Skills / Cold email
Cold email
Write one short honest email to a stranger, and send it. Use when they say "how do I email this person", "help me reach out to", or are stuck on a message to someone they don't know.
Use this skill. Nothing to install.
Don't have an agent? · Raw file: skills/cold-email.md
Watch the first two minutes
This is how a session goes, including the part where the ask gets real. Click through it.
Scripted example of a real session.
Why would this person ever reply to me?
They often won't, and the skill is honest about that: silence is a normal outcome and no verdict on you. What earns the replies that do come is exactly what you have: you're young, you built a specific thing, and you did your homework on the person. A short email with a real reason for choosing them and an ask they can answer in five minutes gets read. The skill's job is making sure that's the email you send, and that you actually send it instead of polishing it forever.
What you end up with
One sent email, under 120 words, that you'd be comfortable reading aloud to the person's face. Here is the shape of one that works.
Maya Torres
- The subject states the content. Who is asking and about what. Nothing cute, nothing vague, no "quick question".
- Line one could only be about her. It references a real thing she wrote, in plain words. If a first line could be pasted into an email to anyone, it fails.
- Who you are, as facts with a link. Age, thing built, URL. No adjectives, no resume attached; links only on a first email.
- The ask is small and unmissable. Answerable from her phone in a minute. "Can I pick your brain sometime" would die here.
Anatomy of a subject line
The skill makes you write the subject last, when you know what the email actually says:
- A The topic, named precisely enough that she knows the email is on-subject for her.
- B Who's asking, honestly. Being a student is context, and it sets the right expectations.
- C The homework signal: you didn't just find her name, you used her work.
Questions people actually ask
Is this free?
The skill is free, no account, no catch. The agent you paste it into may or may not be: Gemini has the widest free tier, Copilot's free tier is enough to try it, ChatGPT and Claude free plans can also run it in a chat.
Will my email sound like AI wrote it?
This is the one kind of email where that kills you instantly, and the skill treats it that way. Template phrases like "I hope this email finds you well" and "I'm a huge fan of your work" get rewritten as what you actually mean or cut. You draft every line, the honesty check is "would you say it to their face", and anything that fails gets rewritten by you.
How does it find the person's email address?
The honest ways: their personal site, GitHub profile, or a contact page. The skill rules out guess-and-spray and paid lookup tools. If no address is findable, that's usually a signal the person doesn't want cold email, and you pick a different door.
What if they never reply?
Most won't, and the skill says so up front. After a week you send one two-line follow-up with no guilt-tripping, then let it go. A reply, even a no, is a win you answer fast and politely. The email you wrote becomes your structural template for the next one.
Is this for job hunting too?
This skill covers emailing any stranger you want something from: feedback, advice, a question about their work. For the job and internship variant, cold-outreach-for-work handles the extra rules that hiring situations add.
Where to go from here
Emailing about work or school? The specialized variants:
Nothing to point the email at yet? The link you include matters most:
Curious? Read the full skill — the exact instructions your agent gets
--- name: cold-email category: write description: Write one short honest email to a stranger, and send it. Use when they say "how do I email this person", "help me reach out to", or are stuck on a message to someone they don't know. --- # cold-email Help someone email a stranger they want something from. The email that works is short, specific, honest about who they are, and easy to say yes to. They write it; you research with them, ask the questions that sharpen the ask, and react to drafts. It gets reviewed and sent from their own account during the session. ## Before writing: research and the ask - Who exactly, and why them? Have them find something real the person made or said — a post, a talk, a project, a decision — and read it. Not for flattery ammunition: to check this is actually the right person to ask. - What is the ask, in one sentence? "Can I pick your brain" is not an ask. "Would you look at my 2-minute demo and tell me if the pricing page makes sense" is. Small, concrete, answerable in under five minutes of the recipient's time. - What do they honestly bring? Usually: they are young, they built or did a specific thing, and they did their homework. That is enough. Never let them inflate it. ## The email Have them draft it, then workshop line by line. Shape that works: 1. One line on why this person specifically — referencing the real thing they read, in their own words. If it could be pasted into an email to anyone, it fails. 2. One or two lines on who they are and what they made. Facts with links, no adjectives: "I'm a student, I built X, it's live at Y." 3. The ask, unmissable and small. 4. Sign-off with their real name. No "I know you're busy" apology paragraph — it adds length, not politeness. Under 120 words. Subject line states the content plainly: "Question about your X post from a student who built Y" beats anything cute. No attachment on a first email; links only. Then the honesty check: is every sentence true, and would they say it to this person's face? Anything that reads like a template — "I hope this email finds you well", "I'm a huge fan of your work" — gets rewritten as what they actually mean or cut. ## Send it - From a sensible address (firstname.lastname beats xX_gamer_Xx; set one up now if needed — five minutes). - Find the real address: personal site, GitHub profile, "contact" page. Use public professional contact details only. Do not use paid lookup tools or collect personal addresses. - They press send while you are still in the session. This is the step people dodge. Do not let them "polish it tomorrow." ## After - No reply in a week: one follow-up, two lines, no guilt-tripping. Then let it go — silence is a normal outcome, not a verdict. - A reply, even a no, is a win: answer it fast and politely, and say thanks either way. - Save the final email as their template skeleton — structure, not wording. Every future one gets rewritten fresh for the person. ## Done - One specific, truthful message reviewed and sent from their own account - Public professional contact source and one follow-up date recorded - No exact age, private contact data, account credential, or unnecessary attachment disclosed If this is about a job or internship, the cold-outreach-for-work skill covers that variant.