$ ctc instructions
Full tool guide for the session
free
ContactCTL for Codex CLI
Codex CLI executes shell commands; ContactCTL is a shell command. That is the whole integration — plus an AGENTS.md note so Codex knows when to reach for it and how to treat spend.
Approval-mode automation needs predictable tools
Codex CLI is at its best when commands behave: terminate on their own, exit with meaningful codes, and never sit waiting for keyboard input. Most data tools fail all three — they are dashboards with an API bolted on.
ContactCTL was designed for exactly this harness. No command ever prompts. Exit codes are deterministic (0 found, 2 not found, 4 budget cap, 9 timeout with a resumable run-id). Output is stable JSON under --json. Rate limits are absorbed by automatic backoff, so Codex sees slow, not broken.
Cost control is structural: --estimate prices any action locally before Codex commits, and --max-cost is enforced server-side mid-run.
One shell.
The whole workflow.
A Codex task, end to end
“Enrich the new signups file and flag anything undeliverable.” Codex plans it as three shell calls.
$ ctc whois signups.csv enriched.csv --max-cost 25
done: 21 of 24 resolved
charged: 21 credits · 3 misses free
$ ctc verify enriched.csv checked.csv
done: 24 rows verified
charged: 0.48 credits
Teach it in AGENTS.md
One section makes ContactCTL part of every Codex session in the repo.
## Contact data (contactctl) `ctc` is installed for B2B contact work: find work emails, verify deliverability, whois reverse lookup, scoped search, lookalikes. It never prompts; safe to run unattended. - Read `ctc instructions` before first use in a session. - Use --json for parsing, --estimate before any spend, --max-cost on every batch. - Exit codes: 0 found · 2 not found · 4 budget · 6 bad input.
Commands in,
credits out.
Every command reports its credit cost in the output. Preview any spend with --estimate at zero cost.
$ ctc whois <in.csv> [out.csv]
Batch person + company resolution
1 credit per row found
$ ctc verify <in.csv> [out.csv]
Batch deliverability
0.02 credits per row
Full datasheet: credit costs in the docs · plan pricing on /pricing.