How to build an AI SDR workflow
How-to guide Updated 12 July 2026
How do you build an AI SDR workflow?
Run the daily SDR loop from Claude. Ask it to build the campaign, load and personalise your leads, launch once you approve the copy, then work the replies with a reply-triggered follow up. Each step calls a real HotHawk tool, and the sending infrastructure underneath stays yours.
No credit card required.
Before you start
You need a HotHawk account and the HotHawk MCP server connected to Claude. It takes a couple of minutes and no code. Full setup is on the MCP server page.
Step by step
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1
You ask Claude
Build a four step cold email campaign called Fintech Founders, US hours.
Claude callsmcp__hothawk__campaigns_createname "Fintech Founders" type COLD timezone America/New_York steps 4 stepsClaude drafts the campaign with your four steps and the sending window, then reads the copy back so you can check the angle before anyone hears from you.
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2
You ask Claude
Load these 600 leads from the spreadsheet and personalise the first line for each.
Claude callsmcp__hothawk__crm_leads_bulk_createleads 600 rows customVariables first line, hookThe whole list goes into your CRM in one call, each lead carrying the variables Claude wrote for it. No paste, no dedupe by hand.
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3
You ask Claude
Looks right. Launch it.
Claude callsmcp__hothawk__campaigns_activate_createcampaignId Fintech FoundersThe campaign goes live and starts sending across your warmed, rotated mailboxes, inside the hours you set. You gave the go.
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4
You ask Claude
Set up a follow up that fires when a reply is labelled Interested.
Claude callsmcp__hothawk__subsequences_createname "Interested follow up" triggerLabelId "Interested" steps 2 stepsThe reply half of the loop is built. HotHawk labels replies out of the box, so an Interested one drops into the follow up on its own. Now Claude can work the inbox every morning.
An AI SDR is a workflow, not a robot
Most "AI SDR" products sell you a bot that decides who to email and what to say, then asks you to trust the output. The problem is what happens when it is wrong. You have already sent 2,000 emails from your domains before you notice the angle was off.
The version that works keeps a person in the loop and puts an AI on the slow parts. Building the campaign, cleaning and personalising the list, tagging replies, chasing the ones that went warm. That is a repeatable loop, and it is exactly the loop you can run from a chat over HotHawk.
HotHawk is the layer the workflow runs on
Claude does the legwork. It calls campaigns_create to build the campaign, crm_leads_bulk_create to load 600 leads in one go with a personalised first line on each, campaigns_activate_create to set it live, and subsequences_create to wire up the follow up that fires when you tag a reply. Four sentences, one working outbound motion.
What sits underneath is the part that matters. The emails go out across rotated mailboxes with the capacity to push 40,000 a day and more, warmed on real Google and Microsoft inboxes. The AI points the workflow. It does not own the sending. That separation is the whole idea: you get the speed of a bot with the sending machinery of a proper platform, and the two never blur.
You keep the launch button
Every morning the loop is a short conversation. Load yesterday's new leads, spin up a fresh campaign if you need one, read the overnight replies and tag the ones worth chasing. Claude can do all of it while you drink your coffee, but it drafts and it waits. Nothing sends until you say so, and once it is live it only sends inside the window you set.
The deliverability protections are not something the AI can bargain away. Rotation, warmup and best-practice sending are on for everyone, and tracking pixels are off by design. So the worst case is a campaign you did not love, sat in draft, one edit away from right. Not 2,000 emails you wish you could pull back. That is the difference between an SDR you supervise and a bot you gamble on.
The HotHawk tools behind this
Every action here is a real endpoint. Claude reaches it over the MCP server, and you can hit the same endpoints directly from the REST API if you would rather build it into your own stack.
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mcp__hothawk__campaigns_createBuild the campaign, steps and schedule -
mcp__hothawk__crm_leads_bulk_createLoad and personalise the whole lead list at once -
mcp__hothawk__campaigns_activate_createSet it live and start sending -
mcp__hothawk__subsequences_createBuild the reply-triggered follow up
Frequently asked
Is this a full AI SDR that runs without me?
Only as far as you let it. Claude does the assembly: builds the campaign, loads the leads, works the replies. But it drafts the copy for you to read and it waits for you to say launch. Think of it as an SDR that does the admin and checks in before it sends.
What runs the actual sending in this workflow?
HotHawk does, not the model. Your emails go out across rotated mailboxes with the capacity to send 40,000 a day and more, warmed on real Google and Microsoft inboxes. Claude points the workflow. The sending infrastructure underneath it is ours and it stays on.
Does the AI keep deliverability protections on?
It cannot turn them off. Mailbox rotation, warmup and best-practice sending are baked into HotHawk, and open and link tracking are off for everyone by design. Whether you or Claude hits launch, the same guardrails apply.
Can I run this from ChatGPT or my own agent?
Yes. The steps here use Claude and the MCP server because it is the fastest way in. Every tool is a REST endpoint underneath, so the same loop runs from ChatGPT, a custom agent, or code you write yourself.
Do I need to write code?
No. Add HotHawk as a connector in Claude once and the whole loop is plain language. The REST API is there if you want to build it into your own stack, but you do not need it to get going.