Quick answer: for writing sequences and cold email, start with the free emails and cold-email skills from coreyhaines31/marketingskills and the email-sequence skill in Anthropic’s Marketing plugin. This page is about writing and sending sequences; if you own the whole program (segmentation, deliverability, reporting), see Claude Code skills for email marketers.
Ask Claude for a welcome sequence with no instructions and you get five tidy emails that read like every other SaaS onboarding flow. It invents a “Re:” subject line, it opens with “I hope this finds you well,” and it forgets your unsubscribe footer.
A skill fixes that. It is a folder with a SKILL.md file that tells Claude how your team writes, sequences and sends email, and Claude loads it whenever the task matches.
This guide covers the email skills worth installing in November 2026, free and paid. Every GitHub star count and push date below came from the GitHub API on 2026-11-01. Every install command was checked against the repo README. Where a price could not be confirmed on a live page, it says so.
Quick answer: For most marketers, start with the free emails and cold-email skills from coreyhaines31/marketingskills (57.8k stars). Add Anthropic’s official Marketing plugin for its email-sequence skill. Connect the Klaviyo or HubSpot MCP server if you want Claude to read real campaign data. Paid packs only make sense if you want a large pre-organised library and accept that nobody has published independent tests of them.
What Claude Code skills for email marketing actually do
A Claude Code skill for email marketing is a reusable instruction file (SKILL.md, plus optional reference files and scripts) that teaches Claude a specific email job: designing a nurture sequence, writing cold outreach, generating subject lines or checking compliance. Claude reads the short description at startup and loads the full skill only when your request matches it.
That matters for email more than most copy work, because email has rules a general model does not apply by default:
- Sequences have timing logic (day 0, day 2, day 5) and branching (opened, clicked, bought).
- Cold email has deliverability rules: secondary sending domains, warm-up, no open tracking, plain text.
- Every commercial email has legal requirements: a physical address and a working opt-out under CAN-SPAM, and a lawful basis under GDPR.
- Subject lines need testable variants, not one “best” line.
A good skill encodes those rules once. The cold-email skill in Corey Haines’ repo, for example, states in its own description: “Send from secondary domains, verify lists first, turn off open tracking, and stop every channel when a prospect replies.” The companion emails skill tells Claude to avoid fake “Re:” subject lines and “it’s not X, it’s Y” reveals.
Skills vs MCP servers vs prompts
| Tool | What it is | Email example | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skill | Instructions + references Claude loads on demand | ”Write a 5-email welcome series in our voice” | ~/.claude/skills/ or .claude/skills/ |
| Plugin | A bundle of skills, commands and sometimes MCP config | Anthropic’s Marketing plugin | Installed via /plugin or claude plugin install |
| MCP server | A live connection to an app’s API | Pull last month’s Klaviyo flow stats | Added with claude mcp add |
| Prompt | Text you paste each time | One-off rewrite | Your clipboard |
Skills tell Claude how to write. MCP servers let Claude see and touch your ESP or CRM. You usually want both. If you are new to the format, read what Claude Code skills are first, then how to install Claude Code skills.
Takeaway: a skill is your email playbook in a file; an MCP server is the wire to your sending tool.
The best free Claude Code skills for email marketing (GitHub)
The free options are deep. The table gives the verified numbers; details and install commands follow.
| Skill / repo | Email jobs covered | Stars | Last push | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
coreyhaines31/marketingskills (emails, cold-email, prospecting, copywriting) | Lifecycle sequences, cold outbound, list research | 57,803 | 2026-10-31 | Free |
anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins (Marketing plugin: email-sequence, draft-content, brand-review) | Sequences, drafts, brand checks | 34,325 | 2026-11-01 | Free |
alirezarezvani/claude-skills (marketing-skills plugin: email-sequence, cold-email) | Sequences, cold email | 29,110 | 2026-10-31 | Free |
| ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills | Curated directory, not a skill | 78,504 | 2026-09-18 | Free |
| growthenginenowoslawski/coldoutboundskills | Full cold outbound stack: lists, Clay, Smartlead | 797 | 2026-10-05 | Free |
brianrwagner/ai-marketing-claude-code-skills (cold-outreach-sequence) | Cold sequences | 450 | 2026-03-19 | Free |
onewave-ai/claude-skills (cold-email-sequence-generator) | Cold sequences | 405 | 2026-10-20 | Free |
thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing (cold-email-outreach) | Cold outreach, compliance | 188 | 2026-05-14 | Free |
Stars measure attention, not quality. A repo with 450 stars that has not been pushed since March may still be fine; just read the SKILL.md before you trust it.
