Instantly
Instantly is a platform designed to streamline cold email outreach by automating campaigns, managing leads, and enhancing email deliverability.
Verdict
Common use cases
- Audit campaign deliverability before launch
- Verify lead emails during list review
- Track unread inbox count for timing
- Enrich contact lists with AI insights
- Generate API keys for team scripts
Integration
- Vendor
- Instantly
- Category
- other
- Auth
- API_KEY
- Tools
- 47
- Composio slug
instantly
Tools
- Check Email Verification Status
Tool to check status of an email verification job. Use after submitting a verification request to retrieve the current status of a specific email address.
- Count Unread Emails
Tool to retrieve the count of unread emails. Use when you need to know how many unread messages are in your inbox before sending new emails.
- Create AI Enrichment
Tool to create an AI enrichment job for a campaign or lead list. Use when you need to enrich a resource with AI-driven insights.
- Create API Key
Tool to create a new API key. Use when you need to generate credentials for programmatic access to the Instantly API.
- Create Campaign
Tool to create a new campaign. Use when you have campaign details ready and want to launch.
- Create Inbox Placement Test
Tool to create an inbox placement test. Use when you need to measure deliverability across providers with your prepared email and recipient list.
- Create Lead
Tool to create a new lead. Use when you need to add an individual lead to a campaign.
- Create Lead List
Tool to create a new lead list. Use when you need to organize leads into a dedicated list before importing them into campaigns.
- Create Webhook
Tool to create a new webhook endpoint. Use when you need to receive Instantly event notifications via HTTP callbacks.
- Delete API Keydestructive
Tool to delete an API key. Use when you need to remove a specific API key by its ID after confirming its existence.
- Delete Campaigndestructive
Tool to delete a campaign. Use when you need to remove a specific campaign by ID.
- Delete Leaddestructive
Tool to delete a lead by its ID. Use when you need to remove a specific lead after confirming its existence.
- Delete Lead Listdestructive
Tool to delete a lead list by ID. Use when you need to remove a specific lead list after confirming its existence.
- Delete Webhookdestructive
Tool to delete a webhook. Use when you need to remove a specific webhook by its UUID.
- Disable Account Warmup
Tool to disable the warm-up process for email accounts. Use when you need to stop warmup for specific or all accounts before sending critical campaigns.
- Enable Account Warmup
Tool to enable the warm-up process for email accounts. Use when you want to start warming up one or more accounts to improve deliverability.
- Get Campaign
Tool to retrieve campaign details. Use when you need full campaign configuration for a given campaign ID.
- Get Campaign Analytics
Tool to retrieve analytics for campaigns. Use when you need performance metrics for one or multiple campaigns.
- Get Daily Campaign Analytics
Tool to retrieve daily analytics for a campaign. Use when you need per-day performance metrics for campaigns.
- Get Email Service Provider Options
Tool to retrieve email service provider options for inbox placement tests. Use when you need valid recipients_labels options.
- Get Inbox Placement Test
Tool to retrieve inbox placement test results. Use when you need details for a specific inbox placement test by ID.
- Get Lead
Tool to retrieve details of a specific lead by its ID. Use when you have the lead UUID and need full lead metadata.
- Get Lead List
Tool to retrieve details of a specific lead list by its ID. Use when you have the lead list UUID and need list metadata.
- Get Lead List Verification Stats
Tool to retrieve verification statistics for a lead list. Use when you need summary counts by verification status for a specific lead list.
- Get Webhook
Tool to retrieve details of a specific webhook subscription. Use when you have the webhook ID and need full webhook configuration.
- Get Webhook Event
Tool to retrieve details of a specific webhook event. Use when you need to inspect a particular webhook event by its ID.
- List API Keys
Tool to list all API keys. Use when you need to retrieve your API keys with optional pagination after authentication.
- List Campaigns
Tool to list all campaigns. Use when you need to fetch your campaigns list with optional filters and pagination.
- List Custom Tags
Tool to list custom tags. Use when you need to retrieve custom tags with optional pagination and filtering.
- List DFY Email Account Orders
Tool to list DFY email account orders. Use when you need to fetch your DFY email account orders with pagination.
- List Email Accounts
Tool to list all email accounts for the authenticated user. Use after obtaining auth credentials to retrieve available accounts.
- List Emails
Tool to list emails. Use when you need to retrieve emails with optional filters and pagination.
- List Email Threads
Tool to list email threads. Use when fetching threads with optional pagination and unread-only filtering. Note: Instantly's public API does not expose a dedicated GET /emails/threads endpoint. Threads can be derived by grouping emails (GET
- List Inbox Placement Blacklist & SpamAssassin Reports
Tool to list inbox placement blacklist & SpamAssassin reports. Use when you need to retrieve spam and blacklist analytics after running an inbox placement test.
