By the end of this guide your AI agent - Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Grok, or anything that speaks MCP or HTTP - will search 565.8 million contacts, count markets for free, and export verified emails on its own. We'll do the whole path once, slowly, with every branch signposted: what you'll see when it works, and what it means when it doesn't.
What you need before you start
Ten minutes, an email address you can receive mail on, and the agent you already use. You do not need a subscription: agents run on pay-per-lead wallet credits, and your account starts with 25 free starter credits so the first results cost nothing.
One thing to understand before touching anything, because it explains every price you'll see later: counts and previews are free, always. Argorant only charges when a contact is revealed or exported, and every exported email is verified at that moment. If an address fails verification, it is filtered out and never billed. Your agent can therefore explore as broadly as it wants at zero cost.
Step 1: Create the account the agent way
Open app.argorant.com/start. You'll see two doors: one for working in the app, one for setting up an agent. Pick the agent side.
Sign up with a permanent mailbox and confirm the address with the code from your inbox. Two branches here:
- "Starter credits need a permanent email address." You used a disposable-mail domain. Use a work or personal mailbox instead; temporary inboxes never qualify for the free credits.
- The confirmation mail never arrives. Check spam first, then request a fresh code from the same screen. Codes expire, and only the newest one counts.
Step 2: Mint the API key and collect the 25 starter credits
Still on the agent side of /start, create your first API key. On a fresh, confirmed account this automatically grants 25 one-time starter credits - enough for 25 verified contact reveals, which is a real first list, not a teaser.
The key starts with ag_live_ and is shown in full exactly once. Store it like a password. If you lose it, revoke and mint a new one; nothing else on the account changes.
If key creation is refused with "Starter credits were already claimed for this mailbox", the free grant was already used by an account on the same normalized address (plus-tags and Gmail dots don't create new mailboxes). Top up the wallet or pick a plan; the key mints fine either way.
Step 3: Wire up your agent
Two transport options; pick whichever your agent supports.
Option A: MCP (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Grok Bot)
Add https://mcp.argorant.com/mcp as a connector. OAuth opens in the browser, you approve once, and the agent gets scoped tools: count, preview, save list, export, verify. The tools describe themselves; a capable agent needs no further instructions.
Option B: REST with the key (everything else)
Every endpoint lives under https://argorant.com/api/mcp/ with Authorization: Bearer ag_live_.... The three you'll use constantly:
Step 4: The first real task
Give the agent something concrete: "Count CFOs at German fintech companies on Argorant, show me a sample, and tell me what an export of the top 500 would cost."
A healthy run looks like this: the agent calls count (free), gets a number in the tens of thousands, pulls a masked preview (free), and reports back with a per-contact cost. Contact details stay masked at this stage by design - initials, role, company, location, but no address. That is not a bug; it is why exploring costs nothing.
Step 5: Export, and what the bill actually is
When the list looks right, let the agent export. Now, and only now, credits move: 1 credit per deliverable contact. Verification runs live at export time; addresses that fail are removed and cost nothing. A 500-row export where 460 addresses verify bills 460 credits, and the CSV you download contains 460 rows that were deliverable minutes earlier.
The branches you might hit:
- 402, "API and MCP access need either a plan or wallet credits." The starter credits are spent. Top up the wallet (500 credits for $17.50; no subscription) or pick a plan. The wallet is the agent-native path: money in, leads out, nothing recurring.
- 429, rate limit. The agent is hammering. Wallet and plan tiers raise the ceiling; a well-built agent batches counts instead of looping one filter at a time.
- Export smaller than the count. Correct behaviour: the count is the matching universe, the export is the deliverable subset after live verification and after removing rows you exported before.
Where to go from here
Your agent is connected and has produced its first verified list. The next guide teaches the part that actually compounds: building a precise target list with industry, seniority, and keyword filters, and letting the agent widen or narrow the market on command.