1. coreyhaines31/marketingskills: emails and cold-email
This is the default starting point. The repo ships 50+ marketing skills, and two are built for email. The emails skill (v2.1.4) triggers on “welcome sequence,” “nurture sequence,” “re-engagement emails,” “drip campaign” and similar phrases. The cold-email skill (v2.2.1) covers cold emails, follow-ups, sending setup, LinkedIn touches, multichannel cadences and reply handling. They hand off to each other: lifecycle work goes to emails, outbound goes to cold-email, list building goes to prospecting.
Install (from the README):
npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills --skill emails cold-email
# inside a Claude Code session, force the Claude target:
npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills -a claude-codeThe README warns that running the CLI from inside an agent session may install only to .agents/skills/, which Claude Code does not read. Pass -a claude-code to avoid that.
2. Anthropic’s Marketing plugin: email-sequence
Anthropic’s official knowledge-work-plugins repo includes a Marketing plugin whose skills folder contains email-sequence, draft-content, brand-review, campaign-plan, content-creation, competitive-brief, performance-report and seo-audit. It pairs naturally with the brand-review skill if you keep a voice guide. More on that in Claude Code skills for brand voice.
claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins
claude plugin install marketing@knowledge-work-pluginsThe README documents this pattern with sales@knowledge-work-plugins; the Sales plugin is worth adding too if you run outbound.
3. alirezarezvani/claude-skills: marketing plugin
A large multi-domain library. The marketing plugin bundles 43 skills, including email-sequence and cold-email. A directory listing of its email-sequence skill notes that it asks for three subject line alternatives per email for A/B testing.
/plugin marketplace add alirezarezvani/claude-skills
/plugin install marketing-skills@claude-code-skills4. coldoutboundskills: the full outbound stack
If cold email is a channel and not a side task, this is the most complete free repo found. Its README describes 32 skills in five tracks (Strategy, Infrastructure, List Building, Copy and Send, Iterate and Automate) plus 19 signal playbooks, each shipped as a Claude skill, a Clay table build and a Clay CLI workflow. It includes Smartlead skills for inbox warm-up, spintax and draft campaign upload (“always DRAFT, you hit Start manually”). The README is honest that some Clay recipes “have not been built and run,” so treat those as drafts.
Install is a clone, per the README: “Clone the repo, bring your API keys, point Claude Code at it.”
git clone https://github.com/growthenginenowoslawski/coldoutboundskills5. Smaller cold email skills
cold-outreach-sequence (brianrwagner), cold-email-sequence-generator (onewave-ai) and cold-email-outreach (thatrebeccarae, positioned around deliverability and compliance) are narrower single-purpose options. Browse them on claudemarketplaces.com or skills.sh and install with npx skills add owner/repo --skill <name>, or copy the folder into ~/.claude/skills/.
Takeaway: two free repos (Corey Haines plus Anthropic’s Marketing plugin) cover most lifecycle and cold email work.
Paid email skill packs: what you get and what is unproven
Paid packs exist, and some are reasonable value if you want a big organised library. None of the ones below has published independent tests of email performance, and their sales pages are seller claims. Packs using countdown timers or “only X left” copy were skipped.
| Pack | Price (checked 2026-11-01) | Email content | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inflectual Master Marketing Skills Bundle | $167 one-time | 167 skills total; listing shows an Email Marketing category of 8 skills | Gumroad |
| SuperSkills | $50 one-time | General library; marketing, CRO, SEO and sales skills; seller pages disagree on category counts | superskills-one.vercel.app |
The Contra “Ultimate Claude SEO & AEO Skills Pack” ($39, shown against $79) is an SEO pack with no email focus, so it belongs in Claude Code skills for SEO rather than here.
