Getting Started

Sign Up

Go to /sign-up and create an account. AutoTalent uses Clerk for authentication -- you can sign up with email or SSO. After signing up, you'll be redirected to the Dashboard.

First-Time Setup

Before running your first search, configure these under Settings:

• Email Domain (/settings/email-domain) -- optionally set up a custom sending domain so outreach comes from you@yourcompany.com. Add the CNAME records shown to your DNS provider and verify.
• Team (/settings/team) -- invite teammates. Roles are Owner (full access) or Recruiter (can use the pipeline but can't manage billing or team settings).

Dashboard

The dashboard (/dashboard) is your home base. It shows all your requisitions with key stats at a glance.

Stats Overview

Four aggregate cards at the top show: Active Requisitions, Candidates Sourced, Contacted, and Replied (with conversion rates between stages).

Requisition Cards

Each requisition card displays:

• Job title, company, location, and work mode badge (Remote/Hybrid/Onsite)
• Pipeline mode badge (Autopilot or Manual)
• Visual funnel showing Sourced → Scored → Contacted → Replied with conversion percentages
• Status badge (Active, Sourcing, Draft, Paused, Closed)
• Time since last activity

Filtering

Filter pills at the top let you filter by status (All, Active, Sourcing, Draft, Paused, Closed). If you're on a team, toggle between "My reqs" and "All team" to see only yours or everyone's.

Creating a Requisition

Navigate to /requisitions/new or click "New Requisition" from the dashboard. The wizard has 3 steps in Autopilot mode or 4 steps in Manual mode. All fields after the basics are optional -- the AI uses whatever context you provide.

Step 1: Role Details

• Job Title -- e.g., "Staff Backend Engineer"
• Company -- your company name
• Location -- where the role is based
• Work Mode -- Remote, Hybrid, or Onsite
• Hiring Manager Notes -- any context about the role or ideal candidate
• Job Requisition Text -- paste the full JD. The AI parses it to extract search queries, must-haves, and scoring criteria.

Step 2: Pipeline Mode

• Autopilot -- AI handles search, scoring, email discovery, and outreach generation. You review and approve candidates before emails go out.
• Manual -- you control each step: add search queries, trigger scoring, discover emails, and send outreach yourself.

Step 3: Requirements

• Must-Have Criteria -- your dealbreakers. Candidates are ranked against them and a miss shows on the card as a signal with the evidence; AutoTalent never rejects anyone on its own. Types: Min tenure, Required title/level, Required skill, Location, Custom.
• Nice-to-Have Criteria -- soft preferences that boost a candidate's score but aren't dealbreakers.
• Search Preferences (optional) -- steer Autopilot with company stage preference (Startup/Growth/Enterprise), target companies, and required skills.

In Autopilot mode this is the final step. Click "Save as Draft" to save without launching, or "Launch Autopilot" to start sourcing immediately.

Step 4: Search & Outreach (Manual mode only)

• Search Queries -- pre-configure LinkedIn searches. Each query has keywords, location, current companies filter, and max results. You can add multiple queries and validate them to preview how many results each would return.
• Pipeline Targets -- how many qualified candidates you want (default 20) and hard cap on total profiles to scrape (default 200).
• Outreach Configuration -- sender name, subject line template, email template with variables, and auto-send threshold. See Outreach Settings for details.
• Auto-Scheduling -- if enabled with a calendar link, when a candidate replies with interest, the system auto-sends a brief reply with your scheduling link (Calendly, Cal.com, etc.).

The Requisition Pipeline

The pipeline view (/requisitions/[id]) is where you spend most of your time. It has a left sidebar for search controls and outreach settings, and a main area with candidates organized by tabs.

Pipeline Tabs

Pipeline Stages

Sourcing Candidates

Autopilot Mode

In the left sidebar under the Autopilot tab, configure and click Run Autopilot.

A real-time log shows progress per round: queries generated, candidates found, scores, GitHub enrichment, and running totals.

Manual Mode

Switch to the Manual tab. Define specific LinkedIn searches with job titles, companies, location, max results, and advanced filters (skills, past companies, experience range, seniority, industry, AI filter). Click Add Query to execute.

Feedback-Informed Search

After reviewing several candidates, a prompt appears offering to analyze your approval/rejection patterns and generate better-targeted searches.

Reviewing Candidates

Candidate Cards

Each candidate card shows: name (links to LinkedIn), AI score (0-100, color-coded), must-haves badge, match quality label, AI reasoning, key strengths and gaps. Click to expand for full details.

Expanded Details

• Current company with stage badge (Startup/Growth/Enterprise)
• Location with proximity indicator (Local/Nearby/Remote)
• Tenure, total experience, likelihood to move (0-10)
• Work history timeline (last 4 positions)
• Skills (highlighted if matching your filter), education, GitHub profile
• Generated outreach email preview (subject + body + personalization notes)

Filtering & Sorting

Outreach Settings

Click Edit on the Outreach Settings card in the left sidebar to configure how your outreach emails are composed and sent.

