Harvey: a free Claude sales agent that finds customers and waits for your OK

Someone built a free Claude sales agent that finds you customers. Harvey is open source (MIT). It finds local businesses, writes each one a specific cold email and handles the replies, using your Claude Pro or Max plan through Claude Code instead of an API bill. This is the full version of the HARVEY guide from my Reel. Facts checked on 20 Oct 2026 against the Harvey README, release 0.3.0.

01What it is

Harvey runs on your own machine in a loop (every 15 minutes by default). Each cycle it decides what matters most (handle replies, send, write, find new prospects), does it, logs it and sleeps. Five sub-agents sit underneath, and a local dashboard at localhost:5555 shows everything.

Scout scores prospects.
Writer drafts 3-email sequences.
Sender stages and paces sends.
Handler reads and classifies replies.
Analyst reports on what works.

02Why it matters

Most autonomous sales tools bill per token or cost $250-500 a month. Harvey uses the Claude Code CLI on the subscription you already pay for, finds businesses on OpenStreetMap for free by default, and reads their websites with plain HTTP requests (no model call). Your costs are the Claude plan and a mailbox (the README suggests about $7/month for Google Workspace). Paid discovery sources are optional and always show an estimate first.

03Setup, step by step

You need Python 3.11+, an active Claude Pro or Max plan with claude login done, and a mailbox on a dedicated sending domain.

Easiest: let Claude Code set it up

git clone https://github.com/ethanplusai/harvey.git
cd harvey
claude

Then say "set up Harvey for me". The repo's CLAUDE.md turns Claude Code into the setup wizard.

Manual setup

python3.13 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate && pip install -e .
cp .env.example .env        # add your mail provider
harvey train https://your-company.com
harvey signals --confirm free
harvey discover
harvey dashboard            # http://localhost:5555
harvey run

04Nothing sends without you

By default every outgoing email waits in the Outbox for your approval (A to approve, R to reject). A deterministic pre-send check also blocks broken merge tags, banned phrases, overlong emails and undeliverable addresses. harvey sending pause stops all sending at once. Full autopilot (channels.email.require_approval: false) is a setting you have to turn on yourself.

05Good to know

Sending domain first. Buy a separate domain (getacme.com, not acme.com), set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC, warm it up for 2-4 weeks, and start at 10-20 emails a day per inbox. Sending cold email from your main domain can land it in spam for good.
Meetings are not auto-booked yet. Harvey works the conversation toward a meeting; calendar auto-booking is on the roadmap.
Cold email law still applies. CAN-SPAM, GDPR/PECR and similar rules make you the sender. Add your mailing address and keep the opt-out handling on.
LinkedIn automation is off by default and against LinkedIn's terms.