# How do I let an AI agent run cold outreach without losing control of what gets sent?

Canonical: https://growfast.sh/solutions/agent-outreach-guardrails | Last updated: 2026-11-13 | Published by GrowFast

Give the agent the narrowest access that does the job: draft-only tools first, human approval before any send, hard daily limits enforced by the sending system, a suppression list for anyone who opted out, and a credential you can revoke. Review drafts for a week before enabling anything that sends on its own. GrowFast's ChatGPT and Claude connectors cannot send.

## Why it happens

An agent acts at machine speed. A vague instruction, or a prompt injected through a web page it reads, can turn into hundreds of emails before you look. A sent email cannot be recalled, mailbox providers hold the sending domain responsible for complaints, and the law holds you responsible too: the FTC's CAN-SPAM guide says you cannot contract away your legal responsibility to a company that sends on your behalf.

A prompt is a request, not a control. Anything that must never happen has to be enforced somewhere the model cannot talk its way past: the sending system, the credential, or you.

## The fix that works without GrowFast

1. **Split tools into read, draft and send.** Connect the assistant to read and draft tools only. Treat any tool that sends as a separate, later decision.
2. **Use client-side approval for risky tools.** MCP tools can declare hints such as readOnlyHint and destructiveHint. Configure your client to ask before it calls anything destructive.
3. **Put caps in the sending system.** A daily limit, a per-domain warm-up ramp and a monthly allowance enforced by the sender hold even if the agent is told to ignore them.
4. **Block people who said stop.** Keep one suppression list of unsubscribes, complaints and bounces, checked in code before every send, across every campaign.
5. **Make the footer non-optional.** Every email needs your postal address and a working unsubscribe link. Put them in the template the sender adds, not in the prompt.
6. **Use a revocable, expiring credential.** Give the agent its own API key or OAuth grant that you can revoke in one click, and let it expire.
7. **Read before you automate.** For the first week read every draft and the list of who was emailed. Turn on anything automatic only when the drafts have been boring for days.

**What each GrowFast access path can do (as documented on the agent quickstart, 2026-11-13)**

| Access path | Research and draft | Send email | Post to Reddit |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ChatGPT connector | Yes | No, refused by the server | No |
| Claude and Claude Code connector | Yes | No, refused by the server | No |
| Full server (/api/mcp with an API key) | Yes | Yes: set_autopilot and send_reply, both marked destructive | Drafts only; you confirm each send |
| REST POST /api/outreach | Not applicable | Only when the call carries confirm: true | Not applicable |

## What GrowFast enforces whatever the prompt says

For cold outreach (first emails, autopilot and follow-ups):

- An account sends at most 500 emails a day, across all its domains.
- Each sending domain ramps up over four weeks; the managed address stops at 50 a day.
- An account is paused when its last 14 days bounced above 5% or drew spam complaints above 0.3%.
- Nothing is sent until the account has saved a postal address, and every email carries a one-click unsubscribe link.
- Anyone who unsubscribed, complained or bounced, on any GrowFast account, is never written to again.
- Pausing and limits stop further sends; they do not unsend. A sent email cannot be recalled.
- send_reply answers a prospect who already wrote to you; it is not subject to the postal-address, daily-limit or health checks, and it has no confirm step.

## When to use GrowFast

Use GrowFast when you want these limits to live in the system that sends. The owner sees a consent screen before an MCP client connects, can revoke any key under Settings > API keys (OAuth keys expire after 90 days by default), gets a daily email from an autopilot listing who it wrote to, and can export everyone emailed as CSV with delivery and reply status.

**When it is not the right tool:** On the full server, set_autopilot and send_reply have no per-send confirmation parameter. If you need an approval step inside the product for each email, use the draft-only connectors and send from the dashboard yourself.

## Ask your AI assistant

Paste this into an assistant that has the GrowFast MCP server connected:

> Assign to GrowFast: check how many outreach emails I have left this month (get_email_allowance), which sending domains are ready (list_sending_domains) and which autopilots exist and whether they are on (list_autopilots). Change nothing. Show me what you found so I can approve any next step.

Tools used: `get_email_allowance`, `list_sending_domains`, `list_autopilots`. These need the full server (https://growfast.sh/api/mcp) with an API key.

## FAQ

### Can I stop an autopilot instantly?

Turn it off in the dashboard or call set_autopilot with enabled: false. Emails already sent cannot be recalled.

### What does the agent see of my account?

The tools your key allows. The consent screen names the app and what it may do, and Settings > API keys shows each key with last-used time and expiry.

### Is a human reply handled safely?

A human reply stops that contact's follow-ups and is forwarded to you. send_reply, which answers a prospect from the agent, sends real email that cannot be recalled, so use it only when you have told the agent to.

### Who is legally responsible for the emails?

You are. The FTC's CAN-SPAM guide says you cannot contract away responsibility for email sent on your behalf. This is general information, not legal advice.

## Sources

- [FTC, CAN-SPAM Act: a compliance guide for business (page modified 2025-07-22)](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business) (read 2026-11-13)
- [Model Context Protocol, official site](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) (read 2026-11-13)

## Related

- [How can I get Claude or ChatGPT to find B2B leads and draft cold emails for me?](https://growfast.sh/solutions/ai-agent-find-leads-and-draft-cold-emails)
- [Is cold email legal, and what do CAN-SPAM and the UK rules require for B2B outreach?](https://growfast.sh/solutions/is-cold-email-legal-can-spam)
- [Is an AI SDR worth it for a solo founder or a small SaaS team?](https://growfast.sh/solutions/is-an-ai-sdr-worth-it)
- [Agent quickstart: what you can see, approve and stop](https://growfast.sh/agents)
- [All problems and solutions](https://growfast.sh/solutions)