Sending Outreach

The Email Flow

Bulk Actions

Select candidates using checkboxes, then use the toolbar:

What "Approve & Send" Does

When you click Approve & Send, the system handles everything automatically:

• Checks usage limits -- verifies you have remaining email credits
• Checks outreach settings -- if no sender name is configured, it opens the Outreach Settings modal
• Auto-discovers email -- if not found yet, runs Apollo/Hunter lookup automatically
• Auto-generates outreach email -- if not generated yet, creates one on the spot
• Sends via SendGrid -- delivers from your custom domain or platform default, with unsubscribe footer and tracking
• Updates the pipeline -- moves the candidate to the Contacted tab

You do not need to click "Find Emails" first -- Approve & Send handles it. The only prerequisite is a sender name in Outreach Settings.

Email Generation

The AI writes a personalized email for each candidate using their background, your job description, scoring insights, and your outreach template. Emails are under 150 words, reference specific things about the candidate, and end with a soft CTA. You can preview the generated email in the expanded candidate card before approving.

Tracking Replies & Follow-ups

The Complete Email Sequence

AutoTalent sends a maximum of 3 emails total per candidate: the initial outreach plus 2 follow-ups. No more.

After follow-up 2, the sequence ends permanently. No further emails are sent to that candidate.

What Stops the Sequence Immediately

• Candidate replies -- any reply (interested or not) cancels all follow-ups
• Email bounces -- hard or soft bounce marks the email as invalid and stops outreach
• Spam report -- candidate reports email as spam, all outreach stops
• Unsubscribe -- candidate clicks unsubscribe link, all outreach stops permanently

Reply Detection

When a candidate replies, the AI classifies the reply (interested, not interested, question, out of office, etc.) and moves them to the Replied tab immediately. All follow-ups are cancelled. Reply content, classification, confidence score, and suggested next action are stored.

Engagement Tracking

Unsubscribe Handling

Every email includes an unsubscribe link. When clicked: the candidate sees a confirmation page, their email is suppressed, all active sequences are cancelled, and they will never receive another email from your organization through AutoTalent. This is permanent.

Domain Reputation & Deliverability

• 3 emails maximum per candidate -- no aggressive sequences
• Minimum 3-day gaps between emails -- no rapid-fire sending
• Immediate bounce handling -- bad emails suppressed on first bounce
• One-click unsubscribe -- List-Unsubscribe header (RFC 2369 compliant)
• Spam report suppression -- outreach stops immediately on spam reports
• No batch blasting -- emails sent individually, not in bulk
• Human-quality content -- AI writes unique personalized emails, not templates
• Custom domain support -- send from your own verified domain for better deliverability

Recommended: Verify a custom domain at Settings → Email Domain. Start with small batches (10-20 candidates) to warm up a new domain. Review generated emails before approving.

Auto-Scheduling

If enabled with a calendar link, when a candidate replies with interest, the system auto-sends a brief reply with your scheduling link.

Hiring Manager Review

From the Replied tab, click "Send to HM" to move a candidate to HM Review. The hiring manager can approve or reject from that tab.

Screening Review

The Screening Review page (/screening) lets you review AI screening call recordings.

• Recordings -- listen to AI-conducted screening calls with audio playback
• Transcripts -- read the full conversation with speaker labels and timestamps
• AI Scoring -- review scores across multiple dimensions: technical ability, communication, compensation alignment, timeline, and more
• Red Flags & Highlights -- key quotes, concerns, and standout moments from the call
• Actions -- advance or reject candidates based on the screening

Company Database

The company database (/companies) is a searchable directory of 1,300+ companies with recruiting intelligence.

Filtering

• Search -- by company name, description, or "known for" tags
• Industry -- fintech, AI/ML, dev tools, infrastructure, consumer, healthtech, and more
• Metro -- geographic filter (SF, NYC, Seattle, Austin, etc.)
• Funding Stage -- Pre-seed through Series E+, Public, Acquired, Bootstrapped
• Company Stage -- Startup, Growth, Enterprise
• Talent Signal -- minimum quality rating (3+, 4+, 5 stars)

Company Details

Click any row to expand and see: description, LinkedIn/Website/Jobs links, funding details, founded year, hiring velocity, engineering team size, tech stack tags, and "known for" tags.

Settings

API Keys

Generate API keys for the MCP server / CLI integration at /settings/api-keys. After generating a key, the page shows the setup command for Claude Code.

Team

View team members and roles (Owner or Recruiter) at /settings/team. Owners can invite new members by email and revoke pending invitations.

Billing

View your plan, status, and usage meters at /settings/billing:

• Candidates sourced (current / limit)
• Outreach emails sent (current / limit)
• Requisitions created (current / limit)

Email Domain

Set up a custom sending domain at /settings/email-domain so outreach comes from you@yourcompany.com. Add the CNAME records shown to your DNS, then click "Check now" to verify.

CLI / MCP Server

AutoTalent can be used from your terminal via Claude Code's MCP integration.

Setup

• Generate an API key at /settings/api-keys
• Run: claude mcp add autopilot --transport http https://autopilot-mcp-production.up.railway.app/mcp -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
• Start using natural language commands in Claude Code

Example Commands

• "Find me 5 senior backend engineers in SF who know Go and have startup experience"
• "Score these candidates against our requirements and draft outreach emails"
• "Show me everyone who responded positively and schedule follow-ups"

Full API documentation is available at Docs, covering all MCP tools: requisition management, candidate search, scoring, outreach, and pipeline status.