How to judge a paid pack before buying:
- Ask whether the email skills are separate SKILL.md files or one long prompt document.
- Check whether they mention compliance (unsubscribe, physical address, consent).
- Look for deliverability guidance; if it says nothing about domains or warm-up, it is a copy pack only.
- Compare it against the free
emailsandcold-emailskills. If the paid version does not do something those skip, keep your money.
Takeaway: paid packs buy breadth and organisation. On email specifically, the free repos are at least as detailed in their public docs.
Free vs paid: the comparison table
| Factor | Free GitHub skills | Paid packs |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | $0 | $39 to $167 one-time |
| Can you read it before installing | Yes, full source | Usually not until purchase |
| Update cadence | Visible in commits (Corey Haines pushed 2026-10-31) | Seller-stated “lifetime updates” |
| Email depth | Sequences, cold, deliverability, prospecting | Varies; Inflectual lists 8 email skills |
| Install | npx skills add or /plugin | Usually unzip into ~/.claude/skills/ |
| Independent reviews | GitHub stars, issues, forks | Seller pages only (unconfirmed) |
| Best for | Anyone who will read and edit the skill | Teams who want a pre-sorted library fast |
Most readers should start free, edit the skill to their voice, and only buy a pack if they hit a gap. If you want to write your own, build a Claude Code skill in about an hour.
ESP and CRM MCP servers: Klaviyo, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Clay, Apollo
Skills write the email. MCP servers connect Claude to the platform where it lives. Here is what could be verified on 2026-11-01.
| Platform | Official MCP? | What it gives Claude | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo | Yes, remote and local | Campaigns, flows, profiles, metrics, templates | Remote endpoint https://mcp.klaviyo.com/mcp per Klaviyo docs |
| HubSpot | Yes, remote (mcp.hubspot.com) + local Developer MCP | CRM objects: contacts, deals, engagements | Needs a user-level app with OAuth 2.1; sensitive data properties excluded |
| Mailchimp | Only for Mandrill (transactional), per secondary sources | Transactional sends | No first-party Marketing API server found; community servers exist |
| Clay | Yes, official connector | 150+ data providers, research agents, team workflows | Documented for Claude, ChatGPT and Codex; Claude Code not mentioned on the guide |
| Apollo | No official server found | Community servers only | API access depends on your Apollo plan |
| Instantly | No official server found | Community servers only | Check maintenance before connecting live accounts |
Klaviyo
Klaviyo’s developer docs describe a remote hosted server (recommended) and a local one. In Claude Code, the standard command for a remote HTTP server is:
claude mcp add --transport http klaviyo https://mcp.klaviyo.com/mcpThen pair it with the emails skill: Claude pulls flow performance, the skill decides what to rewrite.
HubSpot
HubSpot’s MCP page documents the remote server at mcp.hubspot.com for CRM data and a local Developer MCP set up with hs mcp setup. Follow HubSpot’s step-by-step docs for the exact OAuth app setup; you must be on the new HubSpot Developer Platform.
Mailchimp
No first-party MCP server for Mailchimp’s marketing platform was found. Community options such as damientilman/mailchimp-mcp-server (24 stars, last push 2026-08-04) exist. Treat any community server as code you are handing an API key to, and read it first.
Clay and Apollo for personalization at scale
Clay’s MCP guide says you add the connector from Claude’s Connectors page and that new accounts get 500 free credits on first connect. One naming trap: the npm package @clayhq/clay-mcp belongs to a different product called Clay (a personal contacts app), not Clay.com.
For Apollo, only community servers turned up. The coldoutboundskills repo is the cleanest free bridge between Claude and Clay-style enrichment.
Takeaway: Klaviyo, HubSpot and Clay have official servers; Mailchimp marketing, Apollo and Instantly rely on community code.
How to build welcome, nurture and launch sequences with skills
The lifecycle skills above do the most work when you give them structure. Here is a working method.
