y @useclawlink/cli actions contactout # list available actions npx -y @useclawlink/cli run contactout --input '' # execute (add --confirm for writes) ``` ### Install by command The prompt above walks Hermes through this. By hand, it is four commands and a browser approval: ```bash hermes plugins install ClawLink-HQ/hermes-plugin --enable hermes clawlink begin # prints an approval link — open it and approve hermes clawlink finish # after approving in the browser hermes clawlink test ``` Then connect ContactOut in the [ClawLink dashboard](https://claw-link.dev/dashboard) — paste your ContactOut API key once. Verify the connection by asking Hermes: > Use ContactOut to check linkedin contact availability and walk me through the result in plain English. ### Using a different agent? The Hermes plugin is one client of ClawLink's MCP server. Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, or any agent that can run a shell command pairs with the same ClawLink account through the CLI: ```bash npx -y @useclawlink/cli login ``` `login` opens the same browser approval and stores a credential locally. Once ContactOut is connected in the dashboard, that agent calls the same 25 ContactOut tools over MCP. Full setup for MCP clients and shell agents: [connect apps to any AI agent](https://claw-link.dev/learn/connect-apps-to-any-ai-agent). ## ContactOut MCP for Hermes Looking for a ContactOut MCP server for Hermes Agent? ClawLink connects ContactOut to Hermes Agent and exposes 25 ContactOut tools your agent can call over [MCP](https://claw-link.dev/learn/what-is-an-mcp-server), with [hosted auth](https://claw-link.dev/learn/oauth-for-ai-agents) and nothing to run or maintain yourself. Using OpenClaw instead? The [OpenClaw ContactOut integration](https://claw-link.dev/openclaw/contactout) works the same way. ## What the Hermes Agent ContactOut integration can do 25 ContactOut tools are ready for Hermes Agent once the account is connected. ### All 25 ContactOut tools for Hermes | Tool | What it does | |---|---| | **Check linkedin contact availability** `contactout_check_linkedin_contact_availability` | Check whether a LinkedIn profile has a personal email, work email, or phone without revealing | | **Count people** `contactout_count_people` | Estimate matching people and available personal emails, work emails, and phones from | | **Enrich companies by domain** `contactout_enrich_companies_by_domain` | Return company profiles for 1-30 domains; each found company consumes a search credit | | **Enrich linkedin profile** `contactout_enrich_linkedin_profile` | Return a professional profile for a regular LinkedIn profile URL, optionally including contact | | **Enrich person** `contactout_enrich_person` | Find and enrich one person using a LinkedIn URL, email, or phone; alternatively, provide a name | | **Enrich person by email** `contactout_enrich_person_by_email` | Return a professional profile matched from an email address, optionally requesting real-time | | **Find linkedin profile by email** `contactout_find_linkedin_profile_by_email` | Resolve an email address to its matching LinkedIn profile URL | | **Get API usage stats** `contactout_get_api_usage_stats` | Return ContactOut API credit usage and quotas for a billing month | | **Get bulk email verification job** `contactout_get_bulk_email_verification_job` | Get the status and available per-email results of an asynchronous bulk email-verification job | | **Get campaign** `contactout_get_campaign` | Return one campaign's sequence steps and optionally its performance statistics | | **Get hashed email identifiers** `contactout_get_hashed_email_identifiers` | Return unordered SHA-256 hashes of normalized personal emails found for 5-100 distinct LinkedIn | | **Get linkedin contact info** `contactout_get_linkedin_contact_info` | Reveal email and optionally phone contact information for one regular LinkedIn profile URL | | **Get linkedin contact info batch** `contactout_get_linkedin_contact_info_batch` | Synchronously reveal contact information for 1-100 LinkedIn profiles; may consume email and | | **Get linkedin contact info batch job** `contactout_get_linkedin_contact_info_batch_job` | Get the status and available results of an asynchronous LinkedIn contact-info batch job | | **List campaigns** `contactout_list_campaigns` | Return one page of email campaigns and their lifecycle statuses | | **List decision makers** `contactout_list_decision_makers` | Return one page of key decision makers for the best-matching company | | **Search companies** `contactout_search_companies` | Return one page of companies matching identity, size, location, industry, technology, revenue | | **Search people** `contactout_search_people` | Return one page of professional profiles matching person, role, employer, education, location | | **Verify email** `contactout_verify_email` | Check one email address for valid, invalid, accept-all, disposable, or unknown deliverability | | **Create bulk email verification job** `contactout_create_bulk_email_verification_job` | Queue asynchronous deliverability verification for 1-100 email addresses, optionally delivering | | **Create linkedin contact info batch job** `contactout_create_linkedin_contact_info_batch_job` | Queue asynchronous contact discovery for 1-1000 LinkedIn profiles, optionally delivering | | **Add campaign recipients** `contactout_add_campaign_recipients` | Add 1-100 recipients to an existing campaign | | **Remove campaign recipients** `contactout_remove_campaign_recipients` | Destructively remove 1-100 recipients from an existing campaign by email | | **Start campaign** `contactout_start_campaign` | Start a draft ContactOut campaign or resume a stopped campaign | | **Stop campaign** `contactout_stop_campaign` | Stop a running ContactOut campaign, interrupting its outreach | ## Example prompts **Check Linkedin Contact Availability** > Use ContactOut to check linkedin contact availability and walk me through the result in plain English. **Count People** > Use ContactOut