clay-performance-tuning

name	clay-performance-tuning
description	Optimize Clay table enrichment throughput, reduce processing time, and improve hit rates. Use when experiencing slow enrichment, poor email find rates, or needing to process large tables efficiently. Trigger with phrases like "clay performance", "optimize clay", "clay slow", "clay throughput", "clay fast enrichment", "clay batch optimization".
allowed-tools	Read, Write, Edit, Bash(curl:*)
version	1.14.0
license	MIT
author	Jeremy Longshore <[e-mail]>
tags	["saas","clay","api","performance"]
compatibility	Designed for Claude Code, also compatible with Codex and OpenClaw

Clay Performance Tuning

Overview

Optimize Clay table processing speed, enrichment hit rates, and credit efficiency. Clay processes enrichment columns sequentially per row, and each enrichment column makes external API calls. Performance tuning focuses on reducing wasted enrichments, ordering columns optimally, and managing table auto-run behavior.

Prerequisites

• Clay table with enrichment columns configured
• Understanding of which providers are in your waterfall
• Access to Clay table settings and column configuration

Instructions

Step 1: Order Enrichment Columns by Speed

Clay runs enrichment columns left-to-right. Place fast columns first:

Column Type	Typical Speed	Position
Company lookup (Clearbit)	~100ms	First (fastest)
Email finder (single provider)	~200ms	Second
Email waterfall (multi-provider)	1-10s	Middle
Claygent AI research	5-30s	Later
HTTP API (outbound call)	Variable	Last
AI text generation	2-5s	After Claygent

Why order matters: Fast columns populate data that slow columns may need as input (e.g., company name feeds into Claygent research prompt).

Step 2: Add Conditional Run Rules

Prevent enrichments from running on rows that won't yield results:

# In Clay column settings > "Only run if" condition:

# Email waterfall: only run if we have enough input data
ISNOTEMPTY(domain) AND ISNOTEMPTY(first_name) AND ISNOTEMPTY(last_name)

# Claygent: only run for high-value prospects
ICP Score >= 60 AND ISNOTEMPTY(Company Name)

# CRM push: only run for enriched, qualified leads
ICP Score >= 70 AND ISNOTEMPTY(Work Email)

This prevents:

• Waterfall enrichment on rows with missing domains (wasted credits)
• Claygent research on low-value prospects (expensive AI credits)
• CRM pushes for incomplete records

Step 3: Optimize Input Data Before Import

// src/clay/pre-process.ts — clean data before sending to Clay
interface RawLead {
  domain?: ;
  ?: ;
  ?: ;
  ?: ;
}

 (): {
  : [];
  : { : ; :  }[];
  : { : ; : ; : ; :  };
} {
   personalDomains =  ([
    , , , ,
    , , , ,
  ]);

   seen =  <>();
   : [] = [];
   : { : ; :  }[] = [];
   deduped = ;

   ( row  rows) {
    
     domain = row.?.().().(, ).(, );

    
     (!domain || !domain.()) {
      filtered.({ row, :  });
      ;
    }
     (personalDomains.(domain)) {
      filtered.({ row, :  });
      ;
    }
     (!row.?.() || !row.?.()) {
      filtered.({ row, :  });
      ;
    }

    
     key = ;
     (seen.(key)) {
      deduped++;
      ;
    }
    seen.(key);

    ready.({ ...row, domain });
  }

   {
    ready,
    filtered,
    : {
      : rows.,
      : ready.,
      : filtered.,
      deduped,
    },
  };
}


 { ready, stats } = (rawLeads);
.();