send-letter

Sends personalized physical letters via the Lob API as a Day 0 outreach touchpoint.

Updated Aug 1, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/nicogoldberg1-rgb/opensourcing-release --skill send-letter-nicogoldberg1-rgb
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: send-letter
Source: https://github.com/nicogoldberg1-rgb/opensourcing-release/tree/main/skills/send-letter
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/nicogoldberg1-rgb/opensourcing-release --skill send-letter-nicogoldberg1-rgb

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve? Cold email alone often goes unread by business owners; this Skill adds a physical-mail touchpoint to an outreach sequence by rendering and mailing personalized one-page letters through the Lob API, timed to land the same week as the first email. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Guarded Lob sending: TEST mode by default with free address validation and rendered PDF proofs; LIVE sends are refused until the operator raises a budget cap that ships at zero and confirms the exact spend. - Address resolution workflow: Pulls contacts from a Reply.io sequence or CSV, resolves street addresses from cached cycle data, the run's data provider, or web search, and caches results for re-runs. - Per-company personalization: Merges a company-specific recognition line produced by the byo-voice skill into your own letter template, keeping the letter consistent with the email sequence. - Use Case: After building a Reply.io sequence for a niche, run the skill to mail a personalized letter to every owner so it arrives days before Email 1. ## Quick Start Ask Claude to send letters for your outreach sequence, for example: "Send letters for the HVAC sequence in TEST mode and show me the rendered proofs."

Frequently Asked Questions about send-letter

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I send personalized physical letters with the Lob API?

Create a letter spec JSON with the recipient's full name and address, supply your own HTML body template with merge slots like {{FIRST_NAME}} and {{COMPANY_HOOK}}, then run lob_send.py. It renders the letter and POSTs it to Lob, defaulting to free TEST mode.

How much does it cost to mail a letter through Lob?

The skill estimates $1.035 per letter all-in on the Lob developer plan, covering First Class postage plus processing and address verification overhead. The $0.89 base price underestimates real cost by about 16 percent, and you can override the figure with --unit-cost.

Can I test Lob letters without spending money?

Yes, TEST mode is the default and needs only LOB_TEST_API_KEY. It makes a real API call with real address validation and returns a rendered PDF, but nothing is printed or mailed, and undeliverable addresses surface as HTTP 422 errors for free.

Why is my LIVE Lob send being refused?

LIVE sends are refused when the live API key is missing, the batch cost exceeds the lob_live_dollars budget cap (which ships at zero), --confirm-spend does not match the computed cost, or the body still contains the placeholder marker. Each refusal message names the specific guard that fired.

Does the Lob letter API validate mailing addresses?

Yes, Lob returns HTTP 422 at create time for undeliverable or malformed addresses, in TEST exactly as in LIVE. Running a full TEST batch first acts as a free deliverability gate so bad addresses are fixed or dropped before any money moves.

What are the limitations of this Lob letter workflow?

Letters are single-page only with overflow clipped rather than paginated, US addresses only, one letter per script invocation, and no delivery webhook or A/B body support. Visual proofs come from Lob's server-side render since there is no local HTML-to-PDF rendering.