# Start email marketing from your coding agent

Open your app in a coding agent. Install the free skill, or paste the [starter prompt](/prompts/start-email-marketing.txt) if you prefer no installation. It asks the agent to research your audience, write a complete sequence, and implement a local preview in your project's language.

You need an existing app or a description of your website, an agent with file and terminal access, and internet access for research. You can draft and preview without an email provider. Agent usage may cost money.

## Install the skill

In your project terminal, run:

```sh
npx skills add email-marketing-skills/email-marketing-skills --skill email-marketing
```

The Skills CLI asks which installed coding agent to use. You can select an agent explicitly with `--agent codex` or `--agent claude-code`. Follow your agent’s instructions to reload newly installed skills if needed.

Then ask: **Use the email-marketing skill for this project. Build my strategy, complete email drafts, 30-day calendar, and a runnable offline preview.**

You need Node.js and npm for this installation command. The optional bundled simulator uses Python 3.10 or later; your agent can also build a preview in your app’s existing language. If installation is unavailable, use the plain-text starter. The nine skills are independently installable; replace `email-marketing` with `ai-sdr` or another name in the [catalog](https://github.com/email-marketing-skills/email-marketing-skills).

Installing a skill does not configure a sending provider or authorize live campaigns. Review the generated files and the launch checklist first.

## 1. Give the agent your product context

Use your existing project. If you have only an idea, add this above the prompt:

```text
My product: [what it does]
For: [who needs it, or “help me choose”]
Website: [URL, if available]
Useful first action: [what a successful new user does]
Email list/provider: [what exists, or “none”]
```

The agent should read what is available before asking you to repeat it. For an appointment app, a useful first action might be publishing a booking page. For a reporting tool, it might be generating a first report.

## 2. Connect research when you need it

The strategy prompt is free to copy. Use your coding agent's available web tools for public research. Saka's [developer guide](/developers) explains business discovery and source evidence; the [CLI guide](/cli) provides the current public installation path.

Start with the [sandbox](/sandbox) to test an integration without sign-in or payment. Its records are fictional examples, not prospects. Production quotes require authentication and do not charge. Obtaining new business records spends prepaid credit after you approve a quote. Existing purchases can be read through the purchased-library connector.

If research tools or account access are unavailable, the agent should finish the strategy from your product context and label the missing research. Your plan and local preview do not require a purchase.

## 3. Review the output

Expect a `marketing/` folder containing strategy, research, a lifecycle map, a 30-day calendar, emails, measurement, and launch instructions. The agent should also give you a command that opens or generates a local preview.

Review three things first: does the audience sound like a real buyer, does the email describe something your product does today, and does its next step lead to a working page?

## 4. Try the preview

Use the command your agent generated for your stack. A sample signup should produce the first message. A sample activation should skip any obsolete reminder. An unsubscribe should stop future marketing messages. Re-running the same event should not create duplicate sends.

A preview proves the local behavior. It does not prove email delivery or campaign performance.

## 5. Connect sending

Follow [the launch guide](/docs/launch-email) when your copy is ready. Domain verification, sender setup, and integration can take longer than generating the strategy. The prompt does not promise a live campaign within a fixed number of minutes.

## Choose your next task

- No subscribers and a B2B product: [research potential customers](/docs/ai-sdr).
- New users who stop after signup: [write your first five welcome emails](/blog/first-five-welcome-emails).
- A campaign with results: paste the [weekly review prompt](/prompts/review-results.txt).