Welcome sequence
Ask for the job, the trigger and the goal, not “write a welcome series.”
Use the emails skill. Trigger: free trial signup. Goal: first project created by day 3.
5 emails over 10 days. Plain-text style. One CTA per email. Include 3 subject line
variants each. Pull voice from brand/voice.md.A typical shape the skill will propose:
| Day | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | Deliver what they signed up for; one first step |
| 2 | 1 | Remove the most common setup blocker |
| 3 | 3 | Show the outcome a finished setup produces |
| 4 | 6 | Answer the top objection |
| 5 | 10 | Ask for the upgrade or a reply |
Nurture sequence
Nurture is for people not ready to buy. Feed Claude your real objections (sales call notes, support tickets) and ask for one email per objection. Generic nurture is where AI email reads worst, so this is where your source material counts most.
Launch sequence
Launches need dates, so give Claude the actual calendar: announcement, early access, open, last day. Urgency only works if the deadline is real. A skill that writes “only 3 spots left” for a launch without a cap is creating a compliance and trust problem, and you should delete that line.
For the copy itself, pair these with copywriting skills and finish with an editing skill.
Cold outreach: CAN-SPAM, GDPR and deliverability basics
Cold email is where a skill pays off fastest, because the mistakes are expensive: burned domains, spam complaints and legal exposure. This is general information, not legal advice.
CAN-SPAM (US)
The FTC’s CAN-SPAM compliance guide requires, among other things:
- No false or misleading header information or deceptive subject lines
- Identification of the message as an ad where applicable
- A valid physical postal address
- A clear way to opt out, honoured within 10 business days
CAN-SPAM does not require prior consent for B2B cold email, which is why US outbound exists at all.
GDPR and ePrivacy (EU/UK)
GDPR needs a lawful basis for processing personal data. B2B cold email to named individuals often relies on legitimate interests, with a balancing test and an easy objection route, but national ePrivacy rules vary and some EU countries require consent even for B2B. If you prospect in Europe, have someone qualified check your setup. Add your rules as a reference file in the skill so Claude applies them every time.
Deliverability checklist
These are the practices the cold-email skill builds in, and what the outbound community repeats:
- Send from secondary domains, never your main domain.
- Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC on every sending domain.
- Warm up new inboxes before sending volume.
- Verify every list before sending.
- Turn off open tracking for cold email.
- Keep plain text, minimal links, no images in first touches.
- Stop all channels the moment a prospect replies.
Google’s sender guidelines also require authentication and easy unsubscribe for bulk senders, and set a spam-rate threshold you should stay under.
Takeaway: put compliance and deliverability rules inside the skill, so no draft ships without them.
Subject lines and personalization at scale
Subject lines
Ask for variants, never a single line. A practical prompt:
Give 8 subject lines for email 2. Under 45 characters. No "Re:" or "Fwd:" unless it is
a real reply. No ALL CAPS. Mark which ones are curiosity, benefit and question styles.Deceptive subject lines breach CAN-SPAM, so a fake “Re:” is both a trust problem and a legal one. For headline craft in general, see Claude Code skills for headlines.
Personalization with Clay and Apollo
Personalization at scale is a data problem first. The pattern that works:
- Build the list in Clay or Apollo with real fields: role, company news, tech stack, hiring signal.
- Export to CSV, or pull through the Clay connector.
- Have the
cold-emailskill write a first line per row, using only the fields present. - Spot-check 20 rows by hand before upload.
The risk is invention. A vendor blog quoting r/sales users notes complaints about Claude making up personalization details. Tell the skill explicitly: if a field is empty, write a generic line, never guess.
Common mistakes with AI email skills
- Installing five overlapping skills. Claude picks one by description. Two
email-sequenceskills from different repos compete. Keep one per job. - No voice file. Skills set structure; your voice comes from examples. Add three real emails you liked.
- Sending straight from the draft. Run a humanizer pass (see humanizing AI writing) and read every first email yourself.
- Letting MCP write to live lists. Start read-only. Coldoutboundskills uploads to Smartlead as DRAFT for this reason.