- List Inbox Placement Tests
Tool to list inbox placement tests. Use when you need a paginated overview of tests with optional filtering and sort order.
- List Lead Lists
Tool to list all lead lists. Use when you need to fetch the lead lists with optional filters and pagination.
- List Leads
Tool to list leads. Use when you need to retrieve leads with optional filters like search, status filters, and pagination.
- List Webhook Events
Tool to list webhook events. Use when you need to view received webhook events with optional pagination and filters.
- List Webhooks
Tool to list configured webhooks. Use when you need to retrieve your webhook configurations with optional filters and pagination.
- Mark Thread As Read
Tool to mark all emails in a specific thread as read. Use when you want to update the read status of an email thread after processing.
- Merge Leads
Tool to merge multiple leads into a single lead. Use after confirming both source and destination lead IDs exist.
- Search Campaigns by Lead Email
Tool to search campaigns by a lead's email address. Use when you need to find campaigns containing a specific lead by their email.
- Update Campaign
Tool to update details of a campaign. Use when you need to modify campaign settings after verifying its ID.
- Update Lead
Tool to update a lead's details. Use when you need to modify fields of an existing lead after identifying its ID.
- Update Lead Interest Status
Tool to update a lead's interest status. Use when you need to set or reset a lead’s interest status for follow-up actions.
- Update Lead List
Tool to update details of a specific lead list by its ID. Use after verifying the list ID exists.
- Verify Email
Tool to initiate email verification. Use when you need to verify an email's deliverability before sending emails.
Setup
Setup guide
- 11. In Switchy, open your workspace settings and navigate to the MCP integrations page. 2. Click 'Add Integration' and select Instantly from the list. 3. Log in to your Instantly account, go to Settings > API, and generate a new API key. 4. Copy the key and paste it into the Switchy connection dialog, then click 'Connect'. 5. Switchy will validate the key and confirm the connection. 6. Open any Space, type '@Instantly check email verification status' followed by a job ID, and send the message to test the integration. 7. If the MCP returns verification details, you're ready to use all 47 tools in your workflows.
What teammates see: by default, memories from Instantly are scoped to the Space (PROJECT visibility) - you can mark any memory PRIVATE or share it ORG-wide.
Works well with
Top models
Compatibility data appears once enough Spaces have used this MCP together with a given model.
How Switchy teams use it
Starter prompts
Check Campaign Health
@Instantly retrieve the performance metrics for campaign ID 12345, including open rate, reply rate, and bounce count.Open in a Space →
Verify Lead Batch
@Instantly verify these email addresses: john@example.com, sarah@company.co, mike@startup.io. Return the job ID so I can check status later.Open in a Space →
Create Outreach Campaign
@Instantly create a campaign named 'Q1 Outreach' with subject 'Quick question about your stack' and body text from the draft I shared above. Use lead list ID 678.Open in a Space →
Run Inbox Placement Test
@Instantly run an inbox placement test for the email template in this Space. Use seed list ID 910 and report which providers flag it as spam.Open in a Space →
Enrich Lead List with AI
@Instantly create an AI enrichment job for lead list ID 456. Focus on company size, industry, and recent funding events.Open in a Space →
Example outputs
Illustrative - representative of the model's voice and quality, not literal recordings.
@instantly count how many unread emails I have across all my connected inboxes and show me the top 5 senders
Based on your Instantly account, you have 127 unread emails across 3 connected inboxes. The top 5 senders by volume are: prospects@acmecorp.com (18 emails), notifications@linkedin.com (14 emails), team@designstudio.io (11 emails), hello@saasvendor.com (9 emails), and updates@github.com (8 emails). This count was retrieved at 2:47 PM UTC and reflects messages received since your last sync.
This example shows Instantly's inbox monitoring capability. The MCP requires API key auth with read access to your connected email accounts. Unread counts update in near-real-time but may lag by a few minutes depending on sync frequency. Useful for gauging inbox health before launching a new campaign.
@instantly create a new campaign called 'Q1 Outreach' targeting SaaS founders, schedule 3 follow-ups spaced 3 days apart, and add 50 leads from my 'Warm Prospects' list
Campaign 'Q1 Outreach' created successfully (ID: cmp_8x3k9). Configured with 3 follow-up emails scheduled at 3-day intervals. Added 50 leads from your 'Warm Prospects' list—all leads passed basic validation. Campaign is currently paused; you can activate it from the Instantly dashboard once you've reviewed the email sequence. First emails will send within 15 minutes of activation, respecting your account's daily send limits.