to count people and walk me through the result in plain English. **Enrich Companies By Domain** > Use ContactOut to enrich companies by domain and walk me through the result in plain English. **Enrich Linkedin Profile** > Use ContactOut to enrich linkedin profile and walk me through the result in plain English. ## ClawLink vs. building it yourself The alternative to ClawLink is usually manual API key setup plus your own token handling, permission troubleshooting, and tool plumbing for Hermes Agent. That is fine if you want to build and maintain the integration yourself. Most teams just want ContactOut working from chat. | | Manual | ClawLink | |---|---|---| | **Credential handling** | Collect, validate, store, and rotate the ContactOut API key yourself, then make sure every tool call uses the right account. | Users complete the hosted ClawLink setup once and the connected ContactOut account becomes available to the agent without you building credential management. | | **Ongoing maintenance** | You own refresh logic, permission debugging, environment config, and every provider-specific edge case for ContactOut. | ClawLink handles the repetitive integration plumbing so your team can focus on the workflow instead of the infrastructure. | | **Agent usability** | You still need to expose the right ContactOut actions to the runtime in a format your agent can reliably use. | 25 tools for ContactOut are already exposed through ClawLink, so the agent can read and act from chat immediately. | ## ClawLink vs. Composio Composio also exposes ContactOut to AI agents. It is developer infrastructure: Python and TypeScript SDKs, an MCP server, and a catalog past 1,000 apps, aimed at teams shipping agent products. ClawLink is built for Hermes Agent users instead. You install the plugin once, connect ContactOut in the browser, and the 25 tools above work from chat. There is no SDK and no config file, and the ContactOut key you paste at setup is stored server-side rather than kept in your environment. Choosing between them? Read the full [Composio alternatives](https://claw-link.dev/hub/composio-alternatives) comparison. ### Hermes paired but still can't use ContactOut Pairing is a two-step handshake: run `hermes clawlink begin`, approve the link in your browser, then run `hermes clawlink finish`. If you ran finish before approving, or the approval link expired, run `hermes clawlink begin` again to get a fresh link. Confirm the plugin was installed with `--enable`, then verify with `hermes clawlink test`. ### Connection succeeds but no tools appear Reconnect ContactOut from the dashboard, then start a fresh chat if the runtime still has the old tool catalog loaded. ### "Tool schema not loaded yet" error when calling ContactOut tools ContactOut tool schemas load on demand the first time a tool runs and are cached after that, so this error usually clears on its own: wait a few seconds and retry the same request. If every ContactOut call keeps failing with it in a fresh chat, reconnect from the dashboard, and contact support if it still persists — that pattern points to a configuration problem on our side, not something you can fix by reconnecting again. ### ContactOut returns 403 or "permission denied" on one action while others work Two usual causes. The connected account may not have access to the specific workspace, inbox, store, or project in the request — check that first. If access looks right, the agent may have sent a placeholder value (like "YOUR_ID" or an example id from documentation) instead of a real one: ask it to run a list or search tool first, then retry the action with a real id from those results. Most failures at this stage are one of these two, not ClawLink bugs. ### API key setup works but results look incomplete Double-check that the API key for ContactOut has the right scopes or account access. A valid key can still be too limited for some reads or writes. ### Is there a Hermes Agent ContactOut integration? Yes. ClawLink is the fastest way to connect Hermes to ContactOut: link your ContactOut account once in the browser and Hermes Agent can call the ContactOut API through 25 ready-made tools — no custom code or token handling. ### How do I connect ContactOut to Hermes with ClawLink? Install the plugin with `hermes plugins install ClawLink-HQ/hermes-plugin --enable`, then pair once: run `hermes clawlink begin`, approve the link in your browser, and run `hermes clawlink finish`. Connect ContactOut in the dashboard and Hermes can use it from the next message — no config files, and the ContactOut key you paste is stored server-side instead of in your environment. ### How long does it take to connect ContactOut to Hermes Agent? About two minutes. Sign in, click Connect next to ContactOut in the dashboard, authenticate, and Hermes Agent can use it from the next chat message. ### Why use ClawLink instead of wiring ContactOut up myself? The alternative to ClawLink is usually manual API key setup plus your own token handling, permission troubleshooting, and tool plumbing for Hermes Agent. That is fine if you want to build and maintain the integration yourself. Most teams just want ContactOut working from chat. ### Hermes paired but still can't use ContactOut Pairing is a two-step handshake: run `hermes clawlink begin`, approve the link in your browser, then run `hermes clawlink finish`. If you ran finish before approving, or the approval link expired, run `hermes clawlink begin` again to get a fresh link. Confirm the plugin was installed with `--enable`, then verify with `hermes clawlink test`. ## Related - [ActiveCampaign](https://claw-link.dev/hermes/activecampaign) — Marketing automation, CRM, and email marketing - [Benchmark Email tools](https://claw-link.dev/hermes/benchmark-email) — Benchmark Email is a comprehensive email marketing platform offering tools for creating, sending, and analyzing email campaigns. - [Hermes Mailchimp integration](https://claw-link.dev/hermes/mailchimp) — Create email campaigns and manage audiences