- Fake urgency in launches. Only real deadlines.
- Trusting install counts. Directory install numbers are third-party estimates.
FAQ
What are the best Claude Code skills for email marketing?
The free emails and cold-email skills from coreyhaines31/marketingskills and the email-sequence skill in Anthropic’s Marketing plugin cover most needs. Add coldoutboundskills if cold email is a core channel.
Can Claude Code write cold emails?
Yes. With a cold email skill it writes first touches, follow-ups and cadences, and applies deliverability rules like secondary domains and no open tracking. You still verify facts and personalization.
Is there a Claude skill for email sequences?
Yes, several: emails (Corey Haines), email-sequence (Anthropic Marketing plugin) and email-sequence (alirezarezvani). Pick one to avoid conflicts.
How do I install a Claude Code skill?
Use npx skills add owner/repo --skill name, a /plugin install command, or copy the skill folder into ~/.claude/skills/ (personal) or .claude/skills/ (project).
Does Klaviyo have an MCP server for Claude?
Yes. Klaviyo documents an official remote server at https://mcp.klaviyo.com/mcp and a local option.
Does HubSpot have an MCP server?
Yes. HubSpot runs a remote MCP server at mcp.hubspot.com for CRM data, plus a local Developer MCP server for building on its platform.
Does Mailchimp have an official MCP server?
Not for its marketing platform, as of this check. Secondary sources report an official server for Mandrill transactional email. Community servers cover the Marketing API.
Can Claude connect to Clay or Apollo?
Clay has an official connector for Claude. Apollo has community MCP servers only, and API access depends on your Apollo plan.
Are paid Claude skill packs worth it for email?
Only if you want a large pre-sorted library. Their email skills have no independent public tests, and the free repos are detailed and readable before you install.
Is cold email legal under GDPR?
It can be, often under legitimate interests for B2B, but rules vary by country and some require consent. Get qualified advice for EU or UK prospecting.
What does CAN-SPAM require?
Honest headers and subject lines, ad identification where applicable, a physical address and a working opt-out honoured within 10 business days.
Will AI-written cold emails land in spam?
Spam placement depends mostly on domain setup, authentication, list quality and volume, not who wrote the copy. Templated, repetitive copy across many sends can still hurt.
Does Claude make up personalization details?
It can when fields are missing. Instruct the skill to use only provided data and spot-check rows before sending.
Can Claude Code send emails directly?
Only through a connected tool such as an ESP MCP server or a script. Keep sends manual or in draft mode until you trust the setup.
Claude Code skills vs ChatGPT custom GPTs for email?
Skills are files you own, version and edit, and they load automatically by task in Claude Code. Custom GPTs live inside ChatGPT. For teams in a terminal or repo, skills are easier to share.
Your next step
Start with one lifecycle skill and one cold email skill, both free:
npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills --skill emails cold-email -a claude-codeAdd a voice file, connect Klaviyo or HubSpot read-only, and write one real sequence this week. For the wider toolkit, see Claude Code skills for marketers and skills for landing page copy, since your emails need somewhere to send people.
Sources and methodology
GitHub stars and last-push dates pulled from the GitHub API on 2026-11-01. Install commands copied from each repo README. Paid pack prices checked on the seller pages on 2026-11-01. MCP status from vendor docs where available, secondary sources labelled as such. No skill here was performance-tested by this site; nothing in this post claims open, reply or conversion rates.
- coreyhaines31/marketingskills: https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills
- anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins: https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins
- alirezarezvani/claude-skills: https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills
- growthenginenowoslawski/coldoutboundskills: https://github.com/growthenginenowoslawski/coldoutboundskills
- Klaviyo MCP docs: https://developers.klaviyo.com/en/docs/klaviyo_mcp_server
- HubSpot MCP: https://developers.hubspot.com/mcp
- Clay MCP guide: https://www.clay.com/guides/clay-mcp
- FTC CAN-SPAM guide: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business
- Google sender guidelines: https://support.google.com/a/answer/81126
- Inflectual bundle: https://inflectual.gumroad.com/l/master-marketing-claude-skills-bundle
