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Quickstart

Set up in about 5 minutes. Then give new mailboxes 2 to 3 weeks of warmup before your first cold emails.

Before you start

  • A work email to sign up. You get $10 of free sending.
  • 2 to 3 weeks for warmup. New mailboxes should warm up before cold sending. Warmup runs in Instantly, an email warmup service. See Mailboxes and warmup.
  • A Cloudflare access key (an API token) that can edit your domain's DNS, so Kata can create mailboxes on your own domain. Make one in Cloudflare with Zone: Read and DNS: Edit, then paste it in Integrations.

Two ways to set up

The fast way

Let your AI do it

Paste one prompt in Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor. Your AI then:

  • walks you through sign-up,
  • connects to Kata with your key,
  • creates and launches your first campaign.
Setup prompt

Or by hand

Do it yourself

Nine short steps, all in the app. Each step says where to click.

See the steps ↓

Do it yourself

Nine steps. Cold sending starts once your mailboxes are warm.

Sign up

Go to katasend.com/signup with your work email. Kata sends you a 6-digit code by email.

Tell Kata about your company

In the appMemory

Write what you do, for whom, proof (numbers, clients), tone, and what to avoid. Kata keeps it as your company memory, company.md, and reads it in the agent and in every email it writes. The agent can read your website and write it for you.

For your AIset_company_brief

Add sending mailboxes

In the appMailboxes > Add mailbox

One mailbox is enough to start.

RecommendedCreate mailboxes on your domain.

Kata writes the DNS records in your Cloudflare, starts verification, and creates the mailboxes once the domain is verified (it checks every 5 minutes). It needs the Cloudflare token from Before you start. Use 3 mailboxes per domain, with real first names.

Two other ways Import from AgentMail, or add one mailbox
  • Import. Paste your AgentMail API key in Integrations. Kata imports the inboxes of that account, paused (also every 15 minutes). Tool: sync_mailboxes.
  • One mailbox. A new AgentMail inbox, or an existing Zapmail (Google Workspace) mailbox. Tool: create_mailbox.

For your AIconnect_domain then check_domains

Create a campaign

In the appCampaigns > New campaign

A new campaign starts as a draft, with its brief.md. The brief says who you write to, what you offer, why they should care, what you want them to do, and where the link goes.

Example brief.md
Target: owners of US marketing agencies, 5 to 50 people.
Offer: we do their bookkeeping for a flat monthly fee.
Proof: 120 agencies served, about 9 hours saved per month.
Action: book a 15-minute call.
Link: https://example.com/book?email={{email}}

Then check the brief. Kata tells you what is missing.

For your AIcreate_campaign then check_campaign_brief

Write the angles

In the appCampaigns > your campaign > Angles

Kata writes 1 to 6 versions (3 by default) for one step of the sequence. Step 0 is the first email, step 1 the first follow-up, and so on. You can add your own, and preview how a lead will get it.

For your AIgenerate_angles add_variant preview_email

Add leads

In the appCRM

Leads go into a lead list. Create one, then fill it with a CSV, a few leads by hand (up to 1000 at once), or your CRM or a form through the list webhook.

Example leads.csv
email,first_name,company,country,priority
jane@acme.com,Jane,Acme,US,1
tom@northco.ie,Tom,NorthCo,IE,

Only email is required. Every other column becomes a variable. Then connect the list to the campaign: on the Canvas, it is the arrow from the list to the campaign.

For your AIcreate_list, import_leads with list_id, add_leads, then connect_list

Check before you send

  • Preview what will send. See what would go out, to whom, from which mailbox, and what blocks the rest.
  • Send yourself a test. One email to your own address, exactly as a lead gets it. It touches no campaign or lead.

For your AIscheduler_dry_run with as_if_active: true, send_test_email

Activate

Set the campaign to active. If a planned lead is inside its local hours, the first email goes out at once, so you see it works. The others are spread over the day.

For your AIset_campaign_status with active

Every day after

In the appHome

Read the campaign report. Call back your leads to call, then mark them handled. Every hour, Kata replaces the losing angles by itself.

For your AIcampaign_report leads_to_call mark_handled