# Lead research with an AI agent

> Prospecting is moving into the chat. These guides show how to search people and companies, find verified work emails, and connect the prospecting tools you already pay for to your agent.

## What is a lead enrichment MCP server?

A lead enrichment MCP server lets your AI agent search for people and companies and add details such as verified work emails, phone numbers, headcount and industry. Some, like Clay's, bring a prospecting platform you already use into the chat. Others charge per lookup.

## Guides

- [Clay MCP: set up Clay's official server](https://www.manifoldmcp.com/blog/clay-mcp.md): Clay's official MCP server brings Clay's people search, enrichment and Functions into Claude and ChatGPT. This guide covers what it costs, the admin setup in Clay, connecting each client, prompts to start with, and the gotchas in Clay's docs.

## The data behind these guides

- [People & companies tools in the docs](https://www.manifoldmcp.com/docs/tools/leads)
- [Manifold's marketing skills](https://www.manifoldmcp.com/docs/tools#skills)

## Questions

### Do I need a Clay plan to find leads from my agent?

Only for the admin controls on Clay's own MCP server. Clay gives 500 free credits on first connect, then spends credits from your Clay plan. Manifold is hosted, needs no API keys of your own, and charges per call.

### Can my agent find work emails?

Yes, if the server it is connected to has an email finder. Clay's MCP server and Manifold both find and verify work emails.

### Can my agent add leads to my CRM?

Clay can, through a Function your ops team builds and enables for MCP. Otherwise your agent hands you the list and your CRM's own import takes it from there.