This demonstrates Instantly's campaign creation and lead assignment in one workflow. The MCP can configure scheduling rules but cannot draft email copy—you must prepare sequences in the Instantly UI first. Campaign starts paused by default to prevent accidental sends. Requires API key with write permissions for campaigns and lead lists.
@instantly run an inbox placement test for my 'Welcome Email' template across Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo, then summarize which providers flagged it as spam
Inbox placement test initiated (test ID: ipt_7m2n5) for your 'Welcome Email' template. Results: Gmail delivered to inbox (92% placement rate), Outlook delivered to inbox (88% placement rate), Yahoo flagged as spam (34% inbox, 66% spam folder). The low Yahoo score likely stems from your domain's lack of BIMI record and a high image-to-text ratio in the template. Test used 30 seed addresses per provider and completed in 4 minutes.
This example pairs Instantly's deliverability testing tool with AI analysis to surface actionable insights. The MCP creates the test and retrieves raw placement data; the AI interprets patterns and suggests fixes. Tests consume credits from your Instantly account (typically 1 credit per seed address). Useful for auditing templates before launching high-volume campaigns.
Use-case deep-dives
When to run inbox placement tests before scaling send volume
A 3-person sales team launching a new outbound sequence needs to know if their emails land in spam before burning through their lead list. The Instantly MCP wins here because it exposes the inbox placement test tool directly in Switchy—your team can draft the email, trigger the test across Gmail/Outlook/Yahoo, and read the deliverability report without leaving the workspace. The MCP also surfaces email verification status checks, so you can scrub bounces before the first send. This works best when you're testing 5-10 variants per week; if you're only running one test per quarter, the Instantly dashboard is simpler. If your team sends 500+ cold emails daily and needs real-time deliverability feedback in Switchy, add this MCP.
How this MCP automates lead verification at import time
A 2-person marketing ops team imports 2,000 leads per month from webinar signups and needs to verify emails before pushing them into campaigns. The Instantly MCP handles this workflow end-to-end: create the lead list, submit the verification job, poll the status, and filter out invalids—all scripted in a Switchy agent. The representative tools (Create Lead List, Check Email Verification Status) map directly to this loop. The trade-off: if your verification volume spikes above 10,000 emails per week, the polling overhead slows down Switchy; at that scale, use Instantly's bulk CSV upload instead. For steady-state monthly imports under 5,000 leads, this MCP keeps your CRM clean without manual CSV wrangling.
When 47 tools are too many for a simple status check
A 4-person growth team reviews campaign open rates and unread inbox counts every Monday to decide which sequences to pause. The Instantly MCP exposes Count Unread Emails and campaign creation tools, but the 47-tool surface area means your team spends more time reading tool descriptions than pulling the two metrics you actually need. This MCP is overkill if you only check stats once a week—just open the Instantly dashboard. It starts to pay off when you're running A/B tests across 10+ campaigns and need to programmatically compare performance inside a Switchy agent that also pulls data from your CRM and Slack. If your review is manual and infrequent, skip this MCP.
Frequently asked
What does the Instantly MCP let me do in Switchy?
The Instantly MCP connects your cold email infrastructure to Switchy's AI workspace. You can create campaigns, add leads, check email verification status, run inbox placement tests, and monitor unread counts—all without leaving your chat. It's built for teams running outbound at scale who want AI to handle the repetitive API calls.
Do I need admin access to connect Instantly?
You need an Instantly API key, which any account holder can generate from their dashboard. The MCP uses API_KEY auth, so there's no OAuth flow—just paste your key into Switchy's integration settings. If your team restricts API key creation, you'll need someone with that permission to set it up.
Can the Instantly MCP send emails or just manage campaigns?
It manages campaigns, leads, and deliverability testing—it doesn't send individual emails on your behalf. You'll use it to create campaigns, add leads to lists, verify email addresses, and run inbox placement tests. Actual sending happens inside Instantly's platform once you've configured everything through the MCP.
Why use this instead of Instantly's web dashboard?
The MCP is faster for bulk operations and AI-driven workflows. If you're enriching leads with AI, checking verification status for hundreds of emails, or creating campaigns from scraped data, you can script it in Switchy instead of clicking through Instantly's UI. The dashboard is still better for visual campaign editing and analytics.
Who on the team should connect the Instantly MCP?
Whoever owns your outbound email strategy and has access to Instantly's API keys. Usually that's a growth lead or ops person. Once connected, anyone in your Switchy workspace can use the MCP to create leads or check verification status, but the API key's permissions apply